Commanders' Sonny Styles reveals unique reason why he chose new number

Every year, fans are excited to learn which jersey numbers their rookie class will wear, especially the first-round picks. Jersey numbers became even more exciting recently, as there are virtually no restrictions on which numbers players can wear. For the Washington Commanders, the excitement centered around No. 7 overall pick, linebacker Sonny Styles.

The mystery ended Thursday, when Washington revealed jersey numbers for its six 2026 NFL Draft picks. Styles, who began his college career in the No. 6 jersey at Ohio State, wore the "Block 0" for the Buckeyes in 2025. The No. 0 jersey is occupied by cornerback Mike Sainristil with the Commanders. So, instead of going for No. 6, Styles chose a traditional linebacker number: 52.

Why did Styles choose No. 52? He explained on Friday, ahead of Washington's rookie minicamp.

"I'm not really a big number guy," Styles said. "I wasn't really big into single digits. I like zero. Mikey has zero. So, then I was telling Coach [LB coach Ken] Norton, like when I look in the room, you got [Former Washington LB] London [Fletcher] on the wall, [Former Washington LB] LaVar [Arrington], I think it was [Former Washington LB] Ken Harvey and [Former Washington LB] Monte Coleman. It was all 50 numbers, and I was like, 'Shoot, I'm going to pick a 50 number.'

While seeing Washington legends on the wall inspired Styles, he zeroed in on a specific number after watching a pair of NFL greats from his childhood.

"I was thinking about it, I remember growing up watching like [Former San Francisco 49ers LB] Patrick Willis, [Former Baltimore Ravens LB] Ray Lewis. I was like, ‘Hey, 52 would be cool.’ And then my dad was like, ‘Hey, five plus two is seven, so that's your draft pick.’ I was like, dang, that's cool. That seems pretty cool. So, that's really how I landed on it. I didn't have no special number to pick, so I was kind of just picking anything."