Arvell Reese, Sonny Styles to meet in Week 4: Did Giants make right choice between first-round linebackers?

When the Washington Commanders host the New York Giants on Sunday, keep an eye on No. 52. Both of them.

There is a striking parallel between the two teams: Both have a first-round rookie linebacker from Ohio State who wears the same number as the other. Giants standout Arvell Reese and burgeoning Commanders star Sonny Styles became the first college linebacker teammates to be selected in the top 10 of the same NFL Draft when they flew off the board in April. In Week 5, they go head-to-head.

At the draft, the Giants were in the enviable position of having both Reese and Styles available to them at pick No. 5. There was immense debate prior to draft night about which player New York should select if both were up for grabs. After the event, a major question was whether they took the right one.

In the end, there might not have been a wrong answer. 

The case for Arvell Reese

That the Giants are off to a 3-1 start despite being without quarterback Jaxson Dart for nearly three full games is largely a credit to Reese and the defense. New York is a top-10 team in yards and points allowed through Week 4, and Reese is the engine that powers the unit. Not only does he pace the team with 33 tackles, but he also leads the entire league in solo stops with 26.

Reese is also fresh off the best game of his young career: a nine-tackle effort with one tackle for loss in a 36-24 win over the Arizona Cardinals. The NFL recognized him as the Week 4 Rookie of the Week after he became the fifth Giants rookie with three passes defended and an interception in one game.

The production is already game-changing. It is everything the Giants could have asked for when they used their first of two first-round picks on a linebacker. Reese's utility goes well beyond the numbers, though. His versatility proved to be a major asset across four games for a Giants defense that lost its top edge rusher, Brian Burns, for the season with a torn ACL. Reese's pass-rushing ability from the off-ball linebacker spot will be crucial the rest of the year as the Giants work to overcome the absence of Burns, who last year amassed 16.5 sacks in an All-Pro campaign.

Reese is a more natural pass-rusher than Styles, which is an obvious asset, but at the draft, there was hesitation over whether he was the better pick. The Giants were already stocked at the edge rusher position with Burns, Abdul Carter and Kayvon Thibodeaux providing both top-flight play in the starting lineup and enviable depth. With one of them out for the year, though, Reese is even more important to the unit than he already was. He is a linebacker first and likely always will be, but Reese can also play in the trenches. In his debut, even with Burns healthy, he aligned on the line of scrimmage on 11 of 52 snaps.

The case for Sonny Styles

Reese is exactly what the Giants hoped they were getting when they picked him. But who's to say Sonny Styles would not have been the same? He could have been just as impactful, had he been the No. 5 pick instead.

When the Commanders upset the Seahawks in Week 3, Styles looked the part of a star in the making. He earned the NFC Defensive Player of the Week award for his efforts, which also made him the first rookie linebacker in franchise history with an interception, a forced fumble and multiple passes defended in one game.

Styles' ability to wreak havoc in the backfield with inside pressure is also tremendous. He boasts the highest pressure rate among rookie defenders with at least 25 pass-rush snaps at 17.9%. The Commanders are about as aggressive as they come in pass defense with the second-highest blitz rate in the league, per Next Gen Stats, and Styles is a key figure in that scheme as they regularly rush him toward the quarterback.

And then there was this play, where Styles demolished Saquon Barkley en route to a sack.

While they attack the pocket from different angles, Styles and Reese are both impact pass-rushers. Perhaps the Giants would have been better off with Styles, given their depth on the edge.

Styles has stepped up in the face of injuries just like Reese. Leo Chenal and Jordan Magee are both on injured reserve, leaving Styles, Frankie Luvu and Kain Medrano as the only three available inside linebackers. Not only that, but Styles routinely handles the defense's green-dot duties, relaying play calls to the rest of the unit as just a rookie. There is a chance he could have secured that job with the Giants, too, considering New York relies on 2026 newcomer Tremaine Edmunds to orchestrate the defense. Styles has a whole lot on his plate for someone with only four games of experience, and is not just getting by. He is thriving.

Verdict: It's a wash

In hindsight, the Giants found themselves in a win-win position at the draft. With Reese and Styles as their targets, they could not have gone wrong. What both players displayed over the first four games of their professional careers proved that New York could have gone in either direction and come away with the same result, at least for the first month of the year. The final analysis will not be complete for years, when their career arcs take full shape, but as of now, the Ohio State products are on level footing.

If the argument for Reese was that he is the better pass rusher, then Styles bridged the gap with his effective blitzes. If the argument for Styles was that he is the better defender in coverage, then Reese closed that discrepancy. According to Pro Football Focus, Reese graded out over four games as the ninth-best linebacker in coverage, while Styles is a mere six spots ahead of him at No. 3. In a sample size of 74 qualified linebackers, both are excellent.

Both are top-five rookie linebackers in overall PFF defensive grade.

Reese has the second-best odds to win Defensive Rookie of the Year at +275, and Styles is directly behind him with the third-shortest odds at +750, per DraftKings. The margin between their first-year production is extremely thin, and both carry long-term stardom potential. The Giants ought to feel elated about their choice in the draft, and the Commanders should, too.