As the NFL draft plods closer, the Dallas Cowboys are getting a better read on players who have been firmly locked near the top of the board but now appear to be slipping and sliding a bit. Ohio State safety Caleb Downs is one, potentially, as is Rueben Bain of Miami, and no doubt, the Cowboys would have an interest in stopping the slide of either at No. 12. But the guy Dallas would really like to see slip–Downs’ teammate Sonny Styles–shows no sign of dropping.

Indeed, it appears it will take a trade up for the Cowboys to get their hands on the prized linebacker. Most mock drafts, like that of ESPN’s Field Yates or the Pro Football Focus mock draft, have Styles going at No. 4 to Tennessee. Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com has him going No. 5 to the Giants. CBS puts him at No. 9 to the Chiefs, and that is about as close as the Cowboys will get to Styles, at least as the mock drafts have it.

And yet, the Cowboys hold out hope on Styles, as talk of a possible trade up lingers.

Sonny Styles Says He is Visiting Cowboys

At the very least, the Cowboys will be hosting Styles for a Top 30 visit, as he told Kay Adams on the “Up and Adams” show. He also said he has met with the Jets, and will also meet with the Commanders, who pick at No. 7.

In the end, it does not look like Styles will be dropping out of the Top 10, which means Dallas would have to find a trade partner to ensure it could move up far enough to land Styles. The Cowboys do have picks No. 12 and 20 in the first round, which could prove to be a bit of a wasteland for the needs the team have, especially at edge rusher and linebacker.

That could nudge Dallas into moving up into the Top 10 to get their shot at Styles.

Cowboys in Need of a Linebacker

There’s little doubt that the Cowboys could use a player like Styles, who is a versatile linebacker, one who began his career as a safety. Styles has bulked up and is now 6-foot-5, 244 pounds, but has not lost his defensive-back speed. He wowed NFL personnel when he ran a 4.46 40-yard dash at the combine last month.

Styles has a reputation as one of the most aggressive, hard-hitting and sure-handed tacklers in college football, though his focus may sometimes be too much on hitting hard rather than playing smart–something he can certainly learn and develop over time.

The Cowboys badly need a top-tier linebacker, having missed on their two primary free-agent targets, Quay Walker and Nakobe Dean.

Sonny Styles ‘Focused Solely on Violence’

Here’s how NFL draft analyst Marcus Whitman of the “That Franchise Guy” podcast sized up Styles before his Cowboys visit: “Sonny Styles is a ‘built in a lab’ Linebacker prospect standing tall at 6’4”, with long arms, a solid frame that could get even bigger, and every single box checked in regards to athletic levers. He’s a former Safety and it shows in his range and active eyes in zone coverage to flow with traffic and take away throwing lanes. …

“This issue of launching headfirst into blockers also shows as a blitzer, where he has all of the explosiveness and violence you look for in an elite blitzer with no real technique to actually defeat his block, allowing pass blockers to happily take a bullet for their Quarterback as long as Styles is focused solely on violence, and not practicality.”