Will Anderson Jr. 2023 NFL Draft profile: Scout report for the Alabama EDGE

Will Anderson Jr., Alabama: 6’4”, 245 pounds.

The number two defensive end recruit in 2020, Will Anderson Jr. had a phenomenal debut season with the Crimson Tide. He racked up 52 total tackles, 10.5 of them for loss, seven sacks and a forced fumble.

He completely blew it out of the water as a sophomore with 31 TFLs and 17.5 sacks, along with three passes batted down. Anderson couldn’t quite live up to those insane numbers last year (17 TFLs and ten sacks), but he did have a pick-six and made his presence felt, making him a first-team All-American and the SEC’s Defensive Player of the Year for back-to-back seasons.

Will Anderson Jr. scout report: Strengths

Will Anderson Jr. - Alabama v Tennessee

+ Will Anderson Jr. flashed to me more and more as I was watching offensive prospects against Alabama for the 2021 draft (when he was just a true freshman).

+ Plays with a ton of energy and urgency – got after Kyle Trask all game long in the SEC Championship with a couple of sacks, one including a strip.

+ Has a lot of power in his lower body and consistently plays with great leverage.

+ If you leave tight-ends trying to seal him on the backside, Anderson will routinely ride that guy into the scrum and negate cutback lanes, if not tackle him and the ball-carrier together.

+ Accelerates into pulling guards and builds up the force to create knock-backs at contact.

+ Displays the short-area twitch and range as a tackler to take care of both options on zone-read plays.

+ Wasn’t asked to drop into coverage a whole lot, but looked comfortable peeling off and taking away throws to the flats. He had a very impressive on-field workout at the combine, where his change-of-direction and ability to flip his hips looked better than a bunch of the legit off-ball LBs.

+ Not at all somebody who’ll take plays off or take a break on the sidelines to stay fresh. He averaged 55.6 snaps per game over the last two years.

+ Has that cat-like quickness off the snap and immediately stresses the foot speed of offensive tackles in their pass sets.

+ Off that, he has the flexibility to dip underneath the blocker’s reach or go through that guy if he sells out for speed and gets too tall.

+ Highly advanced with his hand-usage for such a young player, creating leverage by riding them upwards or opening up the edges of the blockers’ frame by swatting them away.

+ Excels at converting speed to power, while regularly lifting up the outside arms of tackles and ripping underneath it, to create a more direct angle for himself.

+ Alabama had him in some tighter alignments and even some 4i/5-techniques. There, he realized when tackles slid too far outside as he widened his angle, that he could attack the wrist of their inside hand and take a direct angle towards the quarterback.

+ Really understands how to finish his rushes and not just force quarterbacks to move off the spot.

+ Becomes a mismatch against guards when reducing or slanting inside, with his quick hands and short-area agility.

+ Relentless in his effort to continue to free himself from blocks and chase around quarterbacks deep into plays.

+ Gladly crashes into the shoulder of a guard and opens up a lane for one of the D-tackles or linebackers to loop around.

+ Had a historically great sophomore season statistically when he led college football with 81 pressures (had four sacks in the Mississippi State game alone, when he just went bonkers). Last season the production was down a little bit, but you routinely saw offenses roll away from Anderson and try to find ways to mostly negate his impact by play-design.

Will Anderson Jr. scout report: Weaknesses

Will Anderson Jr. - Louisiana-Monroe v Alabama

– Will Anderson Jr. still has some room to fill out his frame and become a more physically overwhelming player.

– As good as he is at defeating the hands of blockers, he would benefit from not even letting them get on him or just dictating reps by being the one to establish the first meaningful contact.

– There’s definitely room to diversify his pass-rush arsenal. He largely relies on burst off the ball and his ability to transfer that momentum into power, along with pushing arms off himself, rather than setting up more detailed moves.

– As great as Anderson has been for the Crimson Tide, the one skill he still needs to add is that knack for knocking the ball out of the hands of the quarterback.He has totaled just one forced fumble through his first two seasons.

Will Anderson Jr. scout report: Grade

First and foremost, I don’t look at Will Anderson Jr. as a generational type of prospect, since that’s a term that gets overused anyway. That doesn’t mean he’s not great. He’s still top-three on the my board and should in no way make it out of the first five packs.

I just don’t look at him as this crazy freak athlete. Still, the bursts and quicks off the ball, the leverage he plays in the run game, how good he already is with his hands and his efforts are all top-tier. To me he’s a true 3-4 outside linebacker with room to take on more duties in zone coverage and has room to become a more diverse pass-rusher.

He may not become a perennial All-Pro, but he will be a strong run defender day one and should deliver double-digit sacks in a few years. Unless you’re desperate for a quarterback, I just don’t believe there’s a way you’ll regret picking him anywhere. Will Anderson Jr. could be the face and leader of your defense for the next decade.

Grade: Top-five overall

You might like other 2023 NFL Draft Scouting Reports: Jaxon Smith-Njigba (WR), Ohio; Zay Flowers (WR), Boston; Jordan Addison (WR), USC; Jalin Hyatt (WR), Tennessee; Jordan Addison (WR), USC; Quentin Johnston (WR), TCU; Zach Charbonnet (RB), UCLA; Bijan Robinson (RB), Texas; Tyler Steen (OT), Alabama.

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