Texans have a good problem: their $150 million man Will Anderson Jr. ‘just keeps wrecking practice, causing havoc’

HOUSTON – The full Will Anderson Jr. experience is a nightmare for opposing quarterbacks and the blockers tasked with slowing down the Texans’ star pass rusher.

Anderson is rapidly becoming unblockable as the scourge of offenses across the league and the Texans’ newly-minted $150 million man as the highest paid non-quarterback in NFL history.

As much as the Texans enjoy watching Anderson crash into quarterbacks and stonewall running backs, it’s a tough deal to practice against him and run their plays on a daily basis. It’s akin to how the Texans ultimately had three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year selection and future Hall of Fame first-ballot pick J.J. Watt sit out some plays in full-team work so they can run plays without constant disruption.

Basically, it’s a good problem to have. Anderson is just that dominant.

“Will continues to wreck practice,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said while smiling and laughing. “I’m probably going to have to sit him out here soon because we have to be able to actually practice. He just keeps wrecking practice. Let’s just keep doing that, keep causing havoc.

“That’s what he does. I was showing guys, that’s what he does on Sundays as well. So, it’s no surprise that Will is the guy for everyone to watch the intensity at which we operate. That’s how Will Anderson plays. That’s how I want everybody to be.”

As the highest paid non-quarterback in NFL history and the highest paid defensive player in the game, Anderson received a deal with a $50 million annual average compensation per year in new money, surpassing Green Bay Packers edge Micah Parsons’ $46.5 million average. The contract, which runs through 2030, includes $134 million total guaranteed, $100 million fully guaranteed for skill, injury and salary cap, a $32 million signing bonus and a rare no-trade clause.

For Anderson, this watershed moment represents the culmination of all of his hard work. From moving from running back as a young football player to defensive end. To his time as an All-American at Alabama and Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year and Bronko Nagurski Award winner. To becoming the third overall pick of the draft four years ago after a dramatic trade with the Arizona Cardinals and becoming the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Anderson recorded a career-high dozen sacks and 20 tackles for losses and 23 quarterback hits last season, 30 career sacks in three seasons, 46 tackles for losses, 64 quarterback hits, four forced fumbles. Plus, eight sacks, eight tackles for losses and 11 quarterback hits in six career playoff games.

Can Anderson get even better?

“There’s definitely more for Will,” said Ryans, who referenced Anderson getting additional practice time with defensive line coach and run game coordinator Rod Wright and assistant defensive line coach Frank Okam. “On the field, he’s always fine-tuning his craft. He’s working extra. He’s working on the small intricacies of hand placement and those things as a pass rusher.

“But where I’ve seen him take another step this year is just his leadership of being vocal as a leader for our team. Being that guy, he has no issue bringing the team up, letting everybody know, ‘Hey, this wasn’t a good day. Let’s pick it up.’ He does a great job as well of encouraging guys when he sees it done the right way. So, him taking that step as a vocal leader is where I’ve seen his growth already happen this year.”

Watching Anderson execute his craft is a treat for his defensive teammates.

They love the infectious enthusiasm and relentless nature he plays the game with, and his expansive repertoire of moves.

Even at the expense of the offensive timing.

“Will is Will,” Texans nickel Jalen Pitre said. “He’s going to wreck practices, wreck games, wreck meetings. He’s going to wreck everything. That’s why he’s the best because he shows up every day ready to work, ready to push others, inspire others.

“He’s a great leader for this team, a great player for this team. He’s definitely already, like you said, wreaking havoc out there in t-shirt and shorts. Coach is always on a tipping point of like, ‘Do I slow him down?’ It’s like, that’s just Will, you can’t really slow him down.”

What’s next? Well, Anderson is beyond tired of losing in the AFC divisional round after three consecutive losses in that stage of the postseason, including defeats against the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens.

The Texans have never reached an AFC championship game and are 0-7 in the divisional round.

Anderson is extremely motivated to help his team reach that milestone.

“Ask me about contract, yeah, the contract is cool, but ask me about winning, that’s more important,” Anderson said. “How we get over this hump, how we can get past the second round is what’s been on my mind.”

Anderson was a finalist for NFL Defensive Player of the Year with the crown going to Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, who set the record for most sacks in a single season.

Anderson is truly an elite player, though, regardless of not winning the award. He’s already a three-time Pro Bowl selection, at age 24.

A national champion at Alabama drafted third overall in 2023, Anerson was a two-time Bronko Nagurski trophy winner who also won the Lombardi, Chuck Bednarik and Lott awards and was a two-time All-American and Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

“Nothing that Will does surprises me,” Texans Pro Bowl corner Kamari Lassiter said. “During football, outside of football, nothing that he does surprises me. He’s one of a kind. So, I feel like whenever I see Will wreck a play up in practice or in a game, I’m just like, ‘Good job, do it again,’ because I know he’s like, he’s going to do it again and again and again. I feel like he hasn’t even tapped into the level that he really wants to tap into and that’s the scary part.”

For Anderson, the watershed moment of his contract represents the culmination of all of his hard work. From moving from running back as a young football player to defensive end.

“I’ve been so overwhelmed with joy these last couple days, nonstop tears, and it’s been a blessing,” said Anderson after a lengthy, emotional statement as he thanked his parents, Will Sr. and Tereon, his five older sisters, Texans coach DeMeco Ryans, Caserio, the McNair family, his coaches, agent Nicole Lynn and everyone at Klutch Sports and, of course, his late grandmother, who was instrumental in molding the 24-year-old All-Pro defensive end. “I love what I do. I tell people all the time. It’s really never, ever been about the money for me. It’s always just been about walking in my purpose and doing what God has called me to do.

“To be able to be here right now and be in this moment and enjoy this moment, it means everything to me. I just think about my family, everything that we endured growing up, all the hard times, everything, to get to retire my parents early, to get to see my sisters thrive, my nieces and nephews, the rest of my family. I think that’s the biggest blessing for me.”

The decision to reward Anderson and make him the highest paid non-quarterback in NFL history was rooted in his standing as a foundational piece of the Texans.

And hammering out this contract couldn’t have made Ryans any happier. Earned, not given embodies the situation.

“Will is an outstanding young man, outstanding player,” Ryans said. “He shows up every single day, working how we expect guys to work and doing all the things a leader does. He’s a guy that you want guys following.

“He embodies everything that it means to be a Texan and he’s definitely deserving of the contract situation that he’s gotten. He’s earned it and he’s done an outstanding job of leading.”

Growing up in Georgia, Anderson was initially a running back. He wanted to be the next Adrian Peterson.

When he was shifted to defensive end, Anderson didn’t like the change at first.

“I cried,” Anderson said.

Several years later, Anderson is coming off a stellar third NFL season. He was named All-Pro for the first time and was a finalist for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

“It worked out,” Anderson said while smiling.

When the Texans drafted Anderson in 2023, they maneuvered to acquire him one pick after drafting quarterback C.J. Stroud third overall. The trade between Caserio and Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort involved a 2024 first-round selection and landed Anderson.

Now, Anderson is the ultimate chess piece in the Texans’ top-ranked defense.

“The name got him where he is, so we’ll keep him as the Terminator,” Texans defensive line coach and run game coordinator Rod Wright said. “He’s definitely lived up to that name. He’s a guy that has been disruptive and made a lot of plays for us, won us a lot of games, and that’ll continue. At the end of the day, he’s gonna reach whatever he wants to do, because he takes it very seriously. It’s really, really cool to watch him continue to grow.”

For Lynn, this deal after negotiating other huge contracts for her clients, including Garrett, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, was a thrilling moment.

“It’s surreal,” Lynn said. “I never take any of it for granted. I’m very honored to do the job that I do, and I represent a lot of different players across the league, and every one of these moments feels like the first.

“He is the absolute most deserving person. That is who he is every single day. So, it’s really a blessing to represent someone that’s incredible on the field, but off the field. So, deserving and puts everyone else first. I was so excited to give him that news.”

The contract didn’t come as a surprise. KPRC 2 reported for months that the deal was an eventuality and would average as much $50 million annually.

The talks between Lynn and Caserio ran smoothly.

“Nick and I have a really good relationship,” Lynn said. “I don’t know exactly where it started. I think Nick called me, but I think we kind of all knew that it was time for him to get paid. Nick is incredible to work with. And the reason is that Nick, he obviously, is doing his job as a general manager, but he cares about the players.

“You can feel that, and that actually starts at ownership. You can feel that with the McNairs that they want to do right by the players. With Nick starting the deal early, I think, for him, was showing Will the belief that this organization has in him long-term, right? They didn’t want to play any games. They knew how important he was to the organization. They wanted him to know that through the deal.”

Anderson ranked second in the NFL with 85 total pressures last season, according to Next Gen Stats. Recording 48 pressures on third down marked the most since that statistic has been tracked.

“I haven’t even reached to the period of where I want to be at in my game,” Anderson said. “And I think this offseason I’ve continued to build my body up to be able to bend or to be able to finish on the quarterback. That’s the next step is just be able to finish on the quarterback.”

Anderson doesn’t plan to go on a major spending spree.

He does plan to purchase a speed boat for his fishing trips with his father.

Growing up as the baby of the family with five older sisters, Anderson learned the value of having a strong work ethic and traditional values and a deep religious faith from his parents.

“I think that’s why I got so emotional because these two right here, being in a three-bedroom house with six kids wasn’t easy,” Anderson said. “Working long nights. My mom got to work overtime. My dad working overtime. It meant the world for me to do what I do.”

Anderson is pivotal to the Texans’ present and future as a game-wrecking defensive end capable of harassing quarterbacks and shutting down runs, doubling as a team captain and leader.

And his success all started at home with his parents’ loving example.

“He’s always been humble, always been disciplined, didn’t give us no problems, just a really sweet kid,” Tereon Anderson said. “Now, the sisters might say something differently, but the parents, that’s he week, pretty much was just a typical young man.”

The pride of the family was obvious, just as it has been throughout his time in Houston.

“The growth and maturity,he’s just a natural,” Will Anderson Sr. said. “Everything that he did, he grew up pretty fast. We don’t have any baby pictures of Will because he grew up so fast. We missed a lot of that time so, but he just matured really fast.”

Anderson spent a lot of time with his grandmother, his father’s mother.

‘She was very instrumental," Tereon Anderson said. “He learned very early on how to give back to others. We hope we were great parents, but God already had all those things instilled in him. His character was built from the womb.”

Anderson used to accompany his father to the food market, learning how to work hard from his example that included cutting fish and other blue-collar tasks.

“It was very intentional, because I took not just only Will, I took my daughters also so, and I told all of them, this is not what I want for you guys,“ Will Anderson Sr. said. ”Free education, go to college.”

“We always told them if you are not better than us, that we failed,” Tereon Anderson said. “Because the work that we did was to raise them so we wanted to give them an opportunity to be better.

“His junior year, he got his first college offer, and I think that’s when he started to say, ‘Well, maybe I’ll go to school if I’m gonna get a scholarship.’ And we kind of took off from there, but he really wanted to do the same things that his dad did.”

Anderson is deeply spiritual and open in discussing his Christian faith.

During the Pro Bowl Games, Anderson partnered with the ministry group, God Behind Bars, in February to share his faith with inmates at San Quentin State Prison. He spoke to over 150 inmates about his faith and personal journey. Several inmates chose to get baptized after listening to Anderson’s inspirational message.

“It was a life-changing experience, very life-changing,” Anderson said. “Anybody that’s deep in their word; the journey is something. Once you get close with God and you start on your journey, it’s like that’s when you start to see so much impurity in yourself and start to see the ways the world will pull you in. When I walked in there, these guys are facing life. They don’t get to see their kids, don’t get to see their families, but their faith was so strong in Jesus Christ.

“It literally changed my life because I’m out here. I’m free. I have so much free will. I can do what I want, but these guys are incarcerated and can’t do much. But they’re like, ‘The one thing that I can cling on to is my faith, and I know that my situation will get better.’ To be able to speak to those guys and to speak life into them is just as much as they speak life into me. It was just a very wholesome moment.”

Although the Texans ultimately lost in the AFC divisional round playoffs to the Patriots, it wasn’t because of Anderson. He recorded three sacks, two forced fumbles and two tackles for losses.

The extremely high value of Anderson as a pass rusher and run-stopper was underscored again, just as it was all season.

And the big trade with the Cardinals changed the course of the Texans. Anderson has arguably emerged as the face of the franchise.

“The 2023 draft is probably one of the most exciting drafts that I’ve been a part of, and I would say one of the most exciting drafts in Texans history,” said Ryans, a former NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year selected in 2006 out of Alabama. “It was exciting just to know what we were doing. We pick C.J. at the second pick and to know we’re back on the phones trying to trade up to get Will, it was just an exciting moment, a tense moment.

“The adrenaline is pumping in the room. It was awesome. Nick executed the trade. It was about the guy we were getting. As we all see, fast forward to where we are now, it was well worth the move. We knew the type of man that Will was, and it was worth moving up to get him and it has paid off big time for us.”

When Anderson got the call from Ryans while he was in the green room, he didn’t know what to think at first.

He had visited the Texans and had struck up a good relationship with Ryans. He was hoping they would come get him.

“In the green room, Arizona was still on the clock, and that’s a whole other conversation for another time, but Arizona’s still on the clock,” Anderson recounted. “I tell this story all the time. I promise you I’m not lying. DeMeco had called me, because at the time me and DeMeco, we had a pretty good relationship.

“I’m thinking he’s calling me like, ‘Yeah, man, I’m sorry we couldn’t get you.’ Then, he told me he was drafting me, and I just went crazy, like went crazy. I really wanted to be here. I really wanted to be a part of something very special. As you can see, we’ve been on the up and up and I think we’re trending in the right way to get it done.”

The rest is history.

Anderson plans to stay grounded and not alter his hard-nosed, relentless approach to football and his fun-loving life enjoying the outdoors

“I think it’s staying to the process, not changing,” Anderson said. “I think it’s about growth and obviously maturity. You just keep going in your same process. I’m young at this, but guys will want to change or do more. I think the biggest thing that I’m going to keep with me is what DeMeco told me when I first got here:

“‘You don’t got to be Superman, just go be the same person you’ve been when we drafted you, when you were at Alabama, the leader, the player that you were.’ That’s what’s been helping me succeed so far. So, just continue to be myself, continue to grow my game, grow up my teammates, have fun with them and just go play for them.”

What would his late grandmother have to say now about what has transpired, of this groundbreaking achievement?

“’Look at little Willy go,’” Anderson said. " hat’s what she would have said. ‘Look at little Will go.’ She would be so proud, She was a big influence in my life as well. Walking me out the door every morning before going to school. I still hold her closely to my heart and what I do, a lot of tears that they see before the games, a lot of that is for her, too.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com