Here's everything newly signed Houston Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. said following the signing of his extension, the future of the Texans, plans on how to spend his sums and more.
Question: On what this contract extension means to him
Will Anderson Jr: “I've been so overwhelmed with joy these last couple days, nonstop tears, and it's been a blessing. I think, for me, I look back at it, I love what I do. I tell people all the time, they know, it's like, ‘The money, this.’ 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.”
Q: On what he recalls about his Top 30 visit with the Houston Texans
Anderson: “I remember just walking in the building and I felt it in my spirit. I was like, ‘I got to be here.’ Even in the draft, leading up into the draft, I told Nicole, Nick and I had a really long conversation. But I was like, ‘Nicole, I don't care what you got to tell the Texans, I got to be in that building.’ Walking in, the staff, the coaches, the culture that I knew that DeMeco was trying to build here, it felt great. It felt right. Like I said, I always tell people, his mentality of what he wants his players to be, what he wants his staff to be, what he wants this building to be, it was easy for me to come in and play for him. I appreciate him so much. That was my favorite visit of all time. Every time I tell anybody, I was like, ‘The Texans, that's the place you want to be at.”
Anderson: “I think it's staying to the process, not changing. I think it's about growth and obviously maturity. But I think it's about you just keep going in your same process. A lot of times, I'm young at this, guys will want to change or do more. I think the biggest thing that I'm going to keep with me is what [Head Coach] DeMeco [Ryans] 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.”
Anderson: “It doesn't pass my mind. After the last game, that's something that, going into workouts, going into training, that's literally all I've been thinking about. Ask me about the contract, yeah, the contract is cool. But ask me about winning, that's more important. How we get over this hump, how we can get past the second round is really what's been on my mind. I think we did a really good job with free agency going to get a lot of great guys. I'm excited about this year. Like I said, I know where this team can go. We have the pieces to do it. We have the coaching staff to do it. I'm excited to get rolling and see what we do this year.”
Q: On what he is looking forward to working on this offseason
Anderson: “First, I always think it starts mental. How's your mental? How's your headspace? Getting back in the right mindset, making sure that your mind is right so you can go out performing the best you can. Obviously, for me, I still feel like in my game, I haven't even reached the period of where I want to be at in my game. I think this offseason I’m going to continue to build my body up to be able to bend or to be able to finish on the quarterback. I think that's the next step, just being able to finish on the quarterback. I've been joking with [Cleveland Browns DE] Myles [Garrett], and we've been going at it. He's like, ‘Pressures aren’t going to cut it, big dog.’ We've been going back and forth. But it's been fun.”
Q: On the bond he shares with Head Coach DeMeco Ryans and if he is proud of the culture that he has been built here
Anderson: “Yeah, I'm super proud of the culture that has been built here. Again, big shout-out to DeMeco because DeMeco did a really good job. You talk to other players around the league when you go to the Pro Bowl and they were like, ‘We don't have a foundation of who we are. We don't have anything to lean back on when things go wrong.’ I think DeMeco always preaches S.W.A.R.M. It's been brainwashed in everybody in this building from every point of the building. We swarm and just talking about our relationship, he has an open door policy. There is never a time that I can't go to him and talk to him. He's in his word as well. So, we connect on a spiritual level as well.”
Q: On which one of his sisters has been the roughest on him so far leading up to this point
Anderson: “Let me put this out here too, because my sister's been getting crazy comments and everything. My sisters are the best. I wouldn't be here without them, so y'all can chill on them. But all of them, all of them, I would say. I don't think it's just one. I think they all played a big part in helping me get to where I'm at. Like I said, driving me up and down the road, taking me to practice, trying to get out in the yard and do different things with me, buying me clothes, cleats when they had the money when my parents didn't. I think all of them played a really big part. But who get on my nerves the most probably would be ‘Riri’ [Teria Anderson]. She's here right now. But that's my best friend, though, so she good.”
Anderson: “I don't, because 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. It was like a minute 30 left and 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. Like I said, 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.”
Q: On if the investment the team makes in him take it up another notch from a leadership standpoint
Anderson: “Yeah, most definitely. I think it does, but at the end of the day, I think it's how you come into the building every day. Every day you got to come into the building and be your authentic self. No matter what you're going through, you've got to leave it at the door, and you've got to come in here and whether you're a leader, wherever it may be, you have to lead. I think that's something I've just been taught either at [University of] Alabama or throughout my years of life, is just coming here, being my authentic self, and leading in the right way that I can. So contract, no contract, they handed me a responsibility, so I had to come in here and do that for the organization, for myself, for my teammates, and just the betterment of everybody else.”
Q: On the timeline from when the extension was official
Anderson: “Yeah, I was training down in Dallas. I had to check my phone real quick, because I knew Nicole [Lynn] was on me about it. I was training, I was training, and we took a little break, and she called me, and she was like, ‘Whenever you get done, I need you to call me ASAP’. My heart kind of dropped, and I'm like, ‘I'm in here training, what's going on?’ I get home, and she calls me, and she tells me everything, and I literally just dropped to my knees. Literally just dropped to my knees in like total thanks, tears. Then I had to get on the flight the same day and I felt bad for the lady sitting beside me, because she was probably so concerned about me, because I was crying the whole flight. I was crying the whole flight. Then we FaceTimed my parents. My mom, she wasn't able to be on the FaceTime call, because she was flying back to Georgia, and my whole family just went crazy. It was just a big moment for us, like I said, it's bigger than me. I think about my family, I think about everything that we've been through, and to be able to bless them just as much as they've blessed me.”
Q: On what age he decided he wanted to be a football player and what he would go back and tell that little boy knowing the position he is in now
Anderson: “I think that's what makes the story so great, because I never wanted to be a football player. They put me in football, and I just remember going through it, and rolling around in grass. He is probably going to hate that I put him on the spot, but Coach Rod [Wright], big shout out to him. He's everything that you want to ask for in a coach. Whether it's just coaching you, being a man of God, a great husband, a great father. He's been like a father figure to me. He knows me and I've had this conversation plenty of times. The story's just funny, because it's like, God has just been working unbelievably in my life. I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be a football player. It's like the journey's just been step by step. I found out I was good in high school my sophomore year, then God was like, ‘Okay, we can go to college,’ and I'm not even thinking about college. I get to Alabama, then it's like, ‘Oh, you're great. You can go to the league,’ then I get to the league, and I'm just like, ‘Well, I know I'm good, but am I good enough to do this?’ Then God has just been, man, just how he works is just unbelievable. If I had to go back to my high school, that's when I really was like, ‘Okay, you got a chance,’ I don't even know what I would tell him, because I was just outside having fun playing with my friends, but I would tell him, ‘Man, just stay true to your authentic self. Let God lead you, walk in your light and have fun doing that.”