Mel Kiper Jr. shares ceiling, predicted landing spot for Will Anderson Jr.

The quarterback class is dominating discussion around the 2023 NFL Draft as we inch closer to it. The Chicago Bears just moved out of the way at No. 1 to let Carolina swoop in and almost certainly draft their next franchise QB, while several other teams in the top 10 are also expected to grab quarterbacks this cycle.

However, there are also some non-quarterbacks at play to be picked in the top five of the draft. Such as Alabama’s Will Anderson Jr., who was widely assumed to be the top non-quarterback prospect in the draft class throughout this past college season. As a true sophomore in 2021, Anderson racked up 17.5 sacks and more than 100 tackles — just silly numbers for a single season. He didn’t quite reach those numbers this past fall — instead, he recorded 10 sacks and 51 total tackles — but still showed teams why he should be a top pick.

As the draft approaches, Anderson is staying put as a projected top-five pick, according to ESPN’s resident draft expert, Mel Kiper Jr. On Thursday, Kiper appeared on ESPN to discuss Anderson and raised doubts about whether he can be a superstar talent at the next level. Despite his own concerns, though, Kiper still pegged Anderson to be picked in the top five.

Here were his full comments on the Alabama pass rusher.

“He’s a good one. Can he be great? Probably not. Now, when I say great, (I mean) special, but he had a heck of a lot of sacks and tackles for loss. Now, he’s not the explosive edge guy that a Von Miller or a Myles Garrett is, so he’s not going to get you necessarily 18-20 sacks a (season). He may get you 10-12 sacks a (season), which is really good for Will Anderson Jr. I think teams now are debating whether he can be that special, elite guy, or is he just, ‘The guy’s going to be really, really good?’ Really, really good, you’ll be satisfied with. I think Arizona grabs him at pick No. 3.”

Whether he’s as special as Miller and Garrett or just “really, really good” — Will Anderson is a worthy top-five pick and is very possible to be the first non-quarterback taken, especially with the recent hit Jalen Carter’s stock took.