Will Anderson becomes first Texans rookie to record sack in Week 1

Will Anderson, Jr. was one of the most dominant forces in all of college football during his time with the Alabama Crimson Tide. On Sunday afternoon, in his NFL debut, it didn’t take him long to make his mark for the Houston Texans, the franchise that pegged him to be one of the superstars of the future for their defense. Anderson recorded a sack, becoming the first rookie in Texans’ franchise history to record a sack in Week 1.

Check it out below.

.@will_anderson28 is the first rookie in franchise history to record a sack in Week 1 😤 pic.twitter.com/JTOgt7UD0o

— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) September 10, 2023

He was a problem in the backfield all game long on Sunday afternoon, letting the rest of the league know he’s going to be a highly, highly disruptive force for several years to come. Per Next Gen Stats, Anderson generated six pressures in his NFL debut, the most by a rookie in Week 1 since Nick Bosa and Josh Allen in 2019. Anderson generated six defensive stops, tied for the most by a rookie EDGE in Week 1 in the NGS era (since 2016).

Being a top draft pick in the NFL comes with a lot of pressure to perform as the future of the franchise, but thankfully for Will Anderson, he has quarterback CJ Stroud to help him shoulder the load.

The Houston Texans orchestrated a trade on draft day this year that allowed them to select Stroud with the No. 2 overall pick of the draft and Anderson right after him with the No. 3 pick. And during the Texans’ preseason finale versus the New Orleans Saints, Anderson spoke about his bond with his new teammate.

“It makes both of our jobs really easy, we lean on each other a lot,” Anderson said. “When I’m having a bad day he picks me up, if he’s having a bad day I pick him up. We always tell each other we’ve been playing football for a long time, it’s just at another level with greater competition, it’s what we do. And I think the coaches do a really good job of making sure that we’re prepared and that we know what to do.”

Anderson and Stroud both excelled respectfully on both sides of the ball during their collegiate careers.

Anderson took home the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year award at Alabama in 2020 and 2021, ending his career with the Crimson Tide with 34.5 sacks and 58.5 tackles for loss.

He spent his college days wreaking havoc on offenses and specifically quarterbacks, but now plays with a quarterback who struck fear into his opponents during his career with the Buckeyes.

Just like Anderson was dominant in 2020 and 2021, so was Stroud, who was a two-time Big Ten Quarterback and Offensive Player of the Year. In his two seasons as Ohio State‘s starter, Stroud threw for an impressive 8,123 yards and 85 touchdown passes, and will look to take that same production from Columbus to Houston this season.

“We gotta make me better you know what I’m saying? He can do everything that you want out of a quarterback so it’s really great going against a guy like CJ who has all the tools and ability to help me see different type of quarterbacks each week,” Anderson said.

The duo will continue to push each other on opposite sides of the ball leading into the season, but will join forces on Sundays in an attempt to prove they were both worthy of high draft selections.

On3’s Kaiden Smith also contributed to this article.