INDIANAPOLIS — Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson knew what to prepare for in Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields’ final college game. He knew the stakes, too: the national championship at the end of the 2020 season.
“Going into that game, we were like, ‘We gotta contain him,’” Anderson said Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “’We can’t let him run all over the place. We have to make sure he stays in the pocket.’”
They made sure of that, beating the Buckeyes, 52-24.
“He’s a fantastic athlete,” Anderson said. “He’s from Georgia as well, so I’m a little familiar with him. I’m super-excited and think he’s going to have a really great career.”
Moreso than any other player in the draft, Anderson is expected to, too.
Maybe they’ll do it on the same team.
The Bears hold the No. 1 pick in next month’s draft. Anderson might be the draft’s only can’t-miss prospect, particularly after two arrest warrants were issued for Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter on Wednesday.
The Bears prefer to trade their No. 1 pick to a team who wants to take a quarterback, but a case could be made that the safest move general manager Ryan Poles could make is to take Anderson first overall.
On paper, Anderson and the Bears feel like a perfect match. Anderson is the best edge rusher in the draft, and the Bears are coming off a historically inept season rushing the passer. The Bears finished with 20 sacks, dead last in the NFL and less than half the total of 13 teams. The lead-leading Eagles, by contrast, had 70.
The entire Bears defense totaled only 1 ½ more sacks in 2022 than Robert Quinn did by himself the year before.
Anderson’s college production is unmatched in this year’s draft. In three seasons, he totaled 34 ½ sacks while playing in the nation’s toughest conference.
The 6-4, 235-pound Anderson would fit Eberflus’ description of an ideal defensive lineman — “Big, long and fast,” the coach said — on a team that desperately needs one.
In Eberflus’ 4-3 scheme, though, Anderson would have to play with his hand in the dirt rather than standing upright the way he did at Alabama. That could prove to be just a minor detail.
When Eberflus described his ideal pass rusher earlier this week, it sounded a lot like Anderson. When watching film with members of the Bears front office, Eberflus looks for defenders who can turn the corner when rushing.
“When they get to the ‘move’ area, the ones that can’t get there, they start working away from the quarterback,” he said. “The ones that do, they have everything pointed — their hips, their toes, their knees — everything toward the quarterback. And they have the ability to work their move around the edge. And then when they get past the quarterback, they have strength to be able to work back inside.
“Those are the things we look at. Obviously, you have to have great athleticism and a great get-off helps, too. Those are the things we look at.”
Using his H.I.T.S. system, Eberflus looks for players who are dialed in for every play. That’s Anderson, too.
“Nothing has to motivate me to get ready to go play a football game,” he said. “It’s already in me. That’s how much I love the game.”
Anderson has watched Bears’ film too — he lists former Bear Khalil Mack and the 49ers’ Nick Bosa among his favorite pass-rushers. He met with the Bears earlier this week at the Combine; as of Wednesday morning, they were one of seven teams to talk to him.
“Went in there, watched a couple tapes — they got to know me, I got to know them,” he said. “The culture’s great, and I can tell they’re on to something special.”
