Texans’ Ryans on Will Anderson Pressure: ‘We Have Resilient Young Men!’

Houston Texans coach DeMeco Ryans believes rookie pass rusher Will Anderson will be able to handle any attention that comes his way.

Just by virtue of being the No. 3 overall pick, there will be quite a bit of pressure on Houston Texans rookie pass rusher Will Anderson Jr. to make an immediate impact for a franchise that's won just 11 games over the last three seasons. 

Houston, though, traded away their 2024 first-round pick to the Arizona Cardinals to be able to move up and take Anderson with the third selection, immediately after taking quarterback C.J. Stroud. From that perspective, there's even more pressure on Anderson than the typical top-five pick, because Anderson is going to be compared to whatever that selection turns into for Arizona, be it Ohio State receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. or someone else. 

Coach DeMeco Ryans believes that Anderson is more than capable of handling any attention -- positive or negative -- that will come his way. 

“Attention … being in our profession … It’s not a big deal for our guys,” Ryans said. “They can handle it. That’s why we selected the guys that we selected. We know that they can function under pressure situations … 

“We have resilient young men who will go out and perform to the best of their ability.”

It's true that Anderson has had attention on him for the entirety of his football career to this point, and it hasn't seemed to affect him at all. He was a five-star recruit coming out of Dutchtown High School in Georgia, and parlayed that into an excellent career for Nick Saban at Alabama, the most-talked-about team in collegiate athletics. It would be easier to list the awards Anderson didn't win during his three seasons at Alabama, as opposed to the ones he did. 

At Alabama, basically any season that doesn't end with the team winning the College Football Playoff National Championship is considered a failure. Now, Alabama typically has the most talented roster in the sport, but the week-to-week stress under such expectations has to be high. 

If anything, any attention Anderson receives in Houston will feel like small potatoes when compared to the expectation of going undefeated every year with the Crimson Tide. … Or, at least he might be used to what’s about to come.

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