Will Anderson Jr. -350 to be the First Defensive Player Drafted

After a couple dominating years at Alabama Will Anderson Jr. is the favorite to be the first defensive player drafted in this year’s NFL draft, and this article will explain why that is a great bet.

Combine

After a 4.6 40-yard dash and a 1.61 10-yard split Anderson showed why he is one of the most athletic edge rushers to enter the draft. Anderson did not do the vertical or broad jump, but based on tape he would have scored highly in that as well.

Scoring a 99 out of 100 on production grading via NFL.com Anderson only scored a 70 on the athleticism grading, that as first may have scared teams. However, Anderson’s tape is out of this world and will be fully talked about later in this article.

Compared to another potential defensive player to be drafted first, Jalen Carter, Anderson has no off the field issues, as Carter was recently arrested.

History of the First Defensive Player Drafted

Since 2000 18 times the first defensive player drafted was a defensive lineman and 15 of those 18 times it was an edge rusher. As the most important position in sports, teams are always looking for a player that can get after the quarterback and help disrupt the other team’s offense.

Majority of those times a player that has extreme athleticism and production will go first, and that is exactly what Will Anderson Jr. showed at Alabama. Anderson also has the college hardware that many of the other first defensive players drafted had.

With this year’s quarterback class, all projected to go early teams will be leap-frogging each other, and this will make Will Anderson Jr. the prize pick remaining that will make any team happy to take him.

Film

The only concern on Anderson is that his athleticism was off the charts, but when you watch the tape, you can’t help but say he is a generation pass rusher. Anderson had double-digit tackles for loss in all three seasons he played at Alabama.

His sophomore tape is the cream of the crop, as he totaled 31.0 tackles for loss and 17.0 sacks as the film is simply insane, if he was draft eligible that year he would have easily gone first over Travon Walker.

Overall, the return on your money isn’t plus money, but when a bet is as much of a lock as this one you should do yourself a favor and place the bet that Will Anderson Jr. will be the first defensive player drafted in this year’s NFL draft.