Adam Anderson Entering Make or Break Season
Edge rusher Adam Anderson has a big season ahead of him. He has all of the tools necessary in order to become a high draft pick in 2022 and has been pegged as a potential breakout player.
Anderson tallied 6.5 sacks last season, good for second on the team only to fellow edge rusher Azeez Ojulari.
Anderson is a scary athlete. He has the best bend of any rusher on the roster at this point and is an explosive mover in space. His ability to speed rush is a coveted skill in both the collegiate and professional ranks. The combination of his athletic ceiling along with his statistical production has the NFL Draft community on notice this season.
He played situational downs as a rusher last season but experiment with several new things this spring. He was playing the JACK role during spurts this spring, which he will likely need to do this fall due to their lack of depth at the OLB position as a whole. And he's also playing in space a bit more in the STAR role.
It all equates to one thing, more reps. Adam Anderson produced a sack one out of every 56 reps a year ago on just over 300 total snaps played, yielding 6.5 sacks. Whereas a player like Azeez Ojulari eclipsed 1300 total snaps to reach a season-high of 9.5 sacks a year ago.
Simply put, Adam Anderson's success rate on rushes is extremely high, and he's going to have a career year in terms of opportunities. Most of those pass-rushing reps will continue to come in one on one situations as well considering the talent of the interior defensive line for Georgia in 2021.
Everything is set up for Anderson to have a double-digit sack season. If he gets 10.0+ sacks, not only does that replace the production of a Top-50 NFL draft selection in Ojulari, but it will catapult Anderson's draft stock as well.
Remember this quote from now-former Georgia safety, Major Burns when he first arrived on campus?
"We got a big linebacker, I think his name is Adam. He's like 6'6 and runs a 4.3." - Major Burns
Everyone around the program raves about the mythically athletic specimen that is Adam Anderson. He will have a field day, not a pro-day. He will run extremely fast, jump really high, and move exceptionally well in the field drills.
However, there are two things that will likely keep him out of the first round for now... Weight and play strength.
At the conclusion of the 2020 season, Anderson came in at 6-5 and 230 lbs. That is a far cry from the measurables of first-round edge rushers.
2021 NFL Draft, 1st Round EDGE Rushers:
- Jaelan Phillips: 6-5, 260 lbs.
- Kwity Paye: 6-3, 270 lbs.
- Payton Turner: 6-5, 270 lbs.
- Gregory Rousseau: 6-6, 265 lbs.
- Odafe Oweh: 6-5, 260 lbs.
- Joe Tryon: 6-5, 260 lbs.
Part of the reason why Ojulari fell in the draft process was because of his overall size. At just under 6'3, 248 pounds, teams that run a base 4-3 defense needed bigger edge rushers to play on early downs. So, that removes players like Ojulari, and now Anderson, from the upper portion of draft boards for those teams. They become scheme-specific despite their overall talents.
Additionally, with that lack of daunting physical size, it brings a question of play strength on run downs. Ojulari proved through two years at the JACK position for Georgia that he could hold the point of attack. Anderson hasn't been given the opportunity yet to prove the ability to hold his ground on early run downs up to this point in his college career.
Considering in 2021, OLB Nolan Smith will be taking over the JACK position for Georgia, and Travon Walker is getting reps there as well, it doesn't appear Anderson's early run-down role will change all that much this season either.
So, to become a first-round talent this season, he's going to have to pad the stat book in the sacks department. Getting pressure on the quarterback has become the most valuable thing in the sport, and he's really good at it.
If he proves to be great at it, teams won't hesitate to throw millions of dollars at a player who's one-dimensionally excellent.
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