OLB Ryan Anderson: The Good, the Great and the Ugly
The New York Giants addressed their EDGE position in free agency before selecting Azeez Ojulari and Elerson Smith in the draft. New York brought in Ifeadi Odenigbo from Minnesota and Ryan Anderson from Washington. The latter was a second-round pick in 2017 out of the University of Alabama.
Big Blue may not have had the most explosive pass rushers in the league during the 2020 season, but players like Jabaal Sheard and Kyler Fackrell had specific roles in this Patrick Graham system.
They were both solid run defenders who could uphold the continuity of the defense by setting strong edges and spilling the football outside to secondary contain defenders.
Both Sheard and Fackrell are no longer Giants, but Gettleman and Company ensured they found solid EDGE setters to replace the 2020 production, and Ryan Anderson is one of them.
Anderson has 86 career tackles, 7 for a loss, and six sacks. He’s not very athletic, nor is he long, but he has the posterior strength to anchor down, which is a necessary trait for early-down work in this defense. Let’s dive into this edition of the Good, the Great, and the Ugly. (Anderson is No. 52 in the clips shown.)
The Good: Run Physicality
(right side)
The Bears run a power/gap concept to Anderson’s side, and he maintains the defense’s framework by following his rules: block down, step down, squeeze. The block down/step down rule is meant to restrict the D-gap rushing lane.
On this play, Anderson isn’t the primary contain defender, No. 20 comes screaming around the EDGE, but it’s still on Anderson to squeeze the gap and spill the run outside - keep the rushing lanes narrow and tight and don’t allow big alleys to develop.
Anderson does a great job getting low and attacking the outside hip of the pulling lineman while keeping his outer arm free. Anderson’s instincts put him in a position that creates a traffic jam in the backfield due to his recognition and ability to locate the puller before the puller gets to him.
This is a good way to take on the puller and disallow the running scheme to ever get set up. It restricts the running back and results in a defensive STOP.
(right side)
Here is a counter run, pin-pull, with both guards as pullers because the defensive line uses two 2-techniques. Anderson takes on the play-side guard and absorbs the contact well while fitting his hands into the breastplate and controlling the point of attack.
The guard attempts to turn and seal the edge, but Anderson uses his strength to pull the guard downward and outside - the guard hits the deck, Anderson successfully sheds, and a tackle is made.
(right side)
This doesn’t seem too complicated because he is unblocked, but he reads his keys well. He witnesses the step-down and sees the power/gap play coming, so he attacks tight off the backside of the tackle, keeping his path tight to the line of scrimmage.
The puller is naturally a bit more off the line of scrimmage, so he doesn’t have the opportunity to locate Anderson, who seems to watch his film and reacts very well to these types of concepts. This is a good way to put yourself into a position to make good plays on the football.
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The Great: He Can Destroy Blocks by Tight Ends
(right side of the screen)
As one can see, Anderson plays with natural leverage since he’s only 6’2 and he has a compact 253 pounds. His lack of length is a major issue in many areas, but he still uses good play strength to hold up at the point of attack on the EDGE.
He takes on former Giants’ tight end Rhett Ellison (no. 85) in the clip above and does a great job disposing of a poor blocking attempt by shocking with his strong hands. Then he exploded low to high before using his great upper body strength to shed.
(right side of the screen)
Anderson goes up against a tight end here but wins a different way; he slants and attacks inside while using good key & diagnosing ability to shoot into and penetrate the overloaded front.
He takes a very good angle to not allow the outside tight end to reach his chest while driving through the blocking attempt and tackling the running back for a loss.
Despite his lack of athletic ability, he does a solid job reading plays and reacting well off the snap--he puts himself into a solid position to not be exposed.
(Bottom of screen)
This is similar to where Anderson anticipates the run and does a good job shooting the interior gap. He beats the tight end inside and crashes down the line of scrimmage, but this time he loses his balance as he moves laterally, and the tight end is able to take advantage of that by shoving him to the deck. Initially, it looked like the tight end would be in a bad position here, but it was a solid recovery.
(left side)
Anderson doesn’t win with strength or superior hand usage here, but he wins with a bit of lateral quickness and takes advantage of a lunging tight end. He shows some craftiness and quick hands to use the club/swim combination; this ultimately forces the tight end to whiff, and Anderson separates too close towards the ball carrier.
Anderson uses his inside arm to subtly knock the inside arm of the tight end downward, forwarding his momentum just enough so he can quickly hit a swim move with that same inside hand to fully disengage. After that is completed, Anderson crashes the rushing lane and makes a tackle.
The Ugly: Pass Rush Production
Anderson has 39 pressures and six sacks on 238 pass-rushing reps since he entered the league. It’s not groundbreaking, nor is it terrible.
After diving into the pressures and sack production, it’s hard to come away thinking this guy can have a significant impact as a pass rusher other than stunt/twist and unblocked production--winning one on one and finishing isn’t frequent in his film.
(left side)
Here’s a sack earned when Dak Prescott (4) loses his balance and is a sitting duck on the deck for a sack. Anderson attempts to stress the edge from the wide alignment, but the tackle’s vertical set eliminates the path.
(right side)
Here is another wide alignment rush against a top tackle in the league in the Eagles’ Lane Johnson.
This is not a bad rep from Anderson whatsoever, and he does show adjustment ability and feel for the quarterback’s movements, but it also displays that lack of earning sacks that aren’t on broken type of plays.
This is more of a coverage sack than anything else, and that’s a primary way that Anderson earns his production as a pass rusher.
(right side)
This one is a 3rd-and-long situation where Anderson is just waiting for the quarterback to move out; Washington doesn’t bring any pressure, which gives the quarterback an illusion that he can escape, but Anderson is there to clean up the sack.
(right side)
Anderson attacks unblocked here and does a solid job anticipating the play-action bootleg. Good on him for not biting down the line of scrimmage and showing discipline in that area, but he gets an unblocked sack; I don’t want to berate him for putting himself into good positions as he does in some of these sacks.
Instead, I want to address that Anderson is not a pass-rushing specialist, and he’s more of a sound run defender who can have a role within Patrick Graham’s system. It may not be a third-down role, but an important one nonetheless.
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