A Day in Houston With NFL Superstar Will Anderson Jr.

you tell Hey yo, chill.

At just 25 years old, Will Anderson Jr.

is already the NFL's highest paid non-quarterback ever.

Can I get a matcha, please?

Sports Illustrated spent a day in Houston with the Texans superstar pass rusher to find out who Will Anderson really is both on and off the field.

Yeah, man, the city opened me and my family with open arms.

They loved us.

It's really fast-paced.

They teach you a lot of discipline .

It's a great city, great nightlife, great people.

One way it's changed is getting used to the heat.

I can say that.

You put too much lotion on yourself out here, man, you're gonna sweat as soon as you get to the car.

But ultimately, man, I think, what's the mission, you know, coming here, obviously it's not about the nightlife, it's not about, you know, going out all the time.

It's about bringing the city a Super Bowl and that's really something that we want to do that it's never been done here.

Mornings for Anderson start in the lab, working to get better.

And on some days, he's training alongside the NFL's all-time single-season sack leader, Miles Garrett.

It's unreal, because he's a superhuman, like, man, you talk about somebody who has an incredible work ethic, um, discipline, and is consistent.

He's taught me so much and I see why he's so successful because he takes his craft very seriously, like eating.

Working out, walking, stretching, all of those great things that you have to be to be a top player in this league, and he does that.

But it gets really competitive too.

We talk a lot of smack and, you know, certain things he might be better than me at, certain things I might be better than him at, and we just keep working on those things, so one day you look up and I'm beating him in this, he's beating me in that, but the competition makes both of us continue to grow in our game.

Like I'm almost as competitive as I am with football with fishing, like, I'm not gonna lie.

Uh, I was on a boat recently with Miles, and it's like, it's way more competitive.

Like you can be competitive, but like your boy could be over there catching all the fish, and y'all using the same bait, same rod in the same area, and you won't catch nothing.

So it's just like, how competitive can you really be?

It's really just about patience and like, man, just hoping a fish bite one of y'all baits, but yeah.

Houston was my 1st 30 visit, and man, I, I fell in love with it.

And I told my agent after that visit, I was like, man, I don't care what you got to do.

I want to be in Houston.

So draft night come around, and take my boy Bryce with the Carolina Panthers first, and then CJ goes, Arizona's on the clock on the green screen.

I could tell like me and Arizona , we didn't have the best relationship, and so they're still up and I get a phone call from Houston, and Damico, I'm thinking he's calling me like, hey man, like sorry we couldn't get you, you know, um, and he was like, we're drafting you.

That was like the highlight of my night.

Like I wanted to be there.

I wanted my family to be there.

I wanted to play with these guys.

I wanted to get coached by him.

It just felt like a dream come true.

You know, a lot of people were saying like they gave up too much for him, all this other stuff, but then it gave me the confidence, so it's like, OK, I'm somewhere where they really want me if they're gonna do something like that.

Speaking with D'Amico, when I first got there, you know , he was like, we don't want you to be Superman, we just want you to be Will Anderson Junior that you were at Alabama, and he taught me how to go through my process.

So every day just going through my process, enjoying that process and being consistent helped me get to where I'm at now.

Between workouts it's the simple pleasures like a stop at his favorite local coffee shop that keep Will happy.

We're gonna get some matcha right quick at a place my sister put me on to.

Ain't gonna lie, they got this fire banana bread.

I'm gonna let y'all try it, Shakeem.

I think you will appreciate this.

I go here and this's where the past couple of, I'll probably say weeks since like OTAs of being back here.

I come here after practice and I've been like.

Obviously, Picking up cameras and stuff like that.

I go ahead and learn about all the cameras I've been buying and just like all the different stuff or just chilling, listening to music.

So I get a matcha.

I get 2 pumps of vanillay, honey, vanilla cold foam.

And does it become healthy at that point?

It's still healthy.

I, I don't know.

How you doing?

This uh banana bread I was telling you about.

Ain't the banana bread good.

It's delicious.

How you doing?

I'm good.

How are you doing?

I'm doing good.

Can I get a matcha, please?

Ice, that'll be ice.

Can I do oat milk?

Yeah, can I get 2 pumps of vanilla syrup?

Some honey I'm gonna do Starbury Colone.

All right, now we wait.

What you got, twin?

He's so healthy, bro.

You get a matcha too?

You must be new.

I've never seen you in here before.

I I was a barista at Snow pucks.

Oh, OK, I know where's that at?

I'm very social, so I've also met a lot of great people just by naturally talking to them first, you know what I'm saying?

Like they don't know who I am, no nothing, but I met a lot of people like that which has been really great and like it's a bunch of great people down here.

Uh uh, no.

Yeah, I got a Canon uh AE1 program.

It's a film camera that I just picked up uh earlier this offseason.

Instead of just being focused on one thing, it was so many different things in the picture that you could focus on.

Um, and I think that's what art is, I think that's what photography is.

A lot of times, sometimes, when you look at photography, you look at art, people like to just zoom in on like just one little thing, but it may be the thing that's behind actually what everybody else is looking at.

I could be taking a picture of you, but really I'm looking at this like white thing right here, and like that's the big picture.

So for me, like that's kind of what that picture does for me.

Mhm.

It's good.

I want another one for breakfast.

I told you.

How are you with your nutrition?

Oh, I'm locked in.

I'm dialed in.

I got my cheat days.

I have my McGriddle, I have my apple fritter on Tuesdays, but I lock in for the rest of the week.

I think that's like one of the things I learned from Miles early on when I got down there with him, is how important nutrition is.

I got a chef and everything.

I'll be sending him ideas from Instagram.

I need in my Instagram, but healthy ones, healthy ones, healthy ones.

Last year was my first time having a shove.

I got down to, I mean, 11% body fat, and this year I want to get down to about 10 or 9% body fat.

Uh, it's, it's, it, it's consistency that's the hardest part.

Because sometimes I feel like if I eat like crap, I have my best games, and then sometimes when I do eat like crap, I don't have my best games.

But honestly, I felt the best I've felt since I've been in the league, eating the right way and eating healthy, like, lasting longer when it comes to like playing in games, getting into the 4th quarter, my body's feeling good, you're having more energy.

So, uh, I think the more consistent you are with eating your greens, like I remember Daniel, when he first met me.

I was in the cafeteria after practice and I was just smashing like straight protein and like a whole bunch of like garbage stuff.

He was like , man, if you want to last a long time in this league, you got to eat your vegetables or whatever like that.

And he was low-key kind of like upset at me a little bit like, like checking me low-key.

And I was like, you know what, you're right.

I'll be locked in and dialed in, but Tuesday is usually like my cheat day.

Gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated is a dream come true for Will, and he takes his style just as seriously as his play.

Alongside celebrity stylist Dex Robinson , Will curates a game plan that goes well beyond the football field.

As we think about it, because this will be like what your last shooting before you go to camp, we'll do something like a very classy, yeah, something, you know, like elevated.

Think about it from a cover standpoint, it probably can't be too busy, like from a fashion standpoint, was Sports Illustrated and like it's Vogue.

I know, um, fashion has become a big part of your lifestyle and your brand.

How'd you kind of like get into that world?

Yeah, so from a young age, my mom, she used to put me in polo all the time.

And so I never dressed like the rest of the kids.

The rest of the kids were like more like streetwear, and so I was always kind of like in a bigger lab, but like an upscale polo cause my dad wore polo a lot too, so Mom, I'll never forget the day she got mad at me because I told her I didn't want to wear polo no more.

So it kind of came from there, and as I got older, I've always had a vision of how I wanted to look and how I wanted to dress.

I said I was turning 25 this year and I was playing around with decks, but it's like, I love the look of looking clean, looking classy , looking silk, you know what I'm saying?

Like I'm a grown man, but I love like button-ups, I love slacks, I love like dress shoes, anything like that.

First time I met Dex, man, it was just like we clicked instantly.

He had a really great personality.

His style for fashion was through the roof.

He's a really great dude.

He takes the time to really learn your style and who you are as a person.

And I think a good thing that he does, he tries to connect your personality with your style of fashion to make it speak volumes to who you really are, that he's taken the, the fashion scene by a storm for sure.

Mhm.

Yeah, when I'm in like uh my car or anything like that, I don't really listen to a lot of rap music.

Rap music don't really last that long in my car unless I'm going out.

And I just need like a pre-life.

Get ready.

The vibe when I'm just driving, Drake for sure.

Hands down, Drake for sure.

Something chill, something mellow, some Brent, some Bryson Tiller, a little snow Allegra, scissor here and there.

I love 90s R&B, 90s R&B, like my pants kind of ruined me with 90s R&B, so, uh, Donnell Jones said I won't be coming home.

Alright, na na na na na na na na na na na na na.

We don't do shows for free.

You become the highest non-quarterback.

Like, what's your mindset now knowing that you've kind of made this mark ?

The confidence is already there.

I think now, like I look at pressure as an opportunity.

Like it's an opportunity to grow, it's an opportunity to get better.

And for me, yeah, the money's in my bank account, but the way I look at it is like, man, there's so much more left on the field cause I'm only going into my 4th year, and I hadn't even achieved everything that I've wanted to achieve yet.

How many sacks I can get in one season, breaking records, all those things are still out there for me cause I'm such an early stage in my career right now.

Was I planning on getting an extension?

Like, that wasn't really a goal of mine, but through the hard work, through the consistency of being in this league, it showed up early for me.

But you mean you talk about goals that I've been setting for a long time to come into the league and do, man, it's right ahead of me and right for me to go take it.

It's a stigma that comes with being quote unquote highest paid this, that.

What would you say the best and worst splurge you've had?

The best and worst splurge I've had.

Probably the best one so far.

Has been able to take care of my family like I paid off all their debts, release stress that they don't have to like go through anymore was great.

I would say personally for me.

I bought a Shelby that I really didn't want early on in my career though.

I was like, I got the bread.

I can buy whatever I want.

Having to sit that low and then pull myself out of the car is like, I was like, no, bro.

So I just traded it back in.

Probably my May back, and I'm gonna get a boat.

My Maybach was probably like 3.

Read something .

I'm not gonna lie, and uh that's my baby though.

I drive it and my teammates be laughing at me and that's not even the car you're supposed to be driving.

I just be like, bro, we ride so smooth, and I sat in the back.

It kind of feel like you're being in the airplane a little bit, but I don't want nobody else driving me around.

I feel like that's a different class of like bougie, and I'm from the South, and I ain't that bougie.

I ain't bougie at all, man.

In fact, drinking match, he's a little bougie.

Hey yo, chill.

In a city full of hidden gems, Will found his favorite spot to kick back and relax when he's off the field.

I'm a backend type of guy.

I don't know about.

Everybody else, cause you wanna know who told me to always back in Brass .

And so he gave me a scenario like if something happened, you just need to be able to get in your car and go.

You just never know what's gonna happen, bro.

He said as a man, you gotta back as a man, you gotta learn how to back up, bro.

Shout out to Bruss.

So we have the post now.

Got a whole bunch of like food places and stuff, but one of my favorite areas to come is chill.

It's a great vibe to sit down.

They got art shows, good food.

They got this hot dog place called Yo Yo's Hot Dog, Fire.

How did we find out about the post?

So I originally had a photoshoot here with the Texans, but we were on the opposite side where we're gonna go next.

And I think I walked in here like when I was leaving or whatever like that, and one day, me and my sister.

We did this thing where we like try almost everything here but we didn't eat everything I promise we didn't eat everything personally my favorite place, well we can come over here you can come in this spot, one of the best burgers in Houston.

I get that double good.

I get a double patty though.

I don't get a single patty.

Rank, if you see this, you need to come try Johnny's burger, bro.

They just got the World Cup here so they just put this TV up here and they just opened this up too, yeah, for the World Cup.

They just did all this right here.

Hey, you got to try on these hot dogs.

It's a vegan.

I'm not eating all three of these.

I just wanna let you know.

You're from New York.

Don't be scared to get your hands dirty.

Come on, you gotta do it the Houston way.

You're from New York, yo.

It's like a chopped cheese.

you.

Not bad.

But like I said, it's a good place to come chill.

Nobody really bothering me for real.

Ain't gonna lie, it's a little height, you know.

Oh Woo! How you doing?

You all right?

Yep.

I ain't got no hot dog residue on my face.

So, then, I wish we was up here at night, cause it's crazy up here at night.

And this is the best part over here.

You get to see the city line right here.

And they have like different events and stuff up here.

The Other than just the pictures, man, it's a good place to just come chill, come vibe, you know.

Nice scenery.

This Texas transplant has clearly found a home in Houston.

And if Will continues on his current trajectory.

His name will surely ring bells throughout this city for years to come.

Being around Miles, seeing how he handles his body and how he acts.

Appreciate y'all.

Yeah, this is my first time doing something like this.

You said it was so easy.

I don't really do a lot of ride alongs.

We can put that in the bloopers.