Everything Texans DE Will Anderson Jr. said following his contract extension signing

Q: On how he plans to grow as a player

Anderson: “I think it's staying to the process, not changing. I think it's about growth and obviously maturity. But I think it's about you just keep going in your same process. A lot of times, I'm young at this, guys will want to change or do more. I think the biggest thing that I'm going to keep with me is what [Head Coach] DeMeco [Ryans] told me when I first got here, ‘You don't got to be Superman, just go be the same person you've been when we drafted you, when you were at Alabama, the leader, the player that you were.’ That's what's been helping me succeed so far. So, just continue to be myself, continue to grow my game, grow up my teammates, have fun with them and just go play for them.”

Dec 7, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Houston Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. (51) and Houston Texans safety Jalen Pitre (5) celebrate after sacking Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) during the first quarter at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Q: On team goals

Anderson: “It doesn't pass my mind. After the last game, that's something that, going into workouts, going into training, that's literally all I've been thinking about. Ask me about the contract, yeah, the contract is cool. But ask me about winning, that's more important. How we get over this hump, how we can get past the second round is really what's been on my mind. I think we did a really good job with free agency going to get a lot of great guys. I'm excited about this year. Like I said, I know where this team can go. We have the pieces to do it. We have the coaching staff to do it. I'm excited to get rolling and see what we do this year.”

Q: On what he is looking forward to working on this offseason

Anderson: “First, I always think it starts mental. How's your mental? How's your headspace? Getting back in the right mindset, making sure that your mind is right so you can go out performing the best you can. Obviously, for me, I still feel like in my game, I haven't even reached the period of where I want to be at in my game. I think this offseason I’m going to continue to build my body up to be able to bend or to be able to finish on the quarterback. I think that's the next step, just being able to finish on the quarterback. I've been joking with [Cleveland Browns DE] Myles [Garrett], and we've been going at it. He's like, ‘Pressures aren’t going to cut it, big dog.’ We've been going back and forth. But it's been fun.”

Q: On the bond he shares with Head Coach DeMeco Ryans and if he is proud of the culture that he has been built here

Anderson: “Yeah, I'm super proud of the culture that has been built here. Again, big shout-out to DeMeco because DeMeco did a really good job. You talk to other players around the league when you go to the Pro Bowl and they were like, ‘We don't have a foundation of who we are. We don't have anything to lean back on when things go wrong.’ I think DeMeco always preaches S.W.A.R.M. It's been brainwashed in everybody in this building from every point of the building. We swarm and just talking about our relationship, he has an open door policy. There is never a time that I can't go to him and talk to him. He's in his word as well. So, we connect on a spiritual level as well.”

Q: On which one of his sisters has been the roughest on him so far leading up to this point

Anderson: “Let me put this out here too, because my sister's been getting crazy comments and everything. My sisters are the best. I wouldn't be here without them, so y'all can chill on them. But all of them, all of them, I would say. I don't think it's just one. I think they all played a big part in helping me get to where I'm at. Like I said, driving me up and down the road, taking me to practice, trying to get out in the yard and do different things with me, buying me clothes, cleats when they had the money when my parents didn't. I think all of them played a really big part. But who get on my nerves the most probably would be ‘Riri’ [Teria Anderson]. She's here right now. But that's my best friend, though, so she good.”

Oct 26, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. (51) reacts after a defensive play during the third quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Q: On when he knew he was going to be a Texan

Anderson: “I don't, because in the green room, Arizona was still on the clock, and that's a whole other conversation for another time. But Arizona's still on the clock. It was like a minute 30 left and I tell this story all the time. I promise you I'm not lying. DeMeco had called me, because at the time me and DeMeco, we had a pretty good relationship. I'm thinking he's calling me like, ‘Yeah, man, I'm sorry we couldn't get you.’ Then he told me he was drafting me, and I just went crazy, like went crazy. Like I said, I really wanted to be here. I really wanted to be a part of something very special. As you can see, we've been on the up and up and I think we're trending in the right way to get it done.”

Q: On if the investment the team makes in him take it up another notch from a leadership standpoint

Anderson: “Yeah, most definitely. I think it does, but at the end of the day, I think it's how you come into the building every day. Every day you got to come into the building and be your authentic self. No matter what you're going through, you've got to leave it at the door, and you've got to come in here and whether you're a leader, wherever it may be, you have to lead. I think that's something I've just been taught either at [University of] Alabama or throughout my years of life, is just coming here, being my authentic self, and leading in the right way that I can. So contract, no contract, they handed me a responsibility, so I had to come in here and do that for the organization, for myself, for my teammates, and just the betterment of everybody else.”

Q: On the timeline from when the extension was official

Anderson: “Yeah, I was training down in Dallas. I had to check my phone real quick, because I knew Nicole [Lynn] was on me about it. I was training, I was training, and we took a little break, and she called me, and she was like, ‘Whenever you get done, I need you to call me ASAP’. My heart kind of dropped, and I'm like, ‘I'm in here training, what's going on?’ I get home, and she calls me, and she tells me everything, and I literally just dropped to my knees. Literally just dropped to my knees in like total thanks, tears. Then I had to get on the flight the same day and I felt bad for the lady sitting beside me, because she was probably so concerned about me, because I was crying the whole flight. I was crying the whole flight. Then we FaceTimed my parents. My mom, she wasn't able to be on the FaceTime call, because she was flying back to Georgia, and my whole family just went crazy. It was just a big moment for us, like I said, it's bigger than me. I think about my family, I think about everything that we've been through, and to be able to bless them just as much as they've blessed me.”

Sep 15, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. (51) celebrates after a defensive play during the fourth quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Q: On what age he decided he wanted to be a football player and what he would go back and tell that little boy knowing the position he is in now

Anderson: “I think that's what makes the story so great, because I never wanted to be a football player. They put me in football, and I just remember going through it, and rolling around in grass. He is probably going to hate that I put him on the spot, but Coach Rod [Wright], big shout out to him. He's everything that you want to ask for in a coach. Whether it's just coaching you, being a man of God, a great husband, a great father. He's been like a father figure to me. He knows me and I've had this conversation plenty of times. The story's just funny, because it's like, God has just been working unbelievably in my life. I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be a football player. It's like the journey's just been step by step. I found out I was good in high school my sophomore year, then God was like, ‘Okay, we can go to college,’ and I'm not even thinking about college. I get to Alabama, then it's like, ‘Oh, you're great. You can go to the league,’ then I get to the league, and I'm just like, ‘Well, I know I'm good, but am I good enough to do this?’ Then God has just been, man, just how he works is just unbelievable. If I had to go back to my high school, that's when I really was like, ‘Okay, you got a chance,’ I don't even know what I would tell him, because I was just outside having fun playing with my friends, but I would tell him, ‘Man, just stay true to your authentic self. Let God lead you, walk in your light and have fun doing that.”

Q: On why this contract extension was so emotional

Anderson: “Kind of just piggybacking off what I said a couple of minutes ago, this was never… I didn't have pictures of football in my room. The Falcons were our favorite team, but I didn't grow up watching football, any of that. Life has just been, it's journey itself. It's just been, like, one at a time. When this happened, like I said, I was just thinking about nobody but my family, man. I didn't think about what I was going to get, what I was going to buy or nothing. I'm like my family is set, that's it. I think that's why I got so emotional, because these two right here, being in a three-bedroom house with six kids wasn't easy, working long nights. My mom got to work overtime, my dad working overtime. He don't get to see us like that. It meant the world for me to do what I do. It means everything for me to wake up every morning to put these shoulder pads on, to put the helmet on, and strap up, knowing what I do it for, knowing my purpose. My family is one of my biggest purposes that I do this for.”

Q: On what he thinks his late grandmother would say right now

Anderson: “’Look at little Willy go.’ That's what she would have said. ‘Look at little Will go.’ She would be so proud, She learned how to use YouTube because of me playing football. She'd probably be posting all over Facebook right now. But she was a big influence in my life as well. Walking me out the door every morning before going to school. She couldn't walk down to the stadium, so she'd stay up on the hill and watch the games. I remember one time, I don't even know how she seen this, but I had got pancaked so bad. This was when I first started. She said, ‘I seen that big ‘ol boy laying on you down there.’ I was like, “Dang’. But no, she would just be really proud and everything that I am is because of her as well. I still hold her closely to my heart and what I do, a lot of tears that they see before the games, a lot of that is for her too.”

Sep 21, 2025; Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Houston Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. (51) celebrates after a sack during the second quarter against the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images

Q: On when he decided to pursue being a football player

Anderson: “Really when I got to high school. Actually, I thought I was going to be a running back. I wore No. 28 because I wanted to be a running back like Adrian Peterson and Coach ‘Rod’, my high school coach, Coach Rodgers. Shout out to him. I'll never forget. He was like, ‘I'm moving your position to defensive end.’ And I cried. I cried. I called my mom. I was like, ‘Mom, they trying to move me to defensive end.’ And it worked out. But after my sophomore year, it worked out. After my sophomore year, I didn't play my freshman year. My sophomore year, one of my big bros took me to a trainer. I started training. I took off my sophomore year. I had a really great sophomore year in high school. Ever since then, I didn't look back. My dad put me in training. We’d have a game on Friday. Saturday morning, I'll be in training the next day, hurting. Ever since then, it's just the process, the grind never stopped.”

Q: On the process of preparing for a new season year after year

Anderson: “I think it's just the process. You got to have fun with your process. I think we do a really good job of our process here and having fun with our process. I think the people here make it really great too and make it really special. I think the locker room is what makes it really special. You have a bunch of guys that are hardworking guys that love football, that have embraced the culture. So, I don't really think it's redoing anything. I think it's just getting better and coming back and working just as hard as you did last year. We have a bunch of guys, man, that love ball. There is no question about that. So, when you say like having to do it again, man, this is what we look forward to. We get paid to do this. It's our job. I think everybody comes in with the right mindset, the right mentality. I think everybody in that locker room knows we have the guys to get it done. So, I don't think it's ever a question of like, ‘I got to do this again.’ It's like, we get to do this again. I get to go out with the same group of guys again that we had so much success last year. I know we're going to have even more success this year.”

Q: On how Head Coach DeMeco Ryans has helped shape him into who he is today

Anderson: “The one thing I love about DeMeco, he lets you be. He lets you figure it out. He lets you… [if] you're struggling a little bit, you'll talk, but he's going to let you figure it out. You're having a slow start to something, all right. That's what I love about him. He knows. He's been in our shoes before. He knows how the game works. I think that's what I appreciate about him so much because he doesn't hound you. He doesn't be all over you, and he lets you go play. I think it goes back to him being in his word as well, being grounded in his faith. I think that spreads throughout the whole locker room, seeing a head coach who's grounded in his faith, and he implements it in what he wants this team to be and how he wants this team to come up. For me, watching him lead and everything like that, as a leader I look up to him as well because I'm like, ‘He leads like this, I can maybe take a few nuggets from him, and the way he speaks, the way he has energy every day, the way he's the same guy every single day.’ We talk about coming to the building, he's the same exact guy every single day. Running sprints with us, talking crap, everything. Coming to the defensive meeting, making little jokes here and there. You just get the same guy every day, and I think that's what makes him great.”

Dec 27, 2025; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (10) takes the hit from Houston Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. (51) after throwing a pass during the second half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

Q: On his time speaking at a prison earlier in the offseason

Anderson: “We were up in San Francisco, I think that was during the Pro Bowl, and I had got the opportunity to go to ‘God Behind Bars’ with my agent Nicole, and it was a life-changing experience, very life-changing. Anybody that's deep in their word; the journey is something. Once you get close with God and you start on your journey, it's like that's when you start to see so much impurity in yourself and start to see the ways the world will pull you in. Sometimes it makes you question yourself, question other things. But walking into that prison and seeing how strong their faith was, and I think that's one of the biggest things that I don't think is talked about enough in Christianity is its faith-based. When I walked in there, these guys are facing life. They don't get to see their kids, don't get to see their families, but their faith was so strong in Jesus Christ. It literally changed my life because I'm out here. I'm free. I have so much free will. I can do what I want, but these guys are incarcerated and can't do much. But they're like, ‘The one thing that I can cling on to is my faith, and I know that my situation will get better.’ To be able to speak to those guys and to speak life into them is just as much as  they speak life into me. It was just a very wholesome moment.”

Q: On how his parents’ hard work impacted him

Anderson: “I guess I'll start with my dad first. My dad always told me he worked in a food warehouse that was very cold. He said, ‘I don't want you doing this. I never want you working this. I don't want you to be where I'm at.’ And he invested so much into me. The times that he wasn't at work, he always took me out with him wherever he went. But when I got a chance to go to work with him and I got to see how much of a hard worker he really was, and I remember he was a barber, and you get so much free time when you're a barber. But when you start having kids and everything like that, life changes. So, to see him put that down, go get a job and provide for this family, that's somebody that I look up to. He always tells me, ‘You're not a follower, you're a leader.’ I think that's something that stuck with me as well. But seeing his hard work every morning, getting up, dropping us off at school, not getting home until 12 a.m. some nights, have to get back up, do it again, couldn't make it to my practice but can make it to my games. Then you talk about my mom, my dad was always working. She'd go to work, got to deal with all her crazy clients or whatever, and then come home and deal with our craziness. But watching both of them in their workspaces, how they deal with people, how they talk to people, how they do their due diligence on their job and walking their purpose in their job, that's something that I took with me. When I come in the building, it's easy. It's easy, not because, of course, of what they instilled in me, but because of the people that's here, because of the guys that's here, because of the staff that they've built, because of the owners, the ‘GM’, the Head Coach, the staff that we have. It's easy. Everybody has the same goal in mind. Everybody wants to win, but everybody just wants to be a better human being. When you have a group of people like that, great things happen. I think that's why we've been on the up-and-up, because we have a great bunch of people in the building that want to see this place succeed, that want to take this place somewhere that it's never been. I'm just happy that I get to be a part of it.”

Nov 30, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Houston Texans defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins (90) and Houston Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. (51) celebrate after sacking Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones (17) during the first half at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

Q: On what it means to see the front office focusing on drafting and developing young players

Anderson: “Me and ‘Sting’ was just talking, and I was like, ‘I'm just trying to follow in the footsteps of greatness like you.’ To be able to come in here and see those guys, how hard they work and all that they accomplished since they've been here, it was an inspiration to me, inspiration to all the young guys. Me, C.J., Tank [Dell], that whole draft class that they had after them. All those guys are really hard workers, and they go out and perform for this organization, and they go out and they make highlights all day long. So, happy to have them here. They're a big inspiration to everybody in that locker room.”

Q: On what his first splurge item will be

Anderson: “I guess the only thing that I guess I'm going to splurge on a little bit is a fishing boat. I'm going to get me a speed boat. That's it.”

Q: On if QB C.J. Stroud reached out to congratulate him and what he likes about having him as a teammate

Anderson: “He had texted me. It was great. But coming in with C.J. has been awesome. It can be kind of hard when you come in by yourself and you got to figure things out, figure people out. But coming in with C.J. was great because we had each other our rookie year and we still got each other now. But to be able to come in with somebody who's also God-fearing as well but also loves his craft, loves to get better, and loves to see the guys around him succeed and also is a leader too, it was great for me because the days I was down, he was picking me up. The days he was down, I was picking him up. We just toughed it out and we did it.”

Q: On what the city of Houston means to him

Anderson: “Houston means the absolute world to me. No offense, I love Alabama. But when I found out I was coming to Houston, I was so excited. I was so excited because it reminds me of home. Fast-paced, great food, great weather, great people. But it means everything to me to be back here. I don't want to leave. I don't. It's been fun. I'm excited about it. I can't wait to see where we continue to go and where we continue to grow. I think it's going to be a really great year.”

This article originally appeared on Texans Wire: Everything Texans DE Will Anderson Jr. said following his contract extension signing