Texans defensive end Will Anderson Jr. joined In The Loop from Radio Row in New Orleans to talk about the offseason and what he's endorsing ahead of the Super Bowl.
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00:00Will Anderson is on his way to the Exclusive Furniture hot seat.
00:03There is something not right about him wearing a jacket that says chunky.
00:07Well look, we got to ask him about it because joining us right this moment,
00:12he is about to sit down in our Exclusive Furniture hot seat.
00:16It's a man who, uh, it's a man who won Defensive Rookie of the Year.
00:20He plays for your Houston Texans and his name is Will Anderson Jr.
00:24He just took a little lean back in the hot seat.
00:30Yeah, he's getting that headset on.
00:31Now you're getting comfortable.
00:32Yeah, I'm good. I can do that now.
00:33Yeah, you just need a remote.
00:35Actually, yeah, go ahead. You can lean that joint back if you want to as well.
00:38Uh, my legs are too long. I'm going to hit the table.
00:40Yeah, that's true. That's true.
00:41You got to, you got to remember, we're normal size human beings.
00:44We're not used to being like, dude, like, in fact, it's kind of weird.
00:49As you were sitting down, we were saying,
00:50it feels kind of weird seeing the word chunky across your chest.
00:53Because you're anything but, you know what I mean?
00:57How you doing, brother?
00:58I'm doing fantastic.
00:59Thank y'all for having me as always.
01:00It's always a pleasure to be here with you guys.
01:02I'm doing great.
01:03Man, so you join us, obviously sponsored by Campbell's Chunky.
01:07And you grew up with a big family, right?
01:09Like, so I imagine like soups, those types of things.
01:12Like, did you have the experience of what's in the pots in the pot?
01:15If you eat, it's cool.
01:17But if you don't, that's up to you.
01:18No, let me tell you, no offense.
01:20I love chunky, but my grandma, she always made everything homemade.
01:23Oh, word.
01:23They made everything homemade, eh?
01:25She got all her, she vegetables in the garden and everything.
01:28She did it like that, yeah.
01:30Okay, so I see that that makes sense.
01:31Like, so we just do it wholesale organic and that's how we get to this place.
01:34Is that what's happening?
01:35Yes.
01:37All right, so let's talk a little football and we'll get into Campbell's Chunky.
01:39Because I know, first of all, let's start there.
01:42You are very familiar with some of the big names that have been associated with Campbell's Chunky.
01:46Like, when you started this relationship, you had to be going, what, me?
01:51I mean, how did that go?
01:52It was fantastic.
01:53It was great.
01:54I was excited about it.
01:55Just hearing all the former names that used to be a part of it.
01:57And then to be a part of something special like this.
01:59And then what they were doing for it as well, too.
02:01Like, you know, just going out there and getting sacks and helping raise money to, you know,
02:04feed families.
02:05You know, it was that, we raised over 1.3 million meals.
02:08But Chunky is just such a great, you know, a great, you know, product and thing that we're
02:13going to up it to 2 million meals.
02:14So I'm really excited about that, man.
02:16Get to feed a lot of families across America and, you know, make a lot of people's day.
02:21So I'm sorry, but last year we spoke with you, I believe, on Radio Row.
02:27And we were talking about some of the moves you wanted to develop.
02:30You did.
02:31Yeah.
02:31I mean, you improved.
02:32So what now?
02:33Same thing.
02:34It's the same thing.
02:34There's no time to relax.
02:36There's no time to feel.
02:36But anything specific?
02:38I'm guessing it's the Euro, right?
02:39We're still dealing with the Neil Hunter Euro spin.
02:41Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
02:43I'll leave that to Daniel.
02:44I'll leave that.
02:45Me and Daniel have two different Russian styles.
02:47No, I'll tell people all the time, like, what you see on my tape is not pretty.
02:51I'm not a type of dude that go out there and do all the fancy moves, all the cute moves.
02:54Like, I get right to the point of attack and try to get to the quarterback.
02:57And that's something I just want to do consistently and keep building off that.
03:01And, you know, my biggest thing this offseason is with my flexibility and stuff like that
03:05and really getting the right training this offseason to help me do that.
03:08But turn that corner tighter and just having more precision on the ball and getting some
03:12more strip sacks and fumbles and stuff like that.
03:14And that's where I want to take my game to the next level.
03:16We're talking to Will Anderson Jr. here in the Loop on Sports Radio 6.
03:20And I got to ask.
03:20I see you got the thing on the thumb.
03:22How's the thumb doing?
03:23It's doing good.
03:24It's OK.
03:25It's OK.
03:25It's OK.
03:25I'm good.
03:26I'm straight.
03:27I feel you.
03:27I feel you.
03:29Now, I mentioned to Neal, and I've always been super, you know, interested in that relationship.
03:34Like, now that you've got the whole season behind you, like, how do you look at the way
03:38that you guys rushed together?
03:39Because it felt like you guys were the best, if not one of the best duos.
03:42It was beautiful.
03:43Yeah, it was beautiful.
03:44He's a special guy, man, on and off the field.
03:47I have to commend the type of guy he is off the field.
03:50You know, when I first met him, I was like, I don't know how this is going to go.
03:52Because, you know, usually when you have two alpha dogs in a room, you know, it's usually
03:56somebody got it.
03:57But no, it was great working with him.
03:59Like, he taught me so much.
04:00He learned from me the system and stuff like that.
04:03And we were open to learning from each other and playing for each other.
04:07Like, he helped me.
04:08He gave me so much confidence just there.
04:10And just to look at him on the side and be like, that's who I'm out there going to war
04:13with every time we got on the field.
04:14It was a great feeling.
04:16I remember during training camp, you came over and visited us, and you were raving about
04:22Mario Edwards.
04:23Yeah.
04:23And just to be honest, afterward, I was like, I didn't know Mario was going to be that big
04:28a part of things.
04:29But those interior linemen, I mean, I know you want to give them some love, but what
04:34did they do in terms of like for you and Daniil?
04:36They did everything that we could possibly ask for.
04:39And we tell them all the time how appreciative we are of them.
04:41You talk about pushing the pocket.
04:43And before we even go to pass rush, you want to just talk about stopping the run.
04:47They handled that for us.
04:49You know what I'm saying?
04:49Like, they're a big part of the reason why we had a really great defense.
04:52Those big bodies in the middle, stopping the run, knocking people back, getting off blocks
04:56and then pass rush.
04:57You know, putting those guards and centers and everybody in their own lane.
05:01We rushed together.
05:02And I thought that's what I really loved about this group.
05:04Nobody was selfish.
05:05Nobody just was chasing stats.
05:07Everybody was like, we want to see everybody eat.
05:08And those guys made it happen.
05:09Yeah.
05:10Now, obviously, you talked about the way that you want to get better in this offseason.
05:13We watched this football team.
05:14And this defense was a monster.
05:17It feels like, I'm like, how do you get better?
05:19How does this defense get better specifically?
05:21We have to execute better.
05:22We have to execute better.
05:23There's so many times in the game where we let up big plays.
05:25We let up explosive plays.
05:26And we can't have that.
05:27Like, if we want to go to where we want to go, which is ultimately the Super Bowl, we
05:30have to do a better job of executing and being detailed and locked in, especially those critical
05:34moments, especially when it's coming down to the last minute.
05:36How locked in?
05:37How can we execute?
05:37How can we be better not to give up those big plays?
05:40I'm curious.
05:40You mentioned one of the things you're going to be looking at this year.
05:42And you're always working, trying to get better.
05:44You said flexibility.
05:45Yeah.
05:49Anything?
05:50Just more, like, hip stuff and stuff like that.
05:52I'm excited.
05:53You know, this offseason is a, you know, as you go in more offseasons, you get to learn
05:57and learn more and more about your body.
05:59And, you know, last year, I learned, like, I didn't have a set routine.
06:03You know, I didn't have a set regimen.
06:04I didn't have a set schedule.
06:05And this year, like, I already know my schedule.
06:08I'll be training, you know, everything like that, the things that I'm going to be doing,
06:10the things that I need to work on on my body to take my game to where it needs to be.
06:14So I'm excited about that.
06:15A little yoga in there?
06:16Yoga is most definitely a part of that.
06:18Yoga, Pilates, all of it's in there.
06:22Is that the biggest thing, though, that you learned about yourself this season?
06:24Or was there anything else?
06:25Oh, that's, like, one of them.
06:28That's really just one of them.
06:29You know, I'm such a competitor.
06:31And I'm such a perfectionist.
06:32You know, my coach always tell me, he said, Will, you got to enjoy the process.
06:35You got to slow down and really enjoy this process.
06:38You know, sometimes as athletes, we want immediate results.
06:41And, you know, it doesn't always work like that.
06:43You have to enjoy your process.
06:44You have to trust your process.
06:45And right now, that's what I'm going through right now is my process, man.
06:48I'm learning my body.
06:49I'm continuing to learn my game.
06:51And, you know, as fast as I want it to happen, I'm like, bro, it's going to come.
06:54You just got to stay consistent, stay persistent, and keep doing everything that you need to do to get there.
06:58Now, looking at, I mean, your running mate since you got drafted is CJ Stroud in this thing, man.
07:04The season was a little up and down, tumultuous for him.
07:07How did it, looking at it from your side and looking from your perspective,
07:10like, how did that season go and how did he handle it?
07:12How did it progress?
07:13Man, I think he handled it really well.
07:15You know, like, one thing I always talk about Coach Saban is,
07:19what I love about him so much that helped me out through all my seasons of playing football after him was,
07:23I asked him, I said, Coach, why do you love coaching football?
07:28Like, it's the challenge of a new season.
07:30Every season is going to be different.
07:31No season is going to look the same.
07:32You're not going to go 15-0 every season.
07:34You're not going to have the record that you think you're going to have.
07:36You're not going to have the season that you always going to think you have.
07:38And that's what keeps me going, that thrill, that challenge.
07:41And I commend him so much for that because I look at that in my own life.
07:43And I think CJ did the same thing.
07:45Like, every season is not going to look the same.
07:47You know what I'm saying?
07:48But the way he persevered through it, the way he played through it,
07:50he still led us all the way to divisional game.
07:53And you, that's not like, of course, you want the Super Bowl, but he's a young player.
07:57He's still learning.
07:57He's still enjoying his process and learning his process.
08:00And he can take us to how far we want to go.
08:02And I truly believe that.
08:03And I'm excited about it.
08:05So the streets are saying you kind of look like Brownie James a little bit.
08:09I don't know if you know that.
08:10Oh, wow.
08:14Do that again.
08:16I don't know how you feel about them accusations.
08:19That's my dad right there.
08:20OK, you just want to make sure.
08:23LeBron James is not my dad.
08:26You've heard that one before, I'm guessing.
08:28Hey, well, Will Landis is joining.
08:30We appreciate you sitting down with us.
08:32Campbell's Chunky.
08:33Anything else, any way that we also we need to go and shout out here?
08:36I thought we did good.
08:38We appreciate you.
08:39Hey, man, go out there, work on those Pilates, get more flexible.
08:42And let's go ahead and get even more sacks next year.
08:45How does that sound?
08:45Yes, sir.
08:46Will Landis Jr. joining us in the exclusive furniture hot seat.