ESPN NFL Draft analyst Matt Miller compares Will Anderson to NFL All-Pro, makes bold claim

Alabama linebacker Will Anderson, Jr. is one of the best defensive prospects the game of football has seen in quite some time. The scouting process for the NFL Draft never sleeps and ESPN’s NFL Draft analyst Matt Miller recently had high words of praise for the freakish linebacker when he was talking about him on ESPN’s “This Just In.”

When asked about what type of player the team that potentially selects Anderson No. 1 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft would be getting, Miller gave him some lofty words of praise. “I think he’s getting another version of Von Miller…Von Miller 2.0. I’m old enough to have evaluated Von at Texas A&M now. 6-foot-3, 6-foot-4 at 245 pounds with an explosive first step,” Miller said of Anderson.

“He had 34.5 tackles for loss last year, which was more than the top three pass rushers drafted this year combined. So, he’s productive. He’s athletic. He checks every box for you. He’s been durable at Alabama. He can sit down right now and probably still be the first pick in the 2023 Draft, but he’s not wired like that. Which is the other part of his game you absolutely love is he’s a non-stop motor guy. He’s a team leader and scouts are already pretty excited about him,” Miller said.

The ESPN Draft analyst was also praising Anderson on ESPN’s “Get Up” recently

Anderson had a monster year in 2021 and put himself in the Heisman Trophy conversation. He had 34.5 tackles for loss — more than first-round 2022 NFL Draft picks Travon Walker, Aidan Hutchinson and Kayvon Thibodeaux had combined.

“Will Anderson is not of this earth, basically, is the answer..…It’s just not fair what Will Anderson can do,” Miller said on ESPN’s Get Up. “You want to talk about comps? He’s Von Miller. 6-foot-4, 245 pounds with amazing explosiveness off the edge, great strength. He has a motor that never stops.

“No, he’s not as big as Chase Young or one of the Bosa brothers, but I think the total package you get for him as an edge rusher … he has the tools to be one of the best in the NFL within his first season. That’s why you take him over one of these quarterbacks.”

Anderson finished fifth in the Heisman voting last year, but acknowledged the award wasn’t on his radar heading into the season. Now, he’s got one big goal for 2022: win the trophy.

“When the train got rolling and everything, the Heisman hype started, I think it was pretty cool, I thought it was really dope for a defensive player to get that hype,” Anderson said on The Paul Finebaum Show recently. “And, you know, I started thinking that I did have a chance. I was out there playing hard, just helping my teammates out by doing my best. But overall, I’m looking forward to that again. It’s most definitely on my goal list this year coming up. I’m looking forward to it. … I think it would be cool.”

On3’s Nick Schultz also contributed to this article.