The Chicago Bears will be debating between Will Anderson and Jalen Carter, at least until they make a decision to trade down or not to trade down. Both players are elite, and this is not saying anything against that. However, both prospects are not picture-perfect Hall of Fame locks, either. There are questions to both.
Jalen Carter was on a back-to-back National Championship-winning defense and should be in the top five players of any rankings list created. Still, there are reasons why he may not be the hands-down number-one player in the draft. Here is why.
3. Should the Chicago Bears side with production?
Jalen Carter has his purpose, but Will Anderson is a production machine. Both of them are three-year players. Both had some injury concerns. However, in total, PFF has Anderson down for 207 pressures, meanwhile, Carter is at 79.
They have Jalen Carter with 51 run stops, and Will Anderson at 109. When you see that the production is doubled it is pretty hard to look away.
One thing that is helping Will Anderson is that he has 2,204 snaps in his career, compared to 1,075 for Jalen Carter. So, he should be twice as productive. Still, Anderson playing that much more has to also be a note in his favor.
Beyond that, Will Anderson posted a 32.2% win rate as a pass rusher last year and had a 16.5 pass-rush productivity rating. Meanwhile, Jalen Carter had a 24.3% win rate, and an 11.7 productivity rating. Both numbers are strong, but even on a per-snap basis, you have to lean toward Anderson being much more productive.
To be fair, Jalen Carter has a 15% run stop rate and an average depth of tackle at 0.8. Both numbers are elite. Will Anderson is at 7%, and an ADT of 1, so he is the lesser run-stopper. Still, Anderson did post a 10% run-stop rate last season, so the gap may not be quite as big.
If they are looking for the best run-stopper, it is Jalen Carter. However, Will Anderson is more productive as a pass rusher and gives enough as a run-stopper to make this more of a question.