Mark Jay Anderson (born May 26, 1983) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He was selected by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

in the fifth round of the

2006 NFL draft The 2006 NFL draft, the 71st in league history, took place in New York City, New York, at Radio City Music Hall on April 29 and April 30, 2006. For the 27th consecutive year, the draft was telecast on ESPN and ESPN2, with additional coverage offe ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the Na ...

. Anderson also played for the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

and

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

. Anderson is an uncle to Rodney Anderson, former

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the college athletics in the United States , athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to ...

and

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team plays its h ...

running back. Anderson was inducted into Booker T. Washington's 2022 Ring of Honor class during a ceremony between the Hornets’ basketball games against Bixby on Friday night, Feb 4, 2022 at Nathan E. Harris Fieldhouse.

Early years

Anderson was born in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

. He attended Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, and was a

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

. He was a teammate in both sports of Robert Meachem and

Felix Jones Felix Jones Jr. (born May 8, 1987) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football for the Arkansas Razo ...

, both players who have played in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

. In football, he was an All-Metro selection and was named as a

Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...

Prep pick. Mark Anderson graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 2001. Anderson recorded 104

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position) A tackle is a playing position in American football. Historically, in the one-platoon system prevalent ...

and 9 sacks along with 9 receptions and 3

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s during his senior season to help the Hornets to an 11–2 record. In his best game he notched 20 tackles, 3 sacks and 2 blocked punts in 1 game as a senior.

College years

Anderson attended the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

(where he became a member of

Omega Psi Phi Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. () is a List of African-American fraternities, historically African-American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was founded on November 17, 1911 at Howard University. Omega Psi Phi is a founding member of ...

fraternity). He was a four-year letterwinner at Alabama (2002–05) starting 30 of 50 games, including the final 29 of his career, He finished with 141 career tackles, 13.5 sacks, 25 tackles for loss (TFL) (7th all-time at Alabama), 5 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries and 2 passes deflected. He received second-team all-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

accolades as a senior after pacing Alabama with 7.5 sacks and 18 TFLs among 40 tackles while adding 1 forced fumble and 1 blocked

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, ...

in 12 starts. Anderson started every contest during junior campaign and ranked 8th on team with 41 tackles while contributing 11 TFLs, 1.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries and 2 passes deflected. He earned Alabama's

Billy Neighbors William Wesley Neighbors (February 4, 1940 – April 30, 2012) was an American professional football guard who played in the American Football League (AFL) from 1962 to 1969. Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, he played college football at the Univers ...

Most Improved Defensive Lineman award as a sophomore following spring practice and went on to register 47 tackles, 8 TFLs and 2.5 sacks while playing every game and starting 6. Anderson played every game during red-shirt freshman season, finishing with 13 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 TFL, 2 forced fumbles and 1 fumble recovery earning the

Ozzie Newsome Ozzie Newsome Jr. (born March 16, 1956) is an American professional football executive and former player who is the executive vice president of player personnel of the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). Newsome was a tight ...

Most Improved Freshman award following spring practice. He graduated with a degree in consumer science.

Professional career

Pre-draft

Chicago Bears

Anderson was selected with the 159th overall pick (fifth round) in the

. Despite not being an official starter in the Bears

Cover 2 Zone coverage (also referred to as a zone defense) is a defensive scheme in gridiron football used to protect against the pass. Zone coverage schemes require the linebackers and defensive backs to work together to cover certain areas of the fi ...

defensive scheme, Anderson thrived in his role as a third-down pass rusher, and during the 2006 regular season he totaled 12 sacks, a Chicago Bears

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience, a rookie is typically considered needing more tra ...

record, which was previously held by

Brian Urlacher Brian Urlacher (; born May 25, 1978) is an American former professional football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons with the Chicago Bears. He played college football for the New Mexico Lobos, earning co ...

. Anderson also received consideration in 2006 Defensive Rookie of the Year, finishing second in the voting to former Alabama teammate, DeMeco Ryans. He was named to ''

Pro Football Weekly ''Pro Football Weekly'' (sometimes shortened to ''PFW'') is an American sports magazine, founded in 1967, and website that covers the National Football League (NFL). It was owned by Pro Football Weekly LLC and headquartered in Riverwoods, Illin ...

''/

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All-Rookie team. Mark-anderson-2008

He played in all 16 regular season contests gathering 28 tackles to go along with 3 tackles-for-loss, 5 quarterback hits, 2 pass breakups, 4 forced fumbles and 1 fumble recovery. Also played in all 3 postseason contests, recording 4 tackles and 1.5 sacks. He combined with Alex Brown for 19 sacks in 2006, the most by a Chicago DE duo since

Richard Dent Richard Lamar Dent (born December 13, 1960) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL), primarily for the Chicago Bears. He was the MVP of the Super Bowl XX. He was elected ...

and Trace Armstrong recorded 24 sacks in 1993. Anderson has recorded 4 multiple-sack games in 16 career regular season games played. He registered 0.5 sack in

Super Bowl XLI Super Bowl XLI was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2006 Indianapolis Colts season, Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2006 Chicago Bears season, Chicag ...

and 1.5 sacks among 4 tackles in 3 postseason contests. He also recovered a fumble in Super Bowl XLI. He was voted NFL Defensive Rookie of the month in October 2006. The Bears released Anderson on October 5, 2010.

Houston Texans

On October 6, 2010, Anderson signed with the

, where he was reunited with his college teammate, DeMeco Ryans.

New England Patriots

On August 5, 2011, Anderson signed with the

. Mark had a rebound year in New England, recording 10 sacks for the Patriots in the regular season. Anderson recorded 1.5 sacks and 5 tackles in

Super Bowl XLVI Super Bowl XLVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

Buffalo Bills

On March 21, 2012, Anderson signed a four-year contract worth 20 million dollars with the

. In the 2012 season, Anderson had 12 combined tackles and 1 sack through 5 games. However, he suffered a season-ending knee injury against the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

on October 7, 2012. On July 23, 2013, Anderson was released by the Bills after just one season.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Post-playing career

On July 31, 2015, Anderson was hired by former Bears head coach and

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

Lovie Smith Lovie Lee Smith (born May 8, 1958) is an American football coach. He has served as the head coach of the Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL) and the Illinois Fighting Illini. Smith has be ...

as a scouting department member.

References

External links

Patriots Bio
*http://www.ourlads.com/nfldepthcharts/depthchart/BUF * https://newsok.com/article/5570786/rodney-anderson-joins-the-family-business {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Mark 1983 births Living people Players of American football from Tulsa, Oklahoma Booker T. Washington High School (Tulsa, Oklahoma) alumni American football defensive ends American football linebackers Alabama Crimson Tide football players Chicago Bears players Houston Texans players 21st-century American sportsmen New England Patriots players Buffalo Bills players