Aside from Cedric Benson, the Bears have a recent track record of getting their draft picks signed quickly. Anderson and Reed are the third and fourth players from this year’s NFL draft class to sign overall.
Terms of either contract were not disclosed. The remaining selections to sign are S Danieal Manning, CB Devin Hester, DT Dusty Dvoracek, LB Jamar Williams and FB J.D. Runnels.
Anderson, a fifth round choice (159th overall) out of Alabama, is expected to be situational pass rusher behind starters Alex Brown and Adewale Ogunleye.
“That’s a goal, but right now I just want to help the team best way as possible, special teams, third downs, whatever they need, just whatever I can do to help the team win a Super Bowl,” Anderson said during the rookie mini-camp in May.
After redshirting as a freshman, Anderson appeared in 50 games over four seasons with 30 starts, including the final 29 of his career. The Tulsa, Oklahoma native finished with 141 tackles, 13.5 sacks, 25 tackles for loss, forced five fumbles, recovered three fumbles and had two pass break-ups.
The six-foot-4, 255-pound Anderson received second-team all-Southeastern Conference accolades as a senior, while earning the Crimson Tide's most improved defensive lineman award as a sophomore and the most improved freshman award following his first season.
With the selection acquired from the Seattle Seahawks in the trade for safety Mike Green, the Bears took Reed in the sixth round (200th overall) out of Penn State.
Over the course of his career at Penn State, Reed appeared in 41 games, starting at right guard in 30 of his final 35 games. He started a career-high 11 games as a senior, nine contests during his junior campaign and 10 games as a sophomore. The Jefferson Borough, Pennsylvania native played a major role in helping the Nittany Lions offense double its scoring output from 2004 to 2005 while increasing its total offense in Big Ten games by 172.3 yards per game.
Despite the fact that Reed is the first offensive lineman the Bears have taken in the draft since 2003, the six-foot-4, 307-pounder will have stiff competition to make the team with the starting o-line returning intact as well as several reserves.
The Bears also waived cornerback Ricky Williams. The undrafted rookie free agent out of Bethune-Cookman signed with the team on May 23.