ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Calvin Anderson was already the Broncos’ starting left tackle and The Most Interesting Person in the Locker Room.
Now, to little announcement, he’s a married man. He and Sheree Olaiya Lanihun, a model and real-estate investor from Amsterdam, are husband and wife.
The nuptials were revealed during a sit-down interview with 9NEWS this week when Anderson was asked: What do you want to do when you grow up?
“What a great question,’’ Anderson said with a laugh. “My wife Sheree -- who we just recently got married. Super exciting. Two months ago. We kept it low key between us. We’ll do a special ceremony.
“But Sheree, she grew up in Amsterdam, and I think that international perspective and our relationship has opened my horizons as to what we may be able to do. Obviously, I have a love for the game. That’s why I’m still playing. I’ll have options to do other stuff but I love this game. I love playing offensive line. So I’m going to do this as long as I can.
“But when I am done with that, who knows. I would have told you that I would go into finances before I met Sheree. Now we’ll see. I’ll definitely dabble in a lot of things before I make a decision.”
He’s lived the life of an eclectic dabbler. Born in Philadelphia, growing up in Austin, Texas, Anderson played basketball and tennis in high school. Tennis?
“My grandad actually was a professional tennis player so that was the first sport I ever learned when I was 4 years old,’’ Anderson said. “It was my first sport love.”
Keep in mind Anderson is 6-foot-5, 300 pounds, although as an NFL offensive tackle, one of his unique characteristics is his tennis-like footwork.
“Luckily I stopped playing before I got this big but if I was still playing now I’d be a big volley guy,’’ he said, smiling.
Also at Westlake High School, Anderson would play the snare drums in the marching band.
“I played in jazz band, too, I played the drum set and that transitioned to high school and the marching band and playing snares,’’ he said. “I used to love it. I was playing band and football, it was crazy.”
We all know about his proficiency in the Rubik’s Cube. Anderson can not only solve the multicolored plastic instrument in seconds, he can solve it behind his back. He’s still called on to show this special skill.
“Kareem’s daughter had a 7th birthday party in October and he asked me to come over because she’s enamored with the Rubik’s Cube,’’ Anderson said of Kaylen Jackson, daughter of the Broncos’ starting safety. “So I went over there and we filmed a little video of me teaching her how to do it. It was fun.”
At Rice University, where he was a three-year starter, Anderson graduated with an economics and religion degree. He became a graduate transfer to Texas where he played one more season and completed one year of a two-year Master’s program in Finance.
To follow Anderson’s impressive background is to know his father was an influence. DeVry Anderson played college football at Army. He is a physician and ordained minister.
“My dad is a huge influence,’’ Anderson said. “I’ve looked up to him, he’s been my role model my whole life. I always say he left some really big shoes to fill because besides everything you just said, he served 23 years in the military. He retired full bird colonel in 2018. So he left about as big a shoes as you can for his son. I was raised from a really young age to step up to opportunities and challenges so I’m glad he raised me that way and I’m still fighting to try to fill those shoes.”
His journey to anchoring quarterback Russell Wilson’s blindside was anything but a straight line. Undrafted out of Texas, Anderson signed with the Patriots in 2019, then became a member of the Jets’ practice squad for a month before he was signed away by the Broncos early that season.
Inactive through the Broncos’ final 12 games of the 2019 season, the prevailing thinking was Anderson was a bright tackle prospect who needed to get stronger. He became a part-time starter and swing offensive tackle in 2020-21 and this year, with offseason surgeries to veterans Billy Turner and Tom Compton, Anderson figured to open as the Broncos’ starting right tackle opposite his close friend Garett Bolles.
But the Broncos’ decision-makers had other ideas. Cam Fleming, who was signed back just before the start of OTAs, became the right tackle instead. When Bolles went down with a season-ending fractured fibula late in game 5 against the Colts, Anderson replaced him for one game, but then Turner returned to right tackle, pushing Fleming over to the left side.
It wasn’t until Fleming went down with a quad injury against the Jets that Anderson became a starting left tackle again. He’s in line to make his fourth start at left tackle Sunday afternoon against the Las Vegas Raiders at Empower Field at Mile High.
“It’s part of what we signed up for playing offensive line at this level,’’ Anderson said. “Definitely difficult, just transitioning, having to get your mind set to play a position, switching, playing a different position. But as I told some of my coaches that asked, it’s a part of what’s called for, especially being the swing tackle the last two years, you’ve got to be ready to play multiple positions and go in and play them at a high level at any moment. I’ve experienced that and it’s something you’ve got to maneuver playing in the NFL. It’s not often you just play one position.’’
With rookie Luke Wattenberg a good bet to get his first NFL start at center Sunday and Compton possibly making his Broncos’ debut at right tackle, the Broncos may will have their seventh offensive line combination in 10 games. Such constant change at a position that requires cohesiveness partly explains why Wilson was sacked six times last week at Tennessee and hit another 12 times.
“You talk to any of our guys, we take that personal, man,’’ Anderson said. “We’re here to protect Russ. And any time Russ is getting hit, no what the circumstances we take that on us. I know the guys take that hard, me included. And this is a good opportunity – like what they always say in football you’re next opportunity is always the next week and this is a good opportunity to right those wrongs. Because we never want to see our quarterback laying on the ground, especially not Russ.”
For all the options available to Calvin Anderson, life is about protecting Russell Wilson.
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