It's a bittersweet realization for Anderson, who loses a mentor and friend next to him in the locker room, while gaining an opportunity to start and make a bigger push in his third season.

"[Preston] was like a big brother to me, man," Anderson said. "It's definitely going to be a little rough, you know, he was always a guy that was there to talk to me and you know just help bring me back down.

"They drafted me and believed in me and put me in a place so I'm just eager to prove to them and myself that I can handle the workload," Anderson added.

In order to do that, Anderson has focused on slimming down, like most players do in the offseason, hoping to play at 245 pounds, around eight to 10 pounds lighter than last year. To do that, Anderson has been training back in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Alabama's campus.

"Things are open, the nutrition part is open, it's like going to one of those facilities with all the resources and not having to pay for it," said Anderson, who plans to spend a week in Houston at O Athletik, the training facility owned by teammates Trent Williams and newly re-signed Adrian Peterson.

When he returns to workouts in Ashburn in a couple weeks, Anderson will have another Alabama teammate to welcome to Washington in safety Landon Collins.

Teammates for three years with the Crimson Tide, Anderson and Collins already got acquainted the night before Collins signed with the team on the second day of free agency, attending a steak dinner to greet the former New York Giant and his family.