Carl Lawson made his big return from injury for the Cincinnati Bengals Thursday night. Damion Willis solidified his roster spot. Jake Dolegala emerged at quarterback.

Yet nothing compared to Rodney Anderson.

Anderson, a sixth-round pick out of Oklahoma, got clearance a little sooner than expected and made his debut Thursday, ripping off some explosive plays as a receiver out of the backfield on the way to four catches for 51 yards.

Everyone noticed, including head coach Zac Taylor, according to Bengals.com:

“He’s a tough runner who’s hard to take down on first contact. So those are the things that show when he got put out in space, one on one with somebody — good luck to you, especially if you’re a skill guy on defense. Those are the things he showed on his college tape, and he proved it today. It was hard for us to get a feel for it, because he hasn’t had many padded practices. These are the traits we expected to see from Rodney, and he showed some of that today.”

One highlight says it all:

It’s easy to forget Anderson looked like a first-round product after a 2017 season in which he ran for 1,161 yards and 13 scores on a 6.2 average. But he got hurt last year and it tanked his stock.

Written another way, Thursday was Anderson’s first taste of live-action in a long, long time — yet he shined, even against pros. If he can stay healthy, it isn’t an exaggeration to say he helps the Bengals boast one of the NFL’s best backfields.