Anthony Nelson and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have always had a relationship of mutual appreciation, and clearly nothing has changed seven years into Nelson's NFL career.
On Thursday, the Buccaneers signed Nelson on a new two-year deal, retaining valuable depth in the team's edge rush rotation. This is the third contract that he has signed with the Buccaneers; after finishing his original four-year rookie deal he inked a two-year pact to stay in Tampa in the 2023 offseason. Nelson agreed to his new deal shortly before he could have hit unrestricted free agency on Wednesday afternoon.
Last season, Nelson played in all 17 games and made six starts. He moved into the starting lineup in Week 12 when Joe Tryon-Shoyinka was sidelined with an ankle injury, then held onto that front-line job when Tryon-Shoyinka returned to action. Nelson contributed 40 tackles, 4.0 sacks, 13 QB hits, four passes defensed, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. His 13 quarterback hits represented a new single-season high for him.
Nelson also authored perhaps the single most important defensive play of the season for the Buccaneers. With Carolina approaching field goal range in overtime in Week 13, Nelson forced a fumble by running back Chuba Hubbard that was recovered by the Bucs' Yaya Diaby. Tampa Bay took the ensuing drive deep into Carolina territory before kicking the game-winning field goal in a 26-23 decision.
The Buccaneers drafted Nelson out of Iowa in the fourth round in 2019. He had an injury-marred rookie season and still saw a relatively limited snap count in 2020, but he has since become a very consistent member of the team's edge rush group. Nelson has recorded between 3.0 and 5.5 sacks in each of the last four season and has 17.5 overall in that span. He also missed only one game over those four seasons.
In all, Nelson has played in 92 regular season games with 18 starts and has produced 174 tackles, 18.5 sacks, 26 tackles for loss, 42 QB hits, five passes defensed, five forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries. He has also been an active player on special teams throughout his career, averaging just over 250 snaps in that phase of the game per season. Last year, Nelson played 80% of the Buccaneers' special teams snaps.
