Iowa Hawkeyes Standout Lands New Deal With NFL Contender

This former Iowa Hawkeyes standout has landed a new contract in NFL free agency.

Matthew Schmidt | Mar 11, 2025

Iowa defensive end Anthony Nelson (98) celebrates after a sack during a Big Ten Conference NCAA football game on Friday, Nov. 23, 2018, at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. / Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen

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Former Iowa Hawkeyes star Anthony Nelson has cashed in during NFL free agency, as the edge rusher has landed a two-year, $10 million contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Nelson's deal has the potential to reach $12 million in incentives, via Jeff Howe of The Athletic.

The 28-year-old spent three seasons at Iowa between 2016 and 2018, establishing himself as one of the better pass rushers in the Big Ten during his time with the Hawkeyes.

Throughout his three-year stay at Iowa City, Nelson accumulated 119 tackles, 32 tackles for loss and 23 sacks. His best season came during his final collegiate campaign, when he racked up 45 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks.

Nelson was then selected by the Buccaneers in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft. He received only scarce playing time over his first couple of seasons, but in his third year, Nelson began to see the field a bit more and logged 22 tackles and five sacks.

Since then, the Urbandale, Ia. native has been a solid rotational player in Tampa Bay, maxing out at 5.5 sacks in 2022. This past year, he registered 40 stops and four sacks.

Obviously, the Bucs felt that Nelson was valuable enough to re-up with him, even after agreeing to a one-year deal with Haason Reddick.

This has been a pretty big NFL offseason for Iowa products, as Alaric Jackson got things started with lucrative three-year deal with the Los Angeles Rams. Then, defensive end Chauncey Golston signed a multi-year contract with the New York Giants prior to Nelson re-signing with the Buccaneers.

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Published Mar 11, 2025

MATTHEW SCHMIDT

Matthew Schmidt is a sportswriter who covers NFL, MLB, NBA and college football and basketball. He has been writing professionally since 2011 and has also worked for Bleacher Report, FanRag Sports, ClutchPoints, NFLAnalysis.net and NBAAnalysis.net. He was born and raised in New Jersey and has a rather eclectic group of favorite teams: the Boston Celtics, New York Giants and Miami Marlins.