Tampa Bay Buccaneers re-sign linebacker Anthony Nelson

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers continue to make moves in the legal tampering period of free agency, as they have brought back outside linebacker Anthony Nelson on a two year, $11 million dollar deal with a max value of $13 million dollars per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.

It’s a decent payday for Nelson who has been a pretty efficient third pass rusher for the Buccaneers, finishing with 5.5 sacks in 2023 and 5 sacks in 2022. Nelson figures to slot back into his role as the teams third pass rusher behind Shaq Barrett - who is still recovering from a season ending injury suffered against the Baltimore Ravens last season - and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka who is looking to take the next steps in being a consistent pass rusher for the Buccaneers. If Barrett is slow in recovering from his injury or if JTS still needs more time to develop his consistency as a pass rusher, the Bucs now have another solid option that they can use in their rotation.

It will be interesting to see if this means that Carl Nassib and Genard Avery are not likely to return to the Buccaneers. Both were effective last year in the pass rushing rotation and could be heading for other destinations with the commitment the team has made to Nelson with this new deal.