Buccaneers: 5 winners and losers from Day 1 of padded practice

Anthony Nelson, outside linebacker, a depth piece that could surprise a lot of people

One of the major positions of need that many fans had the Buccaneers pegged to address was the third outside linebacker.

Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul are two great options, but the talent past these two was mostly unproven. Some analysts believed that Tampa Bay would target a veteran like Clay Matthews, but second-year player Anthony Nelson may make a case for the front office to stay their hand.

Nelson was mediocre last season and struggled to pop on the stat sheet. The Bucs had little use for their rookie pass rusher at the time with players like Carl Nassib on the roster to take reps when needed, and Nelson wasn’t given many chances to grow.

With Nelson now firmly in control of the third spot, his game opportunities should grow dramatically in 2020. JPP still looks healthy and will hopefully not miss a game in 2020, but Nelson is available if either of the starters needs a reprieve.

According to Carmen Vitali, Nelson has caught Bruce Arians’ eye and is already being talked up as one of the biggest improvers from last year. Assuming Nelson can maintain this pace, the Buccaneers will have little need to invest money at the position in the free-agent market.