Bucs rookie outside linebacker Anthony Nelson did not have the ideal beginning to an NFL career for a rookie.

Selected in the fourth-round of the 2019 NFL draft out of Iowa, Nelson was expected to be in the rotation on the Bucs defensive line. But a sprained MCL early on in training camp forced him to miss all four preseason games, meaning that he still hasn’t had a shot to play against NFL caliber speed.

Nelson found out whether he was going to sink or swim right away with his first crack at competition in the NFL coming in week-one of the regular season, followed by a quick turnaround again for a Thursday night game in Week 2.

Not many players miss all that time and get put right back into an important game. But for a rookie that hasn’t played against any opponent other than his own teammates, that’s a difficult task.

And after last Thursday night’s game, we found out that Nelson’s transition to the NFL level went quicker and better than expected.

Nelson forced a fumble on Cam Newton against the Panthers and also swatted down a pass at the line of scrimmage on the way to a 20-14 Bucs victory. It was a promising sign for the rookie to make an impact play considering all the time he missed.

Bucs OLB Anthony Nelson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

As the Bucs get set to play against the New York Giants on Sunday, Bruce Arians commented during the week on how impressed he’s been with the rookie.

“He’s got a bright, bright future,” coach Bruce Arians said.  “He’s just starting. What he showed in OTAs with his length and athletic ability, I started making him a tight end, but we already got tight ends, he’s that type of athlete. He’s learning this game as he’s playing it and he’s doing a good job.”

You have to really trust a rookie to give him significant playing time. It was the football knowledge that Nelson possesses that made defensive coordinator Todd Bowles feel comfortable with giving him valuable minutes in crucial moments despite his lack of practice time.

“He’s smart,” Bowles said. “He came into the game smart, he rarely makes mental mistakes. He’s just got to keep getting better at the little things. We like what we see of him thus far and it’s early in the season. We have a lot of confidence in him.”

Learning is all Nelson could do up until week-one. He relied heavily on his teammates by watching their reps in practice and learning from them. It helped him stay ready until he could get healthy and have his number called.

Just two-weeks in, he’s become an important fixture to the defense all while he continues to learn on the fly.

“It was hard to do,” Nelson said. “Just stay locked in and learn a lot of things without doing physical reps. But just being locked in and watching other guys and seeing what they’re doing was critical for me to be able to come back and contribute early on in the season and I think I did a good job of that. I had a lot of help.

Being able to contribute last week was really awesome, that’s all I want to do. Just contribute and help this team win and we’re on a good track right now and we just got to keep going. Hopefully I can keep contributing and I can keep improving.”