Iowa football player Anthony Nelson will be drafted in less than three weeks, and he’s starting to get noticed by draft experts all around.
Redshirt junior defensive end didn’t really surprise many people when he declared for the 2019 NFL Draft. After all, he did have an outstanding career with the Iowa football team and his entire defensive line was graduating. Moreover, he had an incredible run in his final season in Iowa City, notching 45 tackles and 9.5 sacks (tied for third in the Big Ten).
Once declared for the NFL draft, though, Nelson was somewhat overshadowed by two of his teammates, projected first-round tight ends Noah Fant and TJ Hockenson. Even more recently, he wasn’t included in Bleacher Reports Matt Miller’s three-round mock draft partly because of the defensive line depth in this draft class and partly because there are concerns about his athleticism even despite having a fantastic combine.
Those combine numbers were pretty darn impressive and compare very well to a current Pro Bowl defensive end Chandler Jones.
@ANelly98 combine times comparable to All-Pro Chandler Jones (except for Nelson is taller and bigger)
— Dear Old Gold (@DearOldGold) April 2, 2019
40-yd: 4.82/4.87
3-cone: 6.95/7.07
Broad: 118/120
Vert: 35.5/35
Shuttle: 4.23/4.38
Height: 6’7’’/6’5’’
Wt: 271/266
Bench: 18/22
Arm Length: 34.9”/35.5”
Heading into the 2019 NFL Draft season, I felt like Nelson may be overlooked. He is not flashy and doesn’t do one thing particularly great, but he does many things well and is a hard worker. Nelson has the potential to be a very solid NFL starter for many years, and it sounds like Bleacher Report’s Connor Rogers agrees.
On Friday’s episode of Bleacher Report’s Stick To Football, Rogers declared Anthony Nelson his Red Star prospect saying this:
"This guy can kind of do it all. He was really productive this year. Double-digit sack guy at defensive end for Iowa. He’s got length."
He continued with this:
"Tested really well. This guy makes plays. He gets off blocks. He converts speed to power. I think he’s kind of been slept on for awhile now."
So what exactly is a Red Star prospect? Well according to the show, it’s a guy who they think could be a great player at the next level, and they took it a step further stating that they wouldn’t list any of their first-round graded players.
Although one draft expert’s opinion doesn’t mean other NFL teams agree, it’s a step in the right direction for the 6’7” Iowa native as he prepares for his future outside of the Iowa football program.
The NFL Draft is scheduled to begin April 25th, and we will likely hear Nelson’s name called towards the end of day two on April 26th or early on day three on April 27th.