At Iowa State, David Sims was known as a hard-hitting safety with a nose for the football. He may now get a chance to prove that on the NFL level after signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Tuesday.
The Buccaneers had an open spot on the 53-man roster after releasing rookie long-snapper Christian Yount during the bye week. The team is expected to activate veteran long-snapper Andrew Economos, who has spent the first two months of the season on the reserve/physically unable to perform list, before Sunday's Week Nine game at New Orleans.
Sims (5-9, 204) first entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the New York Giants this past July. He contributed two tackles and a fumble recovery during the preseason but was released during the final roster cuts on September 3.
The Gainesville native began his collegiate career at Butte Community College in California, where he played one year before enrolling at Oklahoma. Sims sat out the 2008 season, however, before transferring to Iowa State, where he made an immediate impact with the Cyclones.
In fact, he was named the Big 12 Conference's Newcomer of the Year in 2009 after leading Iowa State with five interceptions, the last of which was a goal-line pick against Minnesota that helped the Cyclones win the Insight Bowl. In addition to his 88 tackles in '09, Sims also handled ISU's kickoff return duties, averaging 23.4 yards on 22 runbacks, with a long of 60.
In 2010, Sims capped his Cyclone career with an outstanding 96-tackle campaign, also forcing three fumbles and recovering a fourth. Back in Norman, Oklahoma, Sims racked up 17 tackles and forced a fumble against the Sooners. He also pitched in on kickoff returns again, averaging 23.2 yards on 16 runbacks.
Sims began his college career at Butte CC as a running back. However, he soon switched to defense and turned in an incredible quartet of long touchdowns – a 99-yard fumble return, a 98-yard return of a blocked kick, a 106-yard runback of a missed field goal and an 86-yard kickoff return.
