Quenton Emerson Nelson (born March 19, 1996) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

for the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 26 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

, receiving

unanimous All-American The College Football All-America Team is an honorific college football all-star team compiled after each NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) season to recognize that season's most outstanding performers at their respective positions. ...

honors in 2017, and was selected by the Colts sixth overall in the

2018 NFL draft The 2018 NFL draft was the 83rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2018 NFL season. The draft was held on April 26–28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington southwest of Dallas; it was ...

. Considered among the NFL's best guards, Nelson has received

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...

selections in all seven of his seasons and three first-team

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list t ...

Early life

Nelson is the youngest of four children of Craig and Maryellen Nelson. He grew up in

Holmdel Township, New Jersey Holmdel is a township in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located near Raritan Bay in the Raritan Valley Region, the township is a regional commercial hub of Central Jersey, home to Bell Labs and PNC Bank Arts Center, and a ...

and attended

Holmdel High School Holmdel High School is a comprehensive community four-year public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades from Holmdel Township, in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as the lone secondary school ...

as a freshman before transferring to

Red Bank Catholic High School Red Bank Catholic High School is a four-year private coeducational Roman Catholic high school, located in Red Bank in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades, operating under the super ...

Red Bank, New Jersey Red Bank is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Incorporated in 1908, the community is on the Navesink River, the area's original transportation route to the ocean and other ports. Red Bank is in the New York metro ...

, where he was an All-Star in basketball as a power forward/center. He committed to the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

to play

. Nelson also supplemented his football and strength trainings with

Taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

College career

After redshirting his first year at Notre Dame in 2014, Nelson played in all 12 games and made one start in 2015. In 2016, he started all 12 games. He was named a unanimous first team All-American after the 2017 season. On January 8, 2018, Nelson announced that he would forgo his last year of eligibility and enter the

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

Professional career

Pre-draft

At the conclusion of the pre-draft process, Nelson was projected a top ten selection in the first round by NFL draft experts and scouts. He was ranked as the top offensive linemen prospect in the draft by ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' and NFL analysts

Daniel Jeremiah Daniel James Jeremiah (born December 5, 1977) is an American analyst and writer for the NFL Network and NFL.com. He also serves as a color commentator for Los Angeles Chargers games on KFI radio. Jeremiah was a starting quarterback at Northe ...

and

Mike Mayock Michael Francis Mayock Sr. (born August 14, 1958) is an American former professional football executive and player in the National Football League (NFL). He played as a safety with the New York Giants. After his playing career, he was a draft ...

2018 season

The

selected Nelson in the first round (sixth overall) of the

. On May 11, 2018, the Colts signed Nelson to a fully guaranteed four-year, $23.88 million contract, including a signing bonus of $15.45 million. On November 1, 2018, Nelson was named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month for October, after he was part of an offensive line that hadn't allowed a sack in 156 straight dropbacks and had 200 rushing yards in back-to-back games for first time in 33 years. Nelson becoming the first guard to ever win the award, and he and

Shaquille Leonard Darius Shaquille Leonard (born July 27, 1995) is an American professional American football, football linebacker. He played college football for the South Carolina State Bulldogs football, South Carolina State Bulldogs and was selected in the se ...

(who won Defensive Player of the Month in September) became the first teammates to win awards in the same season. He was named to the

as a rookie and was named first-team

. He was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team.

2019 season

In the 2019 season, Nelson appeared in and started all 16 games for the Colts. He played 1,042 snaps, allowing zero sacks and committing just three penalties; he earned a grade of 91.2 from

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

. For the second consecutive season, he was named as a First Team All-Pro and earned a Pro Bowl nomination. He was ranked 29th by his fellow players on the

NFL Top 100 Players of 2020 The NFL Top 100 Players of 2020 is the tenth season in the NFL Top 100 series. It premiered on July 26, 2020 and the final episode aired on July 29, 2020. It started later than in previous years, and the show was shown in 4 consecutive days inste ...

2020 season

In the 2020 season, Nelson again appeared in and started all 16 games for the Colts for the third year in a row. He played 1,082 snaps, only allowed one sack, and committed nine penalties. For the third straight year, Nelson was named as a first-team All-Pro and earned his third Pro Bowl nomination. He was ranked 33rd by his fellow players on the

NFL Top 100 Players of 2021 The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

2021 season

On April 28, 2021, the Colts exercised the fifth-year option on Nelson's contract, which guarantees a salary of $13.754 million for the 2022 season. On August 3, it was revealed that Nelson needed surgery on his left foot, a similar injury that

Carson Wentz Carson James Wentz (born December 30, 1992) is an American professional football quarterback. He played college football for the North Dakota State Bison, where he won two consecutive NCAA FCS national championships as the starter. Wentz was s ...

had suffered a week prior. Recovery time was projected to be 5–12 weeks, but the doctors deemed that the injury was not as serious. In Week 3, he suffered a high ankle sprain and was placed on injured reserve on October 2, 2021. He was activated on October 23. Nelson was named

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

Second Team All-Pro. He has the most total All-Pro selections (four) and the most First Team All-Pro selections (three from 2018 to 2020) by a guard in franchise history. Nelson became just the second player in team history to earn Pro Bowl honors in his first four seasons, joining

Alan Ameche Alan Ameche (; June 1, 1933 – August 8, 1988), nicknamed "the Iron Horse", or simply "the Horse", was an American professional football player who was a fullback for six seasons with the Baltimore Colts in the National Football League (NFL). ...

(1955–58). He also became the first offensive lineman in the NFL to do it in his first four seasons since

Zack Martin Zachary Edward Martin (born November 20, 1990) is an American former professional football player who was a guard for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), all for the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football for the Notre Dame Fig ...

(2014–17) and is the first Indianapolis player to be selected to four consecutive Pro Bowls since

T. Y. Hilton Eugene Marquis "T. Y." Hilton (born November 14, 1989) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the FIU Panthers and was selected by the Indi ...

(2014–17). The last Colts offensive linemen to be selected to four consecutive Pro Bowls were

Chris Hinton Christopher Jerrod Hinton (born July 31, 1961) is an American former professional football player who was an offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the Indianapolis Colts franchise. In addition to ...

(six consecutive, 1983–89) and Ray Donaldson (four consecutive, 1986–89). He was ranked 28th by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2022.

2022 season

On September 10, 2022, Nelson signed a four-year, $80 million contract extension with $60 million guaranteed through 2026, making him the highest-paid guard in the league. In the 2022 season, Nelson started in all 17 games. He was named to his fifth consecutive Pro Bowl.

2023 season

Nelson started all 17 games for the Colts in the 2023 season. He earned Pro Bowl honors for the sixth consecutive season.

NFL career statistics

References

External links

*
Notre Dame Fighting Irish bioIndianapolis Colts bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Quenton 1996 births Living people Holmdel High School alumni Sportspeople from Holmdel Township, New Jersey Players of American football from Monmouth County, New Jersey American football offensive guards Red Bank Catholic High School alumni Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players All-American college football players Indianapolis Colts players American Conference Pro Bowl players