Colts’ guard Quenton Nelson rated PFFs fourth-best player in Top 50 player rankings

Over the course of this week, Pro Football Focus released an article — linked here — which highlights their Top 50 players in the NFL currently. Friday morning, the site released its Top 10. Coming in at No. 4 is Colts’ guard Quenton Nelson.

Nelson’s ranking is just behind Travis Kelce at No. 3, Patrick Mahomes at No. 2, Aaron Donald at No. 1, and just one slot ahead of Packers’ wide receiver DaVante Adams. To put Nelson’s ranking into perspective, the next highest ranked offensive lineman is Cowboys’ guard Zack Martin at No. 13.

This ranking for Nelson comes as no surprise, as he has widely been considered the best interior offensive lineman in the game. Since entering the league as a rookie in 2018, Nelson has made the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons, and is part of what many consider to be the best offensive line in the league.

In total, Nelson has surrendered just three sacks in his career. Last season, the 3x All-Pro only gave up one sack in 1,082 snaps.

Part of what makes Nelson the best at his position is his athleticism, pure strength and elite ability to pull and get out in space. He’ll maul you in the running game and pancake you as a pass blocker.

PFFs article notes that, “according to PFFwar, Nelson was the most valuable offensive lineman in the NFL last season. And the season before that.”

In the last three seasons, the Colts have only given up 60 sacks, which only further highlights Nelson’s value. For perspective, quarterback Carson Wentz was sacked 59 times just last season.

Additionally, there are only two players in NFL history to be named All-Pro in each of their first three seasons. Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders is one, and Quenton Nelson is the other.

Even though the Colts recently exercised the fourth-year guards fifth-year option, it’s likely Nelson receives a lengthy contract extension sometime in the near future. Whenever that extension does come for the league’s top-rated guard, he’s worth every single penny.