Colts Interested In Extending LG Quenton Nelson

Quenton Nelson‘s four-year, $80MM contract expires after the season. No active guard is more accomplished, and the Colts are interested in a third contract with a player who has built a strong Hall of Fame case. Tenth-year GM Chris Ballard (via the Indianapolis Star’s Joel Erickson) called Nelson “a pillar” and indicated he would like to have him around long term.

The Colts made Nelson the NFL’s first $20MM-per-year guard in 2022, reaching an extension just before the season. Indianapolis has used the late-summer window to hammer out extensions for O-linemen under Ballard, having paid Nelson, Ryan Kelly (2020), Braden Smith (2021) and Bernhard Raimann (2025). Nelson has not missed a game since signing his big-ticket extension, and the ninth-year guard has racked up four more Pro Bowl honors (he is now 8-for-8 in Pro Bowls since being the No. 6 overall pick in 2018).

Also and All-Pro over the past two seasons, Nelson has six such accolades on his decorated resume. The Notre Dame alum will have a clear case to be the NFL’s highest-paid guard. As I covered in a Trade Rumors Front Office post earlier this month, the Raiders’ monster deal with center Tyler Linderbaum will undoubtedly have an effect on the guard market as well. Although Nelson is on track for a third contract at 30, his performance and durability give him a strong case to not only eclipse Tyler Smith‘s guard AAV record ($24MM) but pass Linderbaum ($27MM) as well.

Linderbaum, however, had the advantage of the open market and is heading into an age-26 season. It is certainly not a lock Nelson — who can only negotiate with the Colts until next year’s legal tampering period (barring an unlikely franchise tag) — will pass that. He likely will not receive the favorable structure Linderbaum did; the ex-Ravens snapper signed a three-year, $81MM deal that, in all likelihood, amounts to a fully guaranteed contract. But in terms of AAV, Las Vegas’ decision stands to affect Indianapolis’ negotiations with the best O-lineman the franchise has rostered since relocating to Indiana 42 years ago.

Ballard, who is also in a contract year, has been much more open to outside investments (as the Colts’ secondary currently highlights) recently. On the whole, though, the embattled GM has preferred to pay homegrown players. The Colts also showed a willingness to work out third contracts for Kenny Moore and Grover Stewart. Nelson’s third deal will land in a far different NFL salary range, but he has been Ballard’s top investment since he took the GM job in 2017.

It would cost the Colts more than $30MM to tag Nelson in 2027, and with the tag perhaps needing to be held for Taylor — whose tag figure would come in at $18.67MM — that represents some leverage for the career-long Colt. The team did authorize big paydays for Daniel Jones and Alec Pierce this offseason, but Smith left in free agency to leave just one veteran contract (Raimann’s $25MM-AAV deal) on Indy’s O-line.

Ballard added, via Erickson, that the Colts’ crossroads status entering the season would not affect the team’s extension approach with Nelson and Taylor, opening the door for negotiations with each to pick up.