Helping a Colts Rookie QB: How Quenton Nelson Can Improve in 2023

There aren’t many offensive linemen who can say they have five Pro Bowls in as many seasons they’ve been a pro. Well, the Indianapolis Colts have just that in left guard Quenton Nelson.

The former Fighting Irish line-wrecker has been one of, if not the, best guards in football since his rookie year in 2018. Along with the Pro Bowl nods, Nelson has also collected three first-team All-Pro selections. Not bad when those accolades are on a player's legacy at 26 years old.

Nelson was able to notch his fifth Pro Bowl after a derailed 2022 season from the Colts. Even as great as he plays, he still couldn’t mask mistakes during the forgettable campaign.

With things falling apart around him, his numbers took a tilt in the wrong direction, and he appeared very uncharacteristic in his performance.

With this laid out, it’s time to take a jump into how Nelson can build upon the rough recent season and what he can continue to do as he’s always done; dominate the line of scrimmage. We’ll include sacks allowed, QB hits, hurries, and total penalties as before.

The Numbers

• Games: 17
• Sacks Allowed: 5
• QB Hits: 6
• QB Hurries: 20
• Total Penalties: 5

Nelson came into the 2022 season as the clear leader of the line. However, things quickly fell apart for the offense, and they never seemed to recover. The 20 QB hurries seriously stand out when the numbers are shown above.

However, something is interesting to add to that. That something is left tackle Matt Pryor. Remember that the blindside tackle is next to the left guard, which Nelson plays. Pryor, on the season in only 12 games, allowed 20 QB hurries, coincidence?

It could be partially, but it can’t be ignored. This means, in short, that Nelson could’ve been blocking two sides of his body at times.

It can’t all be put on Pryor, either. There are areas that Nelson struggled in at times that could’ve been for multitudes of reasons. We’ll go ahead and get to what went well and what to improve.

What Went Well

First and foremost, Nelson led the line in overall snaps played at 1,148. He was also one of the Colts' most efficient pass-blockers. 

Nelson also limited his penalties to only five. When this is put into perspective with his snap count played, it equates to one penalty for every 229.6 snaps taken.

Something else that sticks out is the previously mentioned efficiency with blocking for QBs (outside of Sam Ehlinger) who couldn’t escape a consistently collapsing pocket.

Pro Football Focus has Nelson just a hair behind center Ryan Kelly (97.7) at a respectable (97.4). For those unfamiliar, this statistic measures "pressure allowed on a per-snap basis with weighting toward sacks allowed.”

Given that Nelson allowed a mere five sacks, this is truly put into perspective that he was blocking quite well.

Now, it’s time to flip to the other side of the argument.

What to Improve

Honestly, even with a terrible year for the Colts, there’s a reason Nelson was the lone Pro Bowler in 2022 from Indianapolis. Nelson is simply good at his craft. However, there are areas to build upon, despite his caliber of play.

Nelson was tied for the team lead with Pryor in QB pressures allowed with 31. Nelson didn’t give an immobile thrower like Matt Ryan chances at times. Also, his run blocking has a bit to be desired.

Nelson was fourth on the team in the run-blocking grade (64.6), even behind the raw talent at right guard, Will Fries (66.2). Nelson played more snaps and wasn’t as effective opening running lanes as he had shown in 2021.

Look, at the end of the day, Nelson is a truly remarkable talent. He has the efficiency of play after play to block anyone in the league. The entire team didn’t show up for the regular campaign. This was especially evident in the latter half of the season.

However, even the sole Pro Bowler thought that his defensive teammate, defensive tackle Grover Stewart, should’ve received his nod.