It isn’t often that a guard comes into the league to earn three consecutive All-Pro selections in his first three seasons. In fact, it has only happened once in the last 30 years thanks to Indianapolis Colts left guard Quenton Nelson.
The No. 6 overall pick from the 2018 NFL draft is at the point where the majority of analysts believe he’s the best guard in the league. While most of the 2018 draft class is entering a contract year, the Colts exercised Nelson’s fifth-year option, keeping under contract an extra year.
Negotiations on a new contract may be pushed back to next offseason because of it, but it doesn’t really matter. Nelson is likely to reset the market for guards when that new deal arrives, according to Joel Corry of CBS Sports.
“A Pro Bowl-caliber guard in his prime has been consistently resetting the market in free agency (Andrew Norwell, Kelechi Osemele, Joe Thuney, Kevin Zeitler). [Brandon] Scherff wouldn’t be the highest paid for long. Any deal he signs would likely become the starting point for 2018 first-round pick Quenton Nelson’s negotiations with the Colts, which should take place next year,” Corry wrote in his article detailing which players can reset the markets at their respective positions.
This isn’t a surprise. In fact, we are all expecting Nelson to be the highest-paid guard in the NFL when he gets his new deal. Regardless of your views when it comes to positional value, allowing a player like Nelson to walk isn’t an option, barring an extreme situation.
Playing on the franchise tag, Scherff is making the most money among guards in 2021 at $18.01 million. Chiefs new left guard Joe Thuney just signed a five-year, $80 million deal with $31.9 million fully guaranteed.
It’s not going to be a surprise if Nelson approaches the $100 million mark on his new deal in 2022. It’s going to cost a pretty penny for the Colts to keep Nelson around, but they have no choice but to pay up.
While a few Colts will get extensions in 2021, it will be Nelson’s that has the best chance to reset the market at guard next offseason.
