Stampede Blue
The longtime Colt proved that he remains one of the best players at his position in his seventh season in the NFL.
Quenton Nelson is fresh off of his first All-Pro nod (2nd team) since 2021. Despite another season of blocking for multiple starting quarterbacks, Nelson put together a season’s worth of strong tape and was rewarded for his efforts.
His fifth AP All-Pro (3 first team, 2 second team) to pair with being a Pro Bowl participant in every season thus far, Quenton Nelson remains one of the best players at his position seven years into his career.
The former Fighting Irish product struggled immensely in a home loss earlier this past season against the Detroit Lions. Still, he righted the ship as he finished the latter half of the year playing some of his best ball — 0 penalties committed in the team’s final five outings after committing all 10 of his season’s penalties in the previous twelve games (as well as 3 in the aforementioned matchup versus the Lions).
Despite a rocky season for the Indianapolis Colts, Quenton Nelson reminded his doubters that he not only ‘still has it’ but is arguably the best left guard in football — something that’s always been evident since his first start in the NFL.
Although Nelson lost the All-Pro first team bid to Kansas City Chiefs OL Joe Thuney, who started just 13 games at left guard in 2024 before making the team-necessary switch to left tackle for the rest of the season (playoffs included).
However, based on their grading system, Pro Football Focus would argue that Nelson performed at a higher level than Thuney did this past season. Here’s how Nelson fared amongst all left guards in PFF’s grading system:
Overall: 81.3 (1st)
Run Blocking: 81.7 (1st)
Pass Blocking: 79.7 (3rd)
Thuney’s pass-blocking grade (81.9) was the highest among all left guards, and it makes perfect sense when you consider that he didn’t allow a single sack and committed just one penalty in the regular season compared to Nelson’s 3 sacks allowed and 10 penalties committed. Meanwhile, Thuney’s 73.5 run blocking grade was the 7th-highest grade among left guards whereas Nelson posted the highest grade of the bunch.
Regardless of how the All-Pro voting shook out, both players put on dominant showings in 2024 thus proving that the Assosciated Press got it right when it comes to deciphering who the league’s two best left guards where.
