INDIANAPOLIS — Colts guard Quenton Nelson has done just about everything a player can accomplish on an individual level.
Nelson, the No. 6 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, has never played a season that didn’t end with the powerful left guard being named to the Pro Bowl. He’s been a first-team All-Pro three times, second-team All-Pro three more times.
Whenever he eventually retires, Nelson will likely be regarded as one of the best guards of all time.
But the goals he can accomplish individually are not the ones that matter most to him.
“You have these goals since you were a rookie, since you got into the league of winning the Super Bowl, of winning the AFC South,” Nelson said. “That’s it. The goal hasn’t changed. The approach over the years has changed as you grow up and learn things, but that’s what motivates me: Winning.”
Indianapolis hasn’t won enough in his eight seasons.
The Colts made the playoffs in Nelson’s rookie season, went back in his third season and have not been back since that trip with Philip Rivers at the helm in 2020. The missed opportunities frustrate Nelson more than most.
They haven’t changed the way he sees the game.
“I’m extremely blessed to be in the NFL and be playing for the Colts,” Nelson said. “I don’t take it for granted, and I just want to win. That’s what it comes down to.”
Nelson has been a fixture in Indianapolis for nearly a decade, his ninth season in the NFL fast approaching.
It is also the final year of the four-year, $80 million contract extension he signed in 2022. While it’s hard to imagine the Colts without Nelson, the team also faces a potential turning point, with core players like Nelson, Jonathan Taylor and DeForest Buckner headed into the final years of their deals.
Nelson would be a hot commodity if he’s allowed to reach the open market next season.
“You know, it’s really out of my control,” Nelson said. “That’s with the people in this building and my agent. Worrying about it or thinking about it isn’t going to help me accomplish any of my goals, so I leave that to them.”
While the Colts and Nelson’s agent worry about his contract, he is mostly worried about what he can do to turn around the results of most of his seasons in Indianapolis.
Nelson is 30 now, and as great as he’s been, he knows he will only get so many chances to reach the team goals that motivate him.
“I remember being a rookie and looking towards the older guys, seeing the beards, seeing the gray hairs,” Nelson said. “Being like, ‘Damn, this guy’s a grown-ass man.’”
Nelson’s been that kind of man ever since he entered the league.
A fixture in Indianapolis who will need another contract at some point to stay in a Colts uniform.
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Quenton Nelson, Colts All-Pro G, worried about winning, not contract status
