Insider: Drafting Quenton Nelson proof Colts GM Chris Ballard made savvy trade

INDIANAPOLIS – Saquon Barkley. Bradley Chubb. Quenton Nelson.

Those were, by all accounts, the top three names on the Indianapolis Colts’ draft board. We may never know how the team ultimately ranked them, but those three were deemed by the Colts the most impactful players in the 2018 class.

So, when the Colts executed that blockbuster trade last month to move from No. 3 to No. 6 overall, General Manager Chris Ballard needed to feel confident he could still get one of the premium prospects he’d identified.

And that’s exactly what happened.

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When the Colts drafted Nelson with the No. 6 pick Thursday night, the powerful and athletic Notre Dame offensive lineman became the first guard drafted in the first round by the Colts since 1984. And his mere availability at that slot reinforced what a savvy calculation the Colts made when they pulled off that trade with the New York Jets.

The Colts played this perfectly. They picked up three second-round picks (including one in 2019) and still got one of their primary targets in the first round.

That’s a win for all involved. The Colts. Ballard. Nelson. Heck, even Andrew Luck, who certainly was somewhere smiling on Thursday night.

“I’d already (decided),” Ballard said. “When we made the decision to make the trade, I walked in the draft room and said, ‘OK, let’s take worst-case scenario. A quarterback goes at (No.) 1 and a quarterback goes at 3. So, (after) 2, 4 and 5, we better be content with who’s at 6. And we were comfortable as a group with who was going to be at 6.”

The Colts predicted Nelson would be there, and he was. Their gamble paid off, and on Friday night, they’ll reap the rewards. They have three of the top 17 picks in the second round, including the fourth and fifth selections.

They had a chance to, perhaps, collect a few more selections on Thursday. Ballard said he had a trade offer for the No. 6 pick, but he rebuffed it in favor of taking Nelson.

“I just didn’t feel like where we had to go – I talked about premium players, and Quenton was in that group – I thought where we had to go we were going to lose what I thought was a premium player,” Ballard said. “The dropoff was too much for us.”

Thursday night demonstrated something that was particularly notable. The Colts placed Nelson on par with two amazing athletes in Barkley and Chubb. Barkley, the Penn State running back who went second overall, was one of the most sensational athletes to come along in years. Chubb is a potential game changer who can chase the quarterback, now headed to Denver with the No. 5 overall choice.

That’s some elite company for Nelson, a player who likely will never score a touchdown or make a sack.

“We want guys who are instinctive football players who can process it quickly and find ways to be playmakers,” coach Frank Reich said. “We talk about it all the time. We think playmakers (are) on the edge or whatever. But playmakers are up front as well. And this guy is in that category.”

Reich gave such an example when he spoke of the Colts’ findings from charting Nelson’s performance as a pulling blocker. Such blocks require offensive linemen to run significant distances and make precise and athletic movements, and this is where Nelson most separated himself from his competition.

“His productivity when pulling was just so far greater than anything we’ve ever seen. He was just instinctive,” Reich said.

“For that big guy to move in space and just have a knack for the right entry, the right kind of block, it was very impressive.”

So, to summarize, the Colts traded back, picked up some key picks, and got a player they were drooling over.

“My first impression was, ‘This is the best offensive lineman I’ve seen coming out of the draft in a while,’” Reich said of his reaction to first watching Nelson. “I was just thinking about the first time talking to Chris about this, and our mutual consensus was, ‘This is where we have to go. We have to build the fronts.’ That’s what wins. In the long run, you have to be good up front to get to where we want to get to.”

With Nelson, the Colts think they’re on their way.