Colts’ Quenton Nelson to Undergo Same Surgery as Carson Wentz on Foot Injury

Zach Bolinger/Associated Press

Indianapolis Colts guard Quenton Nelson suffered a foot injury Monday that will require surgery.

The team announced Tuesday the surgery is the same as the one Colts quarterback Carson Wentz, who will miss 5-to-12 weeks, recently underwent.

Colts head coach Frank Reich said Tuesday that Nelson’s surgery will be the same as Wentz’s, and added that Nelson will have the same return timetable of 5-to-12 weeks.

The 25-year-old Nelson was the No. 6 overall selection by the Colts in the 2018 NFL draft, and apparently, the team didn’t have to think too hard about making the pick.

General manager Chris Ballard called the selection “the easiest pick I’ve ever been a part of,” per Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star.

“God made him a little bit different than he made everybody else,” Ballard added.

He’s lived up to that description—not many guards can do this:

Nelson was drafted to solidify the offensive line and to keep quarterback Andrew Luck—who missed the entire 2017 campaign because of injury—upright and healthy.

It didn’t take long for Nelson and the much-improved Colts offensive line to make an impact. Luck completed a career-high 67.3 percent of his attempts and had 39 touchdown passes in 2018. 

Nelson was named to the All-Pro first team as a rookie for his efforts in helping Indianapolis make the playoffs and was a Pro Bowler. He replicated both feats in 2019, this time in front of Jacoby Brissett. In 2020, it was Philip Rivers who benefitted from the presence of Nelson, with Nelson earning both his third Pro Bowl selection and first-team All-Pro selection. 

It’s rare that guards are selected as high in the draft as Nelson was, but he has already become one of the truly dominant interior offensive lineman in the NFL. His place as an immediate and unquestioned starter illustrated that point, and the Colts will be less proficient up front in his absence.

With Nelson sidelined, the Colts will likely turn to Chris Reed to fill in at left guard. Reed has started 23 games in five NFL seasons, including 14 with the Carolina Panthers last season.