Chicago Bears 2018 NFL Draft Primer
By Usayd Koshul
Quenton Nelson
Recently, one of the pieces I wrote gave a detailed explanation of why Quenton Nelson would be a good fit for the Bears from a non-football perspective.
In January, the Bears hired Nelson’s college coach Harry Hiestand, who directly oversaw Nelson’s development for four years at Notre Dame. Let’s just say that the Bears believe that Nelson is “their guy”, pulling the trigger on him at number eight would be a win-win situation for both sides. The Bears get what has been labeled as the biggest “Can’t-Miss” Prospect in this year’s draft, while Harry Hiestand gets to work with Nelson, someone he’s been teaching since 2014.
Although the Bears signed Guard Earl Watford in free agency, the former Arizona Cardinal is merely meant to be a depth piece. That means the Bears will need to find a long-term solution at the position.
The biggest thing that sticks out about Nelson is his aggressive style of play. When evaluating him on tape, rarely did defensive lineman get around him. Nelson is also a strong run blocker who can instantly help out a teams running game. Considering the Bears have one of the most underrated running back duos in the league, featuring Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen, adding an astute offensive lineman like Nelson could be the key to taking the Bears run game to the next level.
One area where Nelson could improve is pass blocking. With the NFL becoming more and more of a pass-happy league, it’s absolutely critical that the Notre Dame prospect improves those skills to be an even better player at the next level.
Selecting a guy like Nelson would mean that the interior of the Bears offensive line would be set for years to come with a trio that already includes Cody Whitehair and Kyle Long. Although Whitehair had somewhat of a down year in 2017 and Kyle Long has had trouble staying healthy over the last two seasons, the two seem to be coming back completely refocused and healthy which could prove to be big in 2018.