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INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - DECEMBER 22: Quenton Nelson #56 of the Indianapolis Colts walks the sideline prior to an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers at Lucas Oil Stadium on December 22, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Colts are about to finish the offseason with some post-draft free agency moves, marking the 10th offseason under Chris Ballard. The decade of Ballard’s management has been a wild rollercoaster ride, albeit not all of it due to Ballard himself. But how does the Colts roster stack up from 2026 compared to 2016, the last year of the Grigson era?
In this position by position series, we breakdown each spot of the Colts roster to see if the Colts are better or worse than their counterparts from a decade ago. If you want to find our previous entries of this series, you can find them below:
We are going over the Offensive Guards next!
2016 LGs: Jack Mewhort, Austin Blythe, Jonathan Harrison
2026 LGs: Quenton Nelson, Josh Sills
2016 has one of the more underrated Guards in Colts history in Jack Mewhort. Arguably the best pick from the Grigson Drafts of 2013-2015 (albeit not a high bar to clear), Jack Mewhort was one of the more consistent bright spots along the Colts interior offensive line during Andrew Luck’s career.
2016 was Mewhort’s best year as a pass protector, allowing just 18 Pressures in 410 pass pro reps at a 4.4% pressure rate. Andrew Luck was hit just 1 time on those reps, and received 0 sacks.
As a Run Blocker, Mewhort was tied with Brandon Scherff as the 17th best Zone blocker in the NFL that year. However this success didn’t extend to Gap blocking, as he was the 10th worst graded blocker in that scheme. With both him and Castonzo’s clear preference for Zone blocking, its no wonder the Colts favored it in 2016.
Tragically for Mewhort, 2016 marked the beginning of injuries that ultimately ended his career at age 26. He retired in August shortly before the 2018 season following major knee injuries in 2016-2017 that limited him to 10 and 5 games respectively. 2016 was the last time he made a major impact in the NFL for an extended period of time on the field.
While Mewhort’s short lived career had its most efficient season (pass pro wise) in 2016, unfortunately his 2026 counterpart is arguably the best player on the team: Quenton Nelson. A thrice named 1st Team All Pro (2018-2020) and thrice named 2nd Team All Pro (2021, 2024-2025), and 8 time Pro Bowler in his 8 year career, Quenton Nelson is already in borderline Hall of Fame conversations so far in his career.
To show how dominant Nelson is: his 73.2 Pass Pro Grade was the 2nd WORST mark of his career, ranking 13th among all Guards in the NFL. He allowed just 15 pressures in his 593 pass pro reps for a 2.5% pressure rate allowed. That is nearly half the rate of Mewhort’s best season in 2016. Nelson allowed just his 14th sack of his career (out of 4,846 snaps) in 2025, as well as 2 hits.
Nelson isn’t just one of the best pass blocking Guards in the NFL, he also is a vicious run blocker who can execute a variety of blocking assignments and schemes with his excellent speed and awareness in the open space to pair with his power at the hit point. He had a 91.4 Zone Blocking Grade (2nd) and a 71.6 Gap Blocking Grade (10th) for an 84.5 Blocking Grade (4th) overall.
Nelson has also been a beacon of health in his NFL career, playing in 129/133 potential games, missing only 4 games in 2021.
Advantage: 2026 Colts
While Mewhort’s impact when on the field shouldn’t be minimized or overlooked, unfortunately this battle is a very one sided affair. Mewhort was a rock solid Guard and a dedicated Colt, but going up against Nelson isn’t a fair comparison for 99.9% of Guards in NFL history.
In NFL history only 12 Guards have gotten 4+ First Team All Pros in their careers, and all but 2 are Hall of Famers: longtime Saint Jahri Evans and Quenton Nelson’s fellow Notre Dame Fighting Irishman idol Zack Martin (who isn’t Hall of Fame eligible until 2030).
Nelson already has 3. He has yet to play an NFL game after turning 30 years old this past March.
He very well could have anywhere from 3 to 7 years left in the NFL, and a lot of it could be prime years knowing how well Offensive Linemen can play for a long time, especially the truly great ones who are master technicians. He is on the last year of his deal with the Colts, and if Chris Ballard is wise he would be looking to keep Nelson a Colt for life with another new contract before the 2026 season begins.
2016 RGs: Hugh Thornton, Denzelle Good, Joe Haeg
2026 RGs: Matt Goncalves, Jalen Farmer, Dalton Tucker
Another OL position, another Joe Haeg mention. Hugh Thornton was going to the be starter heading into the year, but a training camp injury cost him his final year of his rookie deal and he retired in 2017 at age 25. In his place 2nd year 7th Rounder out of Mars Hill Denzelle Good and 7th Round rookie out of North Dakota State Joe Haeg ended up playing the lion’s share of the snaps at Right Guard in 2016.
While we already covered Haeg, who was 2nd in snaps at the position in the Tackle article, Good played exclusively at Right Guard in 2016, a position switch from being exclusively a Right Tackle as a rookie. Good struggled in pass pro, allowing 28 Pressures in 381 pass pro snaps (7.3% pressure rate) for a 56.2 Pass Pro Grade. He was also responsible for 6 sacks on Andrew Luck.
As a run blocker, Good was solid albeit regressed from his rookie year. He had a 67 Run blocking grade with a 65.6 in Gap and a 66 in Zone Blocks.
The 2025 Colts had nearly all of their Right Guard snaps be taken by Matt Goncalves, who like Good also shifted inside after his rookie season. Goncalves allowed 34 Pressures in his 564 pass pro snaps in 2025 (6% Pressure Rate) along with 2 sacks for his 62.7 Pass Pro Grade.
Goncalves’ run blocking showed a clear preference of Zone over Gap assignments in 2025, with a 73.6 Zone Grade and a 54.6 Gap Grade for an overall grade of 65.9.
Goncalves was a solid Right Guard in 2025, but the Colts added some competition in the 2026 Draft with Jalen Farmer out of Kentucky early in Round 4. Farmer allowed just 14 pressures in 426 snaps (3.3%) for the Wildcats in 2025 and had a 67.4 Run Blocking Grade, but the best football could be yet to come for the rookie.
His 35” arms paired with strong leverage and power in both his upper and lower body (37 reps of 225 lbs. on the bench press, 9 foot broad jump at 312 lbs.) can make him a tough player to get through when his technique and footwork are sound. He also is a fast puller with a 4.93 second 40 (98.7th percentile for his size) and a 1.75 10 yard split (90.5th percentile for his size). Tony Sporano Jr. seems outright giddy to get him, so who am I to disagree?
Maybe it will take some time for Farmer to reach his potential, so his 2026 impact could be limited as he learns under Sporano. Farmer could potentially push Goncalves for starting Guard spots, and forcing the former Penn Tackle to compete with Jalen Travis at Right Tackle as well.
Advantage: 2026 Colts
While not the Likely-Hall-of-Famer vs solid guard matchup that the left side had, 2026 still had a clear edge on the right side as well. Good vs Goncalves was close in run game, but Goncalves had a clear edge in pass protection. Combine that with Jalen Farmer providing extra depth (Haeg being more of a Right Tackle than a Right Guard too in 2016) and the gap potentially widens.
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