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What to watch for in Quenton Nelson's Seahawks debut
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- What to watch for in Quenton Nelson's Seahawks debut
As the Seattle Seahawks and Chicago Bears face off on Monday Night Football in Week 8, each will debut a brand-new superstar. Future Pro Football Hall of Fame guard Quenton Nelson will make his Seahawks debut while perennial All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons makes his Bears debut. The two faced off just two weeks ago in a Week 6 AFC South matchup between their former teams, the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans . First, let's break down what you need to know about the monster that just migrated west in Nelson.
The main thing people forget to mention about Nelson is that he's a 96th-percentile athlete as a guard. His physicality is obvious once you watch him play, and his intelligence is apparent — but the athletic traits allow him to utilize all the other facets of his game. His ability to "pull" in the run game at 6-foot-5, 325 pounds, and backed by the strength of a 35-rep (96th-percentile) bench press, is a sight to behold. Pairing those size measurables with 82nd-percentile agility testing helps him reach the 32nd-highest Relative Athletic Score (RAS) of all 927 guards tested since 1987. The score doesn't even include his gargantuan 10.375-inch hands and 33.75-inch arms.
Numbers are cool, but you're ready to watch some football tonight. So, how does it actually look on the field? His recent matchup against Simmons shows how he utilizes his tools against the very best.
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Simmons rarely got the better of Nelson in pass protection. Nelson's excellent at being mean when he needs to. He gets violent with his upper body while staying smooth in his lower half. He extended his hands early in that matchup and allowed his sheer strength, arm size and hand size to stonewall Simmons. In the run game, the pancakes flow as naturally as you'll ever see at the NFL level. He consistently drives defenders several yards downfield before they succumb to his momentum, which sometimes doesn't stop until he goes sliding over the top of their body altogether.
You've learned about his athleticism and technique. Lastly, his personality is as perfect as you could imagine. He annihilates players between the whistles, then asks if they're OK and helps them up. Defensive linemen are fueled by hate. Nelson even makes that part of their game hard.
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This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: What to watch for in Quenton Nelson's Seahawks debut
