Quick – who is the best Notre Dame football player since 2014?
There are some great ones that come to mind.
Jaylon Smith, Will Fuller, Ronnie Stanley, Mike McGlinchey.
There are others but all were outstanding Notre Dame players who turned into first-round draft picks (besides Smith but that was only because of injury). All were great in their own right but none of them made Pro Football Focus’s list of their 32 best NFL prospects since they began operations in 2014.
That instead went to Quenton Nelson, who they ranked as their 18th best prospect ever evaluated.
18. G Quenton Nelson, Notre Dame (2018)
Unsurprisingly, Quenton Nelson is the best guard we have ever evaluated, and his 2017 season remains as one of the five most valuable seasons among all offensive linemen in the PFF College era. That year, Nelson posted a 92.2 overall grade and elite grades in both pass-protection and in run-blocking. He went 86 pass-block snaps per pressure allowed that season, too. Nelson didn’t produce a grade lower than 85.0 in his other two seasons as a starter, as well. He mauled people consistently at Notre Dame and he currently is doing the same in Indianapolis.
Nelson was a guard but you can’t tell me there was a player better at their position in college football in all of 2017. Surprising to literally nobody who watched his career, he was taken not only the highest a guard has ever been selected but has thrived with the Indianapolis Colts.