Chicago Bears: Quenton Nelson open to Hiestand reunion

All-World guard prospect Quenton Nelson had an exciting response when asked about the chance of playing for the Chicago Bears and old coach Harry Hiestand.

As expected, everyone at the NFL Combine is falling in love with Quenton Nelson. And, interestingly, he even threw a little bit of love in the Chicago Bears’ direction.

First off, Nelson set tongues wagging with his measurements on Wednesday, checking in at 6-foot-5, 325 pounds with ridiculous 10 3/8-inch hands, almost 34-inch arm length and a wingspan of 82 5/8 inches. In short, as dominant as he as at guard, he projects like he could even end up as a tackle someday.

Then, he put up a monstrous 35 reps in the 225-pound bench press drills, which came in just behind UTEP guard Will Hernandez’s (another potential Bears draft pick) 37 reps at 225.

And, of course, he won the interview portion of the NFL Combine as well.

Obviously, he believes (as he should) that he’s the best lineman in the draft and showed that he has the demeanor to be a dominant player no matter where he lines up.

I mean, this man said he wants to take away an opponent’s will to play. That’s borderline chilling stuff.

But then, when asked about the possibility of reuniting with former Notre Dame line coach Harry Hiestand, who now holds that position with the Chicago Bears, Nelson said what every Bears fan wanted to hear.

From his NFL Combine presser:

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Trust me, Quenton, we’d love to see that development continue as well.

Truthfully, it might be time to stop just thinking about Nelson simply as a guard prospect, which has served as a hang-up for people in terms of taking him in the top 10.

Firstly, he just simply is the best lineman in this draft, pretty much no questions asked. And assuming he stays healthy, this man stands a strong chance of making many All-Pro teams.

But as mentioned before, Nelson’s ability and size actually makes it more than possible that he could actually play well at tackle in the NFL. He made sure to point out that he has experience playing tackle as well.

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With that level of skill, size and versatility, I think branding Quenton Nelson “just a guard” might be thinking too narrowly. And though it looks more likely by the day that he might not make it to the Bears at No. 8 overall, perhaps it’s time to stop trying to pigeon-hole him into a spot and just take him if he’s there.

He would be, by far, better than any player available at that point, and the impact he could have on this developing offense—both paving the way for Jordan Howard and Co. and protecting Mitch Trubisky—could be massive.