# Derek Schultz with Locked On Colts on Quenton Nelson Trade to Hawks

An episode of [Softy & Dick Interviews](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1245866571), 28 Oct 2026, 11 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/98a2599f-cd9b-4f2a-9be4-b22c00e585f2/907d6469-cef5-4bda-9f13-b2f100f49399/497ae7c0-06a6-4d28-9c5a-b4f1000e0bba/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=26b16ce4-8fab-44ea-88d4-b2f100f493bc

Derek Schultz, Host with Locked On Colts, joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about Indianapolis trading future Hall of Fame guard Quenton Nelson to the Hawks, not seeing any slippage in production recently, his leadership impact for the Colts, his flexibility, the big reset happening in Indy, and Nelson’s contract situation going forward. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: This is Duke of Duke Seafood, and this hour is
[0:02] Speaker 1: brought to you by Duke Seafood. Why don't you make
[0:04] Speaker 1: it a Duke's night tonight? Reserve your table today at dukesseafood.com. Now,
[0:09] Speaker 1: back to Softie and Dick on Sports Radio 93.3 KJR FM.
[0:13] Speaker 2: All right, big news today.
[0:15] Speaker 3: The Hawks making a move, getting Quentin Nelson guard from
[0:18] Speaker 3: the Colts for a couple draft picks, including a 2027 third-rounder,
[0:23] Speaker 3: eight Pro Bowls, three-time All-Pros. in Indianapolis and one broken
[0:27] Speaker 3: heart belonging to our next guest, longtime Colts fan. Last
[0:31] Speaker 3: time we saw him, we were breaking bread at West
[0:33] Speaker 3: Lafayette before the UW-Purdue game. Our friend Derek Schultz joining
[0:37] Speaker 3: us right now from the great state of Indiana.
[0:40] Speaker 2: Derek, how are you, man?
[0:42] Speaker 4: I'm doing great. Honestly, I am not lying.
[0:45] Speaker 5: This has been a necessary part of the reset, right?
[0:48] Speaker 5: So this is the part where everybody in Indianapolis talks.
[0:51] Speaker 4: Themselves into it.
[0:52] Speaker 3: Well, look, I mean, he's been a great player for
[0:54] Speaker 3: you guys for a long time. And, you know, we
[0:56] Speaker 3: made the analogy earlier to the Hawks losing Steve Hutchinson.
[0:59] Speaker 3: Remember the old poison pill thing back in the day
[1:01] Speaker 3: to Minnesota? How big a deal is this, honestly, in
[1:06] Speaker 3: Indianapolis that after eight years, Quentin Nelson's moving on?
[1:10] Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, it's a big deal in the sense
[1:12] Speaker 5: that he was a franchise pillar here during really that
[1:16] Speaker 5: entire time. I mean, his rookie year was with Andrew Luck. But,
[1:20] Speaker 5: you know, the second that Andrew Luck retired, essentially Nelson,
[1:23] Speaker 5: in a lot of ways, ended up kind of.
[1:25] Speaker 4: Taking that throne.
[1:26] Speaker 5: And I understand that may sound weird because he's a
[1:28] Speaker 5: left guard and not a quarterback. or not even a
[1:31] Speaker 5: wide receiver or running back or an edge or, you know,
[1:34] Speaker 5: one of these kind of impact or, or more flashy positions.
[1:36] Speaker 5: But it was apparent from day one that Quentin Nelson
[1:39] Speaker 5: was a special player and a surefire future hall of famer.
[1:42] Speaker 5: I think it was the easiest draft pick probably in
[1:44] Speaker 5: Colts history. And to see that, you know, kind of
[1:48] Speaker 5: be a casualty of, of, this franchise reset that the
[1:52] Speaker 5: Colts have to go through. Even if some fans feel
[1:55] Speaker 5: like it's a necessary thing, that doesn't make it any
[1:57] Speaker 5: easier to see a guy that, you know, it's a
[2:00] Speaker 5: banner on the side of the stadium for that to
[2:03] Speaker 5: be taken down and for that person to go away.
[2:04] Speaker 6: 30 years of age is usually a giant stop sign
[2:08] Speaker 6: in most positions in the NFL, maybe not at the
[2:10] Speaker 6: guard position.
[2:11] Speaker 2: Have you seen any slippage in production from him?
[2:15] Speaker 5: No, I, he is, he can play any scheme. He
[2:19] Speaker 5: can fit any offense. He can do anything that is
[2:22] Speaker 5: asked of him again, guys, it's a left guard, right?
[2:26] Speaker 5: So Quentin Nelson does not impact the game the way
[2:29] Speaker 5: that some of these other impact positions do, but he
[2:33] Speaker 5: is the very best to ever play that position. And you,
[2:37] Speaker 5: it is a plug and play. You never have to
[2:39] Speaker 5: worry about him. I mean, does he occasionally go up
[2:41] Speaker 5: Dax and things like that and get run over?
[2:43] Speaker 4: Yeah, sure. I mean, that happens.
[2:44] Speaker 5: You know, everybody has reps sometimes that they wish that
[2:47] Speaker 5: they had back, but largely he's still playing at a
[2:50] Speaker 5: very high level and should continue to do so into
[2:52] Speaker 5: his thirties.
[2:53] Speaker 2: Well, wait a minute.
[2:53] Speaker 3: We had a texter, Derek, about an hour ago saying
[2:56] Speaker 3: that he saw, he watched the Minnesota Colts game and
[2:59] Speaker 3: he says, Quentin Nelson sucked in that game.
[3:01] Speaker 2: Hashtag school. Is that not true?
[3:03] Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, Minnesota's defense stinks, too, guys, right? I mean,
[3:07] Speaker 5: they don't blitz at all, and they're not difficult to
[3:09] Speaker 5: prepare for, so yeah.
[3:11] Speaker 4: I mean, of course he had.
[3:12] Speaker 3: A bad game. Derek Schultz with us from Indianapolis. We're
[3:15] Speaker 3: talking about Quentin Nelson, who the Hawks picked up today
[3:17] Speaker 3: from Indianapolis. Eight-time Pro Bowl guard, three-time All-Pro. Slots in
[3:22] Speaker 3: as the starting left guard in Seattle. We're kind of
[3:24] Speaker 3: waiting to see officially what they do, but Derek, that's
[3:27] Speaker 3: the kind of assumption, is that Gray Zabel goes to
[3:32] Speaker 3: right guard and Quentin Nelson plays left guard. I mean,
[3:34] Speaker 3: obviously it's a better question for Mike McDonald, John Schneider,
[3:38] Speaker 3: guys like that. But how surprised would you be if
[3:41] Speaker 3: they even moved Quentin Nelson to a different position here?
[3:46] Speaker 5: Just because of his Hall of Fame level pedigree at
[3:49] Speaker 5: the left guard spot. But Nelson is the kind of
[3:51] Speaker 5: guy that would do whatever the team required. That's another
[3:57] Speaker 5: sort of difficult thing about this. And it sounds cheeseball
[4:00] Speaker 5: to say, but he was a great teammate. He was
[4:02] Speaker 5: more of a lead by example guy than a vocal leader.
[4:05] Speaker 5: And it's just too bad that he had the misfortune
[4:08] Speaker 5: of playing during really what was a forgettable era of
[4:11] Speaker 5: Colts football. I mean, Quentin Nelson guys played in three
[4:14] Speaker 5: playoff games total.
[4:15] Speaker 4: He won one. He hadn't played in a playoff game since.
[4:19] Speaker 5: That weird COVID season with Phillip Rivers the first time around.
[4:22] Speaker 5: And at least he'll now have the chance to play
[4:25] Speaker 5: some winning football in Seattle. And I think he is
[4:27] Speaker 5: going to be reinvigorated and ready to join a better culture,
[4:31] Speaker 5: a better locker room, a more talented team, and actually
[4:33] Speaker 5: play meaningful football for the first time in six, seven
[4:37] Speaker 5: years now.
[4:37] Speaker 3: Dick, just real quick, Derek, is your phone, the second
[4:40] Speaker 3: you responded to that question, your phone broke up for
[4:43] Speaker 3: a half a second. So you're saying you would be
[4:44] Speaker 3: surprised if he was playing somewhere else besides left guard, right?
[4:48] Speaker 2: Yeah, I would be.
[4:49] Speaker 5: But I do think that he would be willing to
[4:51] Speaker 5: do that because that's the kind of teammate he is.
[4:53] Speaker 2: Gotcha.
[4:54] Speaker 1: Yes.
[4:55] Speaker 2: Well, you talked about. the reset.
[4:57] Speaker 4: I mean, this is amazing.
[4:58] Speaker 6: We are less than a year from sauce Gardner being
[5:02] Speaker 6: acquired for two first round draft picks in a go
[5:04] Speaker 6: for it move by the Colts. So like, tell me
[5:07] Speaker 6: about how, how did the, how did we get here
[5:10] Speaker 6: from basically almost an undefeated cold steam at the trade
[5:13] Speaker 6: deadline last year?
[5:15] Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, it was a denial that, you know,
[5:21] Speaker 5: I would call it almost like a delusion that they
[5:23] Speaker 5: were close like that. That was just the Chris Bowerd era.
[5:27] Speaker 4: The worst thing about going eight, nine all the time.
[5:30] Speaker 2: Is you fail.
[5:31] Speaker 5: Talk yourself into believing that you're close and you're just
[5:35] Speaker 5: one piece away. And if we just did this, or
[5:37] Speaker 5: if this guy just stayed healthy, then we'd be fine. And,
[5:40] Speaker 5: and I think, you know, what they did last year
[5:42] Speaker 5: in the first half, look, they were a very efficient offense. They,
[5:44] Speaker 5: they had all guns ablaze and they were doing really
[5:46] Speaker 5: off to that seven and one start. they weren't beating
[5:49] Speaker 5: great teams at that time, but still they were off
[5:51] Speaker 5: to a seven, one start. And they certainly looked at
[5:53] Speaker 5: the very least like a playoff team. I think they
[5:55] Speaker 5: fooled themselves into believing, Hey, this is the chance for
[5:57] Speaker 5: us to really kind of go for it here. I mean,
[6:00] Speaker 5: even if sauce Gardner was the jets level sauce Gardner player,
[6:03] Speaker 5: two ones plus 80 Mitchell, when you have a terrible
[6:06] Speaker 5: wide receiver room, it's a, it's a wild overpay. And,
[6:10] Speaker 5: and it's only aged even worse than that because Gardner
[6:13] Speaker 5: has turned out to be kind of just a guy.
[6:15] Speaker 5: I mean, he is, he's a pretty good quarterback and, Um,
[6:18] Speaker 5: but certainly not the all pro level guy that he
[6:20] Speaker 5: was in New York and, and not the guy that
[6:22] Speaker 5: they expected him to be as, as far as.
[6:24] Speaker 4: The game changer.
[6:25] Speaker 5: So yeah, it's, it's aged terribly and it's, it's just
[6:27] Speaker 5: a factor of many factors of the Colts just trying
[6:30] Speaker 5: to kick the can down the road. And, and they
[6:32] Speaker 5: thought that they were close and they just give us
[6:34] Speaker 5: a little bit more time. Just give us one more player.
[6:35] Speaker 5: Just give us this guy. Just give us that guy.
[6:37] Speaker 4: And it just never materialized for Chris Ballard in that era.
[6:39] Speaker 3: Well, Derek Schultz, again, Indianapolis with us on the air,
[6:43] Speaker 3: Lockdown Colts. And I didn't realize that, do you actually
[6:45] Speaker 3: work for Purdue University? Are you a PR guy for
[6:48] Speaker 3: Purdue now? Is that what you're doing?
[6:50] Speaker 4: Yeah, so, Shanti, I got a day job. Yeah, and
[6:55] Speaker 4: that is my day job with the university.
[6:57] Speaker 5: It's not athletics related. And, yeah, I've done that now
[7:00] Speaker 5: for four years, so I still freelance the other stuff
[7:03] Speaker 5: on the side. And, yeah, I feel like I'm having
[7:06] Speaker 5: my cake and eating it, too, a little bit.
[7:07] Speaker 2: I love it.
[7:08] Speaker 3: So you're to thank for that incredible spread of hot
[7:10] Speaker 3: dogs and macaroni salad that we had a couple weeks
[7:12] Speaker 3: ago in West Lafayette. I appreciate that, man. That was great.
[7:14] Speaker 3: But Derek Schultz with us. And, Derek, I'm just wondering,
[7:18] Speaker 3: this guy's a great player, right? He's 30 years old.
[7:20] Speaker 3: He's got a lot of football left. I think we
[7:22] Speaker 3: all agree on that. Why wasn't he signed for next year?
[7:27] Speaker 3: I mean, most teams don't like guys going into a
[7:29] Speaker 3: free agent year signing. without a contract for the following season.
[7:32] Speaker 3: Was that his call to maybe test-free agency?
[7:35] Speaker 2: Are the Colts being cheap?
[7:37] Speaker 3: Why is Quentin Nelson sitting here with, what, 10, 11
[7:41] Speaker 3: games left to go in the year and does not
[7:44] Speaker 3: have a contract for next season?
[7:46] Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a great question because they have a ton
[7:47] Speaker 5: of cap space too. I mean, they could have gotten
[7:49] Speaker 5: this done at any time. They got the extension deal
[7:51] Speaker 5: done with Taylor a couple of weeks ago. So it's
[7:54] Speaker 5: not that they were cheap. It's just, I think the
[7:56] Speaker 5: assumption always was, okay, this deal is.
[7:58] Speaker 4: Going to get done. Quentin Nelson is going to be
[8:00] Speaker 4: a cult for life.
[8:02] Speaker 5: And when things went so south over the last couple
[8:04] Speaker 5: of weeks, I think it just kind of came to
[8:06] Speaker 5: a point where The Colts were willing to look. I
[8:09] Speaker 5: do think the way that they do business, I do think,
[8:12] Speaker 5: I don't know this. I do think that a conversation
[8:14] Speaker 5: was had between he and the team and they asked
[8:17] Speaker 5: him straight out, Hey, do you want to be here?
[8:18] Speaker 5: Do you want to keep going here? And they, they
[8:20] Speaker 5: had kind of a, you know, come to Jesus moment,
[8:22] Speaker 5: if you will. And, and I'm guessing that Nelson said
[8:24] Speaker 5: that he was open to exploring other possibilities. I do
[8:27] Speaker 5: not think they would have traded him. Had he been
[8:29] Speaker 5: adamant about staying in Indianapolis. And I think he was
[8:31] Speaker 5: ready for it. Like I said, guys, the culture changed.
[8:33] Speaker 5: I mean, it's, I'm hesitant to say this because you've
[8:37] Speaker 5: got some truly bad, like the Titans and the Browns historically,
[8:41] Speaker 5: but man, being eight, nine every year, it's, it's a
[8:44] Speaker 5: really difficult place to be because you're teased into believing
[8:47] Speaker 5: that things can change as opposed to just being in
[8:51] Speaker 5: a complete hopeless situation.
[8:52] Speaker 4: I think Nelson was just ready for things to change.
[8:53] Speaker 6: Well, I was just taking a look. The top 14
[8:56] Speaker 6: highest paid guards all signed their contracts between the age
[8:59] Speaker 6: of 24 and 28 and, So, I mean, Joe Tooney's
[9:03] Speaker 6: the only comp, really. He signed his deal at 31
[9:06] Speaker 6: and he got two years, 35 million. So is this a,
[9:10] Speaker 6: are the Hawks going to have to pay close to
[9:12] Speaker 6: top dollar or because, you know, most of these comps
[9:15] Speaker 6: are all 25, 26 years of age, they're going to
[9:17] Speaker 6: get a pretty good deal on them.
[9:20] Speaker 5: I do think that they're going to have to pay
[9:23] Speaker 5: now that market value because it's a left guard and
[9:25] Speaker 5: because of those comps that you just mentioned aren't going
[9:28] Speaker 5: to be something outrageous.
[9:30] Speaker 4: And that's another reason, you know, why didn't the Colts.
[9:31] Speaker 5: Just do the deal? He's a franchise pillar. He can
[9:34] Speaker 5: be here for the next rebuild. You don't have to
[9:36] Speaker 5: worry about that position. you know, I can understand that standpoint,
[9:39] Speaker 5: but yeah, I, I don't think that you're going to
[9:41] Speaker 5: necessarily get Quentin Nelson on a discount, but I do
[9:45] Speaker 5: think that he is going to be motivated to stay
[9:48] Speaker 5: with the team that gives him a chance to win.
[9:50] Speaker 5: I don't think that he's going to want to do this,
[9:52] Speaker 5: move across the country and then go into free agency
[9:55] Speaker 5: and be like, yeah, you know what?
[9:56] Speaker 1: Bye.
[9:57] Speaker 5: I'm going to go for my third team now. I think,
[10:00] Speaker 5: you know, barring something unforeseen here with Seattle where it's
[10:03] Speaker 5: just not a good fit or something like that, I
[10:05] Speaker 5: would expect him to be motivated to stay.
[10:07] Speaker 2: Well, 30 seconds or less. We've got to go, Derek.
[10:09] Speaker 3: Derek Schultz with us. If you're a Seahawks fan, how
[10:11] Speaker 3: jacked up are you for this trade?
[10:14] Speaker 5: Yeah. Again, it's something you don't have to worry about it.
[10:17] Speaker 5: You plug and play and he can be your guy.
[10:19] Speaker 5: I think at least for the next three, four years
[10:21] Speaker 5: at a very high level near all pro level. And
[10:24] Speaker 5: it's not a position that impacts the game again, but
[10:26] Speaker 5: it's one that you never have to worry about when
[10:28] Speaker 5: Quinn Nelson is out there.
[10:29] Speaker 2: I love it. I love it.
[10:30] Speaker 3: Hey, by the way, that macaroni salad that I had
[10:32] Speaker 3: at that stadium was fricking awesome. You should be proud
[10:34] Speaker 3: of that Mac salad. It was very good and I
[10:36] Speaker 3: enjoyed it. So thanks for all the hospitality man out there.
[10:38] Speaker 3: It was great to see you. And we'll talk soon, man.
[10:41] Speaker 3: Appreciate it.
[10:43] Speaker 5: So you like that defense giving up 400, whatever yards.
[10:45] Speaker 5: I bet you like that more, right?
[10:46] Speaker 2: I liked it very much.
[10:47] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[10:48] Speaker 3: I'd like to see Nebraska do the same thing this Saturday,
[10:50] Speaker 3: by the way, but I'm fearful that's not going to happen.
[10:53] Speaker 2: All right, bud. We'll talk soon, Derek.
[10:54] Speaker 4: Thanks, man. See you guys.
[10:56] Speaker 3: All right, Derek Schultz, Indianapolis. He's very, very high on
[11:00] Speaker 3: Quentin Nelson. Says you plug him in, you play him.
[11:03] Speaker 3: He's your guy for three, four years at a pro bowl,
[11:05] Speaker 3: all pro level.
[11:06] Speaker 2: I mean, what more do you want than that? We're
[11:08] Speaker 2: going to break.
[11:09] Speaker 3: Brian Schmetzer going to join. Head coach of the Sounders,
[11:12] Speaker 3: Hugh Millen, coming up in the 6 p.m.
[11:14] Speaker 2: Hour.
[11:14] Speaker 3: His thoughts on the Quentin Nelson trade on 93.3 KJRFM.

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