"They've been great," he said. "Both of those guys brought me in with open arms. They're great leaders. To have those type of guys on your team, it's contagious."
While Haden and Heyward have provided some mentorship for Nelson early on, there's another factor at play as well: The Steelers offense. Nelson might not be learning schemes and assignments from the other side of the ball, but facing Ben Roethlisberger, JuJu Smith-Schuster and the crew on a daily basis in Latrobe, Pa., pays dividends.
"It's been fun. It's been good, good work," Nelson said.