The Kansas City Chiefs have made some significant draft investments at the linebacker position in recent years.
In 2020, the team selected Mississippi State’s Willie Gay Jr. in the second round. The following year, they’d take Mizzou’s Nick Bolton, also in the second round. In 2022, they take Wisconsin’s Leo Chenal in the third round.
They’ve cast a wide net to try to find the next great Chiefs linebacker. They tried and failed a few times since their last great, Derrick Johnson, was selected in the 2005 NFL draft. Some of the latest rankings would have you believe that Bolton is on his way to becoming that next great player at the position in Kansas City.
Touchdown Wire ranked Bolton as the eighth-best linebacker in the league. Now, ESPN has followed suit in Jeremy Fowler’s annual survey of NFL executives, coaches and players regarding the NFL’s top-10 linebackers. The highest ranking Bolton received was fifth and the lowest he received was unranked after going unranked a season ago. Ultimately he landed at No. 8 with an anonymous NFC scouting source getting the featured comment.
“For me it’s the instincts,” an NFC scouting veteran told Fowler. “You see the [ability to] diagnose, the trigger and obviously play speed and physicality on contact. I think he’s going to continue his ascension as a stacked playmaker.”
The 23-year-old was considered a defensive catalyst to the team’s Super Bowl run, highlighted by his Super Bowl LVII fumble returned for a touchdown (and the one that was called back). In general, during the course of the 2022 NFL season, Bolton’s game developed. He went from a bit of a thumper as a rookie to a do-it-all linebacker with the tackle numbers (180) and splash plays (two interceptions and two sacks in the regular season) to earn him this type of recognition.
Can that type of production and the accompanying praise persist into the 2023 NFL season? Bolton seems more motivated than ever to help the defensive side of the ball earn their flowers. That desire for respect can be a powerful thing, especially for an ascendant young player.
