*****The Nick Bolton Thread*****

[Dante84]

More to come!

Bolton played in all 13 games as a true freshman (22 tackles, one sack) after earning Dallas Morning News first-team all-state honors at Lone Star High School (130 tackles, 16 for loss, five interceptions). He went from promising youngster to SEC star in 2019, earning first-team all-conference honors after leading the league with 8.9 tackles per game (107 total, 7.5 for loss), intercepting two passes and breaking up eight others in 12 starts. He was named second-team Associated Press All-American, first-team All-SEC and a Butkus Award finalist in 2020, leading his defense with 95 tackles and 7.5 tackles for loss (including two sacks), while breaking up five passes in 10 starts. Bolton's father, Carlos, played football at Louisiana Tech. -- by Chad Reuter

Overview
When you think about strong, forceful inside linebackers, Bolton is the type of player you might be envisioning. He's going to fall below typical NFL starter standards from a size standpoint, but his rugged frame and forceful demeanor help make up for it. Play recognition and pursuit instincts help carry him to the football and he's a message-sending striker when he gets the runner squared up. He has functional short-area burst between the tackles but will struggle to run down the outside run if he's not close enough to the action. He will need to lean heavier on his instincts to help speed him up because of size and speed limitations. Bolton plays with good field recognition when dropping into zone and has a history of making plays on the football in coverage. He's a three-down linebacker who can make an immediate contribution on special teams and has the potential to become a future starter.
Strengths

• Very tough with a physical edge.
• Plays with demeanor teams look for in the middle.
• Field-savvy with instincts to diagnose misdirection.
• Identifies and communicates.
• Heavy hands with good pop to take on blocks.
• Pursues ball-carrier with patience and leverage.
• Fluid alterations to his pursuit angles.
• Excellent feel for attack timing downhill.
• Meets runners with violent collisions in the hole.
• Strikes like he's trying to send a message.
• Great awareness and ballhawking as spot dropper.
• Has enough man-cover talent to play on all three downs.
• Thrived on kick- and punt-cover teams early in his career.

Weaknesses

• Average lateral quickness traps him behind climbing blocks.
• Inconsistent to strike and separate from blockers.
• Needs to improve angles to elude box traffic.
• Might need to take a few more chances as a pro.
• Top-end speed appears below average.
• Loses ground when pursuit flows wide.
• Below-average lateral agility as open-field tackler.
• Will have to play quicker to deal with NFL slashers.

.@_nickbolton2 gets the call from One Arrowhead Drive �� pic.twitter.com/1XgaCeBy8R

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) May 1, 2021

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

And if we pay $20 million/yr for Cam Robinson (which is what he'll cost) he'll get DESTROYED 'round these parts by about week 4.

If you want a truly great LT, you have to develop him.

If you want a guy whos adequate and overpaid, you sign your FA veteran.

"We just have to fix the LT" is really the same as "We just need a franchise QB" -- it's so much easier said than done.

What people are advocating at the LT position appears to be the Derek Carr approach to fixing the QB position. You go out there and pay way too much for someone you know isn't actually GOOD...but at least he isn't awful. And then you hope that things work out well elsewhere on the roster.

And that's not even an indefensible approach -- but don't act like it's an obviously right one either.

I'm going to say something extremely unpopular right now. Kingsley is the type of LT we need. If he doesn't develop, someone like him has to. That's the only way we are going to get a top-flight LT.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Shields68

To me find a LT and a lot of the rest falls into place. Rice comes back. Maybe try and find a 3rd round RB, Travis makes his call and adjust accordingly.

No it doesn't.

Because again, from about week 3 to week 11, Wanya Morris was...fine. Not great, but adequate.

And the offense was still mediocre at best.

LT took all the blame because of how catastrophically the position imploded on 3 separate instances this year, but in between those implosions we weren't exactly setting the world on fire offensively despite getting solid play from LT and well above average play from the other 4 combined positions on the OL.

It's not the panacea people are arguing.

[smithandrew051]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

And if we pay $20 million/yr for Cam Robinson (which is what he'll cost) he'll get DESTROYED 'round these parts by about week 4.

If you want a truly great LT, you have to develop him.

If you want a guy whos adequate and overpaid, you sign your FA veteran.

"We just have to fix the LT" is really the same as "We just need a franchise QB" -- it's so much easier said than done.

What people are advocating at the LT position appears to be the Derek Carr approach to fixing the QB position. You go out there and pay way too much for someone you know isn't actually GOOD...but at least he isn't awful. And then you hope that things work out well elsewhere on the roster.

And that's not even an indefensible approach -- but don't act like it's an obviously right one either.

I don’t think Kingsley is the answer but he has LT measurables.

I still remember seeing those charts where we gave him basically no help and didn’t adjust to the shorter passing game.

That still makes zero sense to me, because the Chiefs gave Morris and Thuney more help and adjusted the play calling. I understand refusing to change your system for one guy, but that’s what we ended up doing anyway.

We essentially wasted any chance to develop Kingsley and made LG an abomination in the process.

It’s baffling to me that the Chiefs had one expectation for Kingsley but then made life easier on the guys who replaced him.

[smithandrew051]

And I remember how bad Hendrickson beat him, but that guy had 17.5 sacks.

Kingsley was far from his only victim.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by smithandrew051

I don’t think Kingsley is the answer but he has LT measurables.

I still remember seeing those charts where we gave him basically no help and didn’t adjust to the shorter passing game.

That still makes zero sense to me, because the Chiefs have Morris and Thuney more help and adjusted the play calling. I understand refusing to change your system for one guy, but that’s what we ended up doing anyway.

We essentially wasted any chance to develop Kingsley and made LG an abomination in the process.

It’s baffling to me that the Chiefs had one expectation for Kingsley but then made life easier on the guys who replaced him.

I've said as much as I feel inclined to say about how we handled the LT/LG thing down the stretch this year over in the Humphries thread.

My position is known and the cake is now baked. I don't care for what we did and in the end things couldn't have gone much worse at the worst possible time.

That said, I don't think Humphries would've changed anything meaningful. MAYBE had he not pulled his hammy and had those 6 weeks or so to get into football shape and get used to the offense and his teammates.

But he didn't. I think we got it wrong, but I don't think that's why we shit the bed.

[siberian khatru]

Originally Posted by smithandrew051

And I remember how bad Hendrickson beat him, but that guy had 17.5 sacks.

Kingsley was far from his only victim.

I think the most concerning thing about that is that it seemed to destroy Kingsley mentally. He never recovered.

[smithandrew051]

Originally Posted by siberian khatru

I think the most concerning thing about that is that it seemed to destroy Kingsley mentally. He never recovered.

Possibly, but that goes back to my original point.

Why not give a rookie LT some help and adjust the playcalling? Why wait until you bench him and then give the replacements that help?

Maybe that situation could’ve been avoided entirely.

At least Kingsley has some upside. I don’t see that with Morris. Thuney is clearly a stopgap.

It’s just very confusing to me.

[dlphg9]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

No it doesn't.

Because again, from about week 3 to week 11, Wanya Morris was...fine. Not great, but adequate.

And the offense was still mediocre at best.

LT took all the blame because of how catastrophically the position imploded on 3 separate instances this year, but in between those implosions we weren't exactly setting the world on fire offensively despite getting solid play from LT and well above average play from the other 4 combined positions on the OL.

It's not the panacea people are arguing.

People just cant wrap there heads around the fact that Mahomes has not been playing at his standard for 2 whole regular seasons.

Two years ago it was all the WRs fault. This year it was blame the LT, even though Wanya played at least as well as Donovan Smith did the previous year.

I have no desire to watch any of that SB from last night, so I can't really say who ****ed up the most. How much did Mahomes hold onto the ball too long? Did he miss wide open WRs? Was the OL the sole reason for the slaughter?

Like I said, I have no desire to watch any of that game, but I will eventually and then I'll know who to blame.

[Couch-Potato]

Agreed. He played well last night and we probably pay him to stay.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

People just cant wrap there heads around the fact that Mahomes has not been playing at his standard for 2 whole regular seasons.

Two years ago it was all the WRs fault. This year it was blame the LT, even though Wanya played at least as well as Donovan Smith did the previous year.

I have no desire to watch any of that SB from last night, so I can't really say who ****ed up the most. How much did Mahomes hold onto the ball too long? Did he miss wide open WRs? Was the OL the sole reason for the slaughter?

Like I said, I have no desire to watch any of that game, but I will eventually and then I'll know who to blame.

They have also coached a lot of his dynamic ability out of him, he plays much more like just a standard QB.

[smithandrew051]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

People just cant wrap there heads around the fact that Mahomes has not been playing at his standard for 2 whole regular seasons.

Two years ago it was all the WRs fault. This year it was blame the LT, even though Wanya played at least as well as Donovan Smith did the previous year.

I have no desire to watch any of that SB from last night, so I can't really say who ****ed up the most. How much did Mahomes hold onto the ball too long? Did he miss wide open WRs? Was the OL the sole reason for the slaughter?

Like I said, I have no desire to watch any of that game, but I will eventually and then I'll know who to blame.

I think on the Chiefs second drive, Mahomes had time and tried to go deep.

He did this little pump fake. Then pulled the ball down and dumped it off to Juju (I think).

I had a bad feeling after that. We didn’t get a good replay, but my assumption is that he had someone come open but couldn’t pull the trigger.

That hesitation won’t work. You have to take the shots and connect. That will help negate the pressure.

[Sassy Squatch]

Mahomes looked like shit from the opening whistle. Way off the mark even before the OL decided it was let the Eagles front 4 tee off on Mahomes day.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

People just cant wrap there heads around the fact that Mahomes has not been playing at his standard for 2 whole regular seasons.

Two years ago it was all the WRs fault. This year it was blame the LT, even though Wanya played at least as well as Donovan Smith did the previous year.

I have no desire to watch any of that SB from last night, so I can't really say who ****ed up the most. How much did Mahomes hold onto the ball too long? Did he miss wide open WRs? Was the OL the sole reason for the slaughter?

Like I said, I have no desire to watch any of that game, but I will eventually and then I'll know who to blame.

No explosion, worst RB room in football, old slow WR’s, 5 LT’s.

They’ve done a great job with Rashee and Worthy. They need make this offseason about the trenches and a couple more explosive playmakers

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by dlphg9

People just cant wrap there heads around the fact that Mahomes has not been playing at his standard for 2 whole regular seasons.

Two years ago it was all the WRs fault. This year it was blame the LT, even though Wanya played at least as well as Donovan Smith did the previous year.

I have no desire to watch any of that SB from last night, so I can't really say who ****ed up the most. How much did Mahomes hold onto the ball too long? Did he miss wide open WRs? Was the OL the sole reason for the slaughter?

Like I said, I have no desire to watch any of that game, but I will eventually and then I'll know who to blame.

Ultimately it was ALL of that.

But in a game of that magnitude, the one thing you should be able to take off the table is your all-universe QB missing plays that could stabilize your offense early in the game.

The 2nd half was just such a write-off. It really didn't matter at that point and barely resembled an actual football game.

But in that first half, Mahomes didn't do enough to help his OL. His OL didn't do enough to make things easier for Mahomes and the receivers weren't doing enough to get open.

A LOT of credit goes to the Eagles defense, to be honest. Their DBs played well and their DL played with their intensity turned up to 11. At that point there was one guy on the field for us who could pull a couple of plays from the fire and give everything a chance to stabilize.

And he didn't do that.

In the end, we got outplayed. That's really all there is to it. Their best plays were better than our best plays. Our worst plays were more catastrophic than their worst plays. That's why it's so hard to point to any specific cause - the entire offense just failed across the board.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by smithandrew051

I think on the Chiefs second drive, Mahomes had time and tried to go deep.

He did this little pump fake. Then pulled the ball down and dumped it off to Juju (I think).

I had a bad feeling after that. We didn’t get a good replay, but my assumption is that he had someone come open but couldn’t pull the trigger.

That hesitation won’t work. You have to take the shots and connect. That will help negate the pressure.

An example of just heaving it to Worthy EARLY in the game...

Why is Mahomes not just ripping it here? Just let him run under the ball. He had time. Just throw it man. https://t.co/pcyLyUO6Io

— Conner Christopherson (@Conner_DKC) February 10, 2025

This is that play, it's 1 on 1 and Mahomes wouldn't pull it. Like has been said, all of the "coaching" is at fault for this, he won't take chances because they've coached him to be risk adverse, to not throw guys open. If dudes aren't wide ass open he'll clutch it, and check it off.