*****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

[smithandrew051]

Originally Posted by Mecca

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.

Damn it. I was kinda hoping it was just blanketed.

[Dunerdr]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

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.

I think several people agree with this. More will come around as the year gets going. He's got the traits. I'd still chase another in the draft and hopefully have book end LT/RT. Kind of like our WR group right now. We should be absolutely set with Rice and Worthy.

[smithandrew051]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

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.

The management of Kingsley this year just makes zero sense to me.

If you’re going to provide more help and a short passing game for his replacements, why not give him the same?

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by Dunerdr

I think several people agree with this. More will come around as the year gets going. He's got the traits. I'd still chase another in the draft and hopefully have book end LT/RT. Kind of like our WR group right now. We should be absolutely set with Rice and Worthy.

As crazy as it sounds, it might be time for the Chiefs to spend LESS on the offense.

Hear me out.

If you are not trading up in Rd 1 to get Simmons at LT, then what's the difference between a last 1st round OT and what you already have on the roster?

I don't want to spend what it would take in FA dollars on Cam Robinson to get the same result we just experienced.

If Travis retires he retires. I'm not going to freak out and try and find a replacement because you are never going to replace that guy.

We spend real money on Mahomes, Taylor, Thuney, and Humphrey. Thats it.

I'd rather spend FA money on the defense, whether that's Wharton, Reid, CB, or whatever than spend a pile of money on Cam Robinson another questionable LT.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by Mecca

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.

First off, great ****ing coverage from Quinyon Mitchell here.

But yes Mahomes should have taken the shot. If anything it would have forced Fangio to adjust

via Imgflip

[el borracho]

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.

Worth mentioning that our offense from week 3 to week 11 was without our top two WRs and our top RB got injured somewhere along the way. LT play may have been fine but our skill players were all broken for a long stretch of this season.

[smithandrew051]

Originally Posted by RunKC

First off, great ****ing coverage from Quinyon Mitchell here.

But yes Mahomes should have taken the shot. If anything it would have forced Fangio to adjust

via Imgflip

What bothered me in real time was Mahomes clearly thinking about it, pump faking and checking down.

It was clear right then that he was going to think himself into trouble.

[RealSNR]

Fine with paying him if he ages well.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by RunKC

First off, great ****ing coverage from Quinyon Mitchell here.

But yes Mahomes should have taken the shot. If anything it would have forced Fangio to adjust

via Imgflip

Yeah, their secondary played really well.

When they didn't, we didn't make 'em pay for it.

They simply beat the brakes off us and I don't see what else to say about it. They were better across the board. I can't think of a position group for KC that outplayed the Eagles group. Their special teams even outplayed ours.

It was a top to bottom ass-kicking.

I do wish we'd stop saying our DL played poorly, though. This idea that we never got pressure on Hurts is just wrong. A) We were playing very very gap sound in an attempt to stop the Eagles rushing attack and it worked to perfection. B) We did get pressure on Hurts and when that happened, he handled the pressure better than Mahomes did, either by running for yardage or standing in and delivering the pass. And Hurts typically got juuuuust enough time for our coverage to break down. Even McDuffie wasn't immune.

We just got beat. Everywhere.

But the DL does deserve some credit for playing its ass off.

[ThyKingdomCome15]

Originally Posted by smithandrew051

Damn it. I was kinda hoping it was just blanketed.

We didn't play that bad all year.-Travis Kelce

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by RunKC

First off, great ****ing coverage from Quinyon Mitchell here.

But yes Mahomes should have taken the shot. If anything it would have forced Fangio to adjust

via Imgflip

Yeah, if he just puts that 60 yards in the air, Worthy was starting to get away from Mitchell and Mahomes did have the time to do it. And was looking right at it.

"If I'm even, I'm leavin'..."

That's kinda how we needed to view Worthy there. As Mahomes looked at the play, Mitchell WAS alongside Worthy, but you want to see him trust Worthy's speed there because with a good throw, Worthy has the play made.

Might've changed things, especially if its housed.

But I kinda doubt it. Fangio was having success sending 4 and playing zone behind it. Not sure why he'd have done anything differently because one time the Chiefs got Worthy isolated in man and smoked him. He'd have just stuck with the zone stuff that was otherwise wrecking us.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Yeah, if he just puts that 60 yards in the air, Worthy was starting to get away from Mitchell and Mahomes did have the time to do it. And was looking right at it.

"If I'm even, I'm leavin'..."

That's kinda how we needed to view Worthy there. As Mahomes looked at the play, Mitchell WAS alongside Worthy, but you want to see him trust Worthy's speed there because with a good throw, Worthy has the play made.

Might've changed things, especially if its housed.

But I kinda doubt it. Fangio was having success sending 4 and playing zone behind it. Not sure why he'd have done anything differently because one time the Chiefs got Worthy isolated in man and smoked him. He'd have just stuck with the zone stuff that was otherwise wrecking us.

Worthy was covered on the long TD. He caught that ball because he got that extra step right at the end of the play. It CAN be done, Pat just needs to let it rip.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Worthy was covered on the long TD. He caught that ball because he got that extra step right at the end of the play. It CAN be done, Pat just needs to let it rip.

I mean it's a designed shot play. Kelce's whole job is to put the safety in conflict and that's exactly what happened. Nobody else is even running a route to speak of.

That's a simple high/low 2-man game and the throw is based on the safety.

The safety sunk on Kelce -- as soon as that happens, the ball HAS to come out. Complete or not, the odds of a pick are damn near zero.

Like I said in the GDT -- Mahomes wasn't running the offense. That play is a perfect example of it. That play design got him the look, we KNOW he saw the look...then he pulled it down and freelanced for really no reason at all.

He was bad Sunday -- no two ways about it. Nobody helped him out much, but it was obviously different than the Bucs Super Bowl. His team killed him that night and he was the only thing that was working.

On Sunday, he was as big a part of the problem as anyone.

[smithandrew051]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I mean it's a designed shot play. Kelce's whole job is to put the safety in conflict and that's exactly what happened. Nobody else is even running a route to speak of.

That's a simple high/low 2-man game and the throw is based on the safety.

The safety sunk on Kelce -- as soon as that happens, the ball HAS to come out. Complete or not, the odds of a pick are damn near zero.

Like I said in the GDT -- Mahomes wasn't running the offense. That play is a perfect example of it. That play design got him the look, we KNOW he saw the look...then he pulled it down and freelanced for really no reason at all.

He was bad Sunday -- no two ways about it. Nobody helped him out much, but it was obviously different than the Bucs Super Bowl. His team killed him that night and he was the only thing that was working.

On Sunday, he was as big a part of the problem as anyone.

A mental reset was needed. The players have a long offseason to think about it.

Hopefully they use it as motivation.

If I see Kelce come back with another gut though, I’ll be concerned.

Has to start with your leaders.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I mean it's a designed shot play. Kelce's whole job is to put the safety in conflict and that's exactly what happened. Nobody else is even running a route to speak of.

That's a simple high/low 2-man game and the throw is based on the safety.

The safety sunk on Kelce -- as soon as that happens, the ball HAS to come out. Complete or not, the odds of a pick are damn near zero.

Like I said in the GDT -- Mahomes wasn't running the offense. That play is a perfect example of it. That play design got him the look, we KNOW he saw the look...then he pulled it down and freelanced for really no reason at all.

He was bad Sunday -- no two ways about it. Nobody helped him out much, but it was obviously different than the Bucs Super Bowl. His team killed him that night and he was the only thing that was working.

On Sunday, he was as big a part of the problem as anyone.

The Eagles did it multiple times on the outside. And beat McDuffie, one of the best in the game, doing it. Sometimes you have to trust your WRs to go get the ball. Other teams do it, Mahomes just doesn't.