‘All over the field’: Rookie Nick Bolton makes presence felt in Kansas City Chiefs win
Using his quickness to dart past the arms of one offensive lineman, then two, linebacker Nick Bolton zeroed in on Justin Herbert.
As soon as the Chargers quarterback stepped back to release the ball, Bolton lunged forward and outstretched his right arm, deflecting the pass. The next thing you know, the pigskin was in the arms of safety Anthony Hitchens. First quarter interception. Possession Chiefs.
“Nick matched the quarterback’s hands so perfectly and tipped the ball,” Hitchens said after the game, which the Chiefs won 34-28 in overtime on Thursday night. “All I had to do was just cradle and cover it up.”
You’d be hard pressed to find many plays the rookie didn’t affect on defense.
Bolton played a career-high 79 snaps with linebacker Willie Gay Jr. out due to COVID-19 protocols. Bolton finished with 14 tackles, 10 of which were unassisted. No other player on either team had more than nine combined.
Along with the tackle count, which was also a career mark, he added three passes defended — one led to an interception, one led to a goal-line stop and another stopped a fourth-down attempt. Toss in a quarterback hit to the tally too.
“Bolton steps in, right,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said, “And has a big day.”
The Chiefs didn’t have a first round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, instead taking Bolton out of the University of Missouri with their first selection at 58th overall in the second round. He’s arguably had first-round production though.
Bolton has 102 combined tackles (64 solo) through 14 games, which leads the team. Only four other rookies have accounted for more tackles in franchise history. And he’s done so while playing just 554 snaps on defense, equivalent to just under 40 counts a game.
“He’s gotten better every opportunity he’s had to play,” Reid said. “He’s got a bright future down the road. [Brett] Veach did a nice job bringing him here. Brett and his scouts have just really studied him. He’s a great kid. He doesn’t say a whole lot, but he knows what he’s doing. And the guys know that, the veteran players know that.”
Bolton’s impact was felt early and often. On third-and-goal towards the start of the first quarter, he combined with Mike Hughes as they each thumped Mike Williams from opposite sides.
Hughes came in from the left and tried to punch the ball out of the wide receiver’s hands, but it didn’t fully budge. That’s when Bolton came pounding in from the right side, jarring it loose and helping prevent the Chargers from scoring the first touchdown of the night. The home team then went for it on fourth down and came up short.
“He’s a sure tackler,” Reid said.
As it often has throughout this season, L.A. repeatedly took its chances on fourth down. Though the analytics supported most of those moves, Bolton and the Chiefs’ defense made them look foolish on several occasions.
One of those instances came on fourth-and-2 with under eight minutes left in the third quarter. Herbert threw a well-placed pass up the middle towards Jared Cook, but that didn’t matter much with Bolton defending.
The linebacker had his eyes on Cook’s route the whole time, trailing the tight end closely yet giving him the illusion that he had enough space. But as soon as the ball came their way, Bolton pounced, batting it away with one hand and forcing his opponent to the ground with the other.
“I’m not sure how many tackles he had, but geez, he’s been all over the field,” Hitchens said. “He’s gonna be a great player here in this league for a while.”
Though a forced fumble by defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton was the one that put a full stop to a Chargers’ red zone attack in the fourth quarter, Bolton made a big play on the previous snap.
Bolton found a hole on second-and-goal and sprinted to Herbert. The quarterback dodged and then outstretched his hand over Bolton’s face mask, trying to evade him any way possible, but the linebacker was undeterred. He continued to harass, eventually forcing Herbert to throw an errant pass well past the back of the end zone to avoid the sack.
All night long, Bolton was in Herbert’s way. He finished with the best defensive rating of any player on the team, per Pro Football Focus, his potential on full display in front of a national audience.
As Reid put it simply in the opening remarks of his news conference: “Nick Bolton on defense had a nice night.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2021 at 2:41 PM with the headline "‘All over the field’: Rookie Nick Bolton makes presence felt in Kansas City Chiefs win."
