Even though the Kansas City Chiefs have made it to the AFC Championship or further over the last three seasons, the team’s linebacking corps has been mediocre at best, to say the least.
That’s why there are high hopes that rookie linebacker Nick Bolton will be the answer the team has been searching for. During his pre-camp presser on Friday, Bolton made it clear that he knows what the expectations for him are.
“I know what the ultimate goal here is and I’m just trying to do my part; trying to be a part of winning a championship and doing my one-eleventh.”
Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo typically refrains from starting rookie linebackers. So for the former Missouri Tiger to do his one-eleventh, Bolton understands he’ll have to prove to the coach that he deserves to be on the field.
“I learned the playbook, communication, the intangible things that you don’t get by just reading the playbook,” he explained. “It’s about being out there with the guys. So I’m trying to go ahead and improve on that during training camp. I just know the expectation is for me to build trust and that comes with repetition and doing things correctly all the time. So that’s the kind of expectation I have for myself [I] just have to go out there and execute every single day, and just give [Spagnolo] confidence.”
To learn the various nuances of the defense and earn the trust he talked about, Bolton has looked to veteran teammate Anthony Hitchens to help him along the way.
“Anthony Hitchens is one of the smartest football players that I know,” he said. “That guy is very seasoned, he knows what he is doing. I talk to him every day about what to bring up here for training camp, or developing and how to learn the playbook. He’s been a big help.”
Since arriving in Kansas City via free agency in 2018, Hitchens has been the unquestioned leader among the Chiefs’ linebackers and plays the mentor role very well in making sure Bolton is as prepared as possible for the first day of camp.
“The main thing he told me was kind of just bring a TV,” recalled Bolton. “A lot of guys just don’t bring a TV — so if you have downtime or you’re studying the playbook you can watch TV … He also just reminded me to bring pens, highlighters, pencils, stuff like that — stuff that a lot of guys forget to bring — so [when] you have time to write notes, you can rewrite your notes at night time … have everything neat and organized. That’s kind of the two big things he got on me about … just to make sure I’m all the way prepared.”
Hitchens currently plays the same position that many draft experts believe Bolton would bring to most value, at the MIKE linebacker spot. Rather than be concerned about his spot being taken, Hitchens has instead rallied around a young player to help put him in the best position to succeed.
Now that’s leadership.
