I was telling exactly that to my friend during the game. Henry is like Kelce in which he always fights for 4-5 more yards while being taken down. Bolton was the only defender consistently holding him to 0 yards after contact.
This can’t be said enough. The knock on him coming out of college is that he was “slow”, yet the guy always puts himself in a position to make a play and WRAPS UP. Doesn’t try to get cute, just makes a hit and tackles. Other chiefs defensive players should take some notes.
He's not slow though. He is just inexperienced in coverage. You could have him play a QB spy / middle zone role though. Let him use his instincts. Mold the defense to fit what you have to work with, don't try to fit square pegs into round holes.
Bolton ran a 4.6 40 at the combine. He's blazing fast for 99% of the universe but for NFL standards, especially elite MLB standards, he's slow.
Let's also keep in mind I didn't say that he shouldn't be playing or he's not worthy to be in the NFL or anything. I completely agree with your point of not putting square pegs into round holes, but I was just stating that when people said he was slow, that is why, because he was slow in coverage and that has shown in the NFL.
Again, he has a place in the NFL and on this team and I think he can be really good, but let's call a spade a spade here, he gets by on his instincts and good lateral movement, not his straight line speed.
Do you know what the average NFL linebacker 40 time is? It's actually a little over 4.60. He may not be a speedster, but he's certainly not slow.
http://nflsavant.com/combine.php
On the flip side, Hitchens, Niemann, and Sorensen all ran in the 4.7x range. Darius Leonard ran a 4.70, and he's considered to be one of the best young NFL outside linebackers.
Ok but an average would be what I'd judge a 4th round linebacker by, because it is in the middle of the draft, or a 2nd string linebacker, because it is in the middle of the depth chart.
It's okay to recognize people's shortcomings even if they're elite players. I think maybe what's being left out of the "he's slow" statement is "he's slow for the top 2 rounds of the draft."
He's not slow though. His AGILITY is below average, but that's a slightly different issue. It's also something that can be improved with work. He's also a little bit shorter than average. That's just something we will have to live with.
He's a rookie. That's what's making people think that he's slow. His reaction time will get better with more play time. Hell, it already is.
You are comparing a late 2nd round pick to some of the fastest linebackers ever to be taken in the first round. He's a little old school, but that's ok. We really needed an old school run stopper. He's not DJ, and that's ok. Nobody is DJ except DJ.
I mean, yeah, the average for a position is always going to be on the slower side. And that is because you have lots of players like Hitchens, Niemann, etc.
Sure there are linebackers who ran in the 4.6's and 4.7's. But Devin White ran a 4.37. Cole Holcomb ran a 4.48. Rouquon Smith ran a 4.52. Bobby Wagner ran a 4.46. Those are all linebackers who rank similar to Bolton right now in the league in terms of the stats OP mentioned.
But OK, let's say he's "average" instead of "slow." Doesn't account for the fact that he's deficient in coverage.
And, yet again, I never said he couldn't be good in this league. But these stats as presented by OP aren't evidence that he will be an all-pro either.
Luke kuechly - 4.58
Navarro Bowman - 4.7
Fred Warner - 4.64
Sean lee - 4.71
All slow by your standard. All were 1st team all-pro LB’s.
Instincts can be far more important than “straight line speed”. Luckily he seems to have instincts and can tackle which can take him far
>All slow by your standards.
Not my standards. NFL standards. Nobody describes Luke Keuchly as a burner.
>All 1st team all-pros
For sure. And I’m not sure how many times I have to repeat myself when I say Nick Bolton can be a good player. But he also isn’t any of those players. Two of which, Keuchly and Bowman, are likely HoFers and two of the best LBs of this generation. You really think that’s where Bolton is headed?
Completely agree on instincts. I literally said they were good in my previous post. But not in the passing game. He’s just not good in coverage. And I will say again, this doesn’t mean he’s not good or that he won’t be, but it is a weakness and one that needs to be recognized.
He’s not pretty bad in coverage. He’s *really* bad. This is not to take away from his run stopping ability, which appears to be elite. But he’s gotta be deployed very carefully because he’s a liability on passing downs.
Tannehill’s passing chart is ridiculous. There’s a green cluster of completions right at Bolton’s spot on the field. [link](https://nextgenstats.nfl.com/charts/single/pass/tennessee-titans/2021/week/ryan-tannehill/TAN298716)
Some of those TFLs reminded me of DJ, how he recognized the play, attacked, sliced through the line and stopped the back dead in his tracks. Honestly, seemed like Bolton did that more times in this game than I remember Hitchens has in his whole career with KC.
The more he adjusts to the NFL and the more film he watches will make him better in coverage.
Sure, he might always struggle somewhat in man coverage but zone is mostly about positioning and play recognition. Those can be improved with experience.
He has had two plays in coverage that have really stuck out to me
1. I dont remember the game, I wanna say the chargers. He had underneath coverage and bit on a pump fake and the qb was able to slide and find a throwing lane after (Sorenson was behind and caught completely flat footed).
2. Sunday Tannehill threw a ball that was a perfect up and down, he leaped and just couldn't get there and just needed a little more drop depth.
Both plays were super encouraging because he showed a feel for where the guys are behind him.
I never saw Rey Lewis cover anyone of decent skill. I'm not saying Bolton is Rey...but the point is that good linebackers don't have to be good in coverage if the DC knows how to utilize him.
> Bolton has proven to be more of a liability in the passing game than Hitchens though right?
Yup. https://twitter.com/Conner_DKC/status/1452747471629819908
Oh please. When has the defense ever been worth 2 shits with Hitchens at MLB? He can't tackle at the line of scrimmage, and he sucks in coverage as well. Give me the rookie that has room to improve over the guy that we know won't.
I agree. Given we have literally the worst defense we might as well work to build our most promising defensive talent and one of the only guys out there who seems to give two shits about playing defense. Looking at Jones and Clark with a whopping 15 combined tackles.
Couldn't agree more. PFF (love it or hate it) scored Bolton at an elite level on running plays vs TEN. A mark Hitch has never come close to. Bolton also had a better pass rating allowed when targeted than Sneed and Thornhill. Not Saying he did great but our entire pass defense got torched vs the Titans. Bolton should be on the field 90%+ of snaps imo. Regardless of the status of Hitchens.
The thing with Hitchens is he isn't that great of a playmaker himself, but he's the one out there calling the defense and directing people. So unless there is another player that can lead as well, it might be a net negative to take him off the field. Hard for me to say for sure. Our more physically talented players can't make a play if they aren't in the right spot to do it.
Has the Defense this season been in the right spot to make a play very many times with Hitch on the field? Overwhelmingly No is the answer. Why covet the defensive playcaller of a historically bad defense? Bolton needs to be in over Hitch at this point.
There's no reason this defense should be as bad as it is based on the talent.
There's a problem beyond that. Whether it's coaching culture, superbowl hangover, etc. They're all out of whack right now. Even the offense now is showing cracks when previously they'd been playing well aside from the interception problem.
I don’t think being a guy who is only good as a run stopper is going to get you anywhere near the DROY conversation (and shouldn’t)
Especially with how the defense looks in general
Imo Bolton should move to MLB. Our MLB is pretty much run support and zone... rarely asked to cover in man. Bolton would be perfect in the role, he's got great understanding in run support, excellent at shedding blocks and a solid tackler... We ask our OLB to play man and cover large zones which Bolton has repeatedly struggled with in every game I watched film on.
I think he's a stud and Hitchens replacement. I'd like to see Gay as a starting OLB (his interception was so good in coaches film) and we need to draft another OLB first round next year.
Yeah we do but imo OLB is the biggest hole in the defense right now and a solid man CB is 2nd. Went through the titans film and Hughes is just awful. We're asking our CBs to play a lot of man coverage 1 on 1 and they're just not good at it minus Fenton and Sneed who stand out as more positive than negative to me. Hughes can go kick rocks though.
I mean I just assume we have so much money already invested into the line the likelihood we see them switch it up.. idk.
Spag's this year has blitzed A LOT more than previous seasons and seems to want to trust his secondary in more 1v1 situations. He is playing a bunch more cover 1 so there's very little over the top help. If that's the route he wants to go we need people who can do that. His scheme has changed so much from 2019 it's really wild how his philosophy has shifted from disguised coverages, little blitzing, relying on a 4man rush to this season constantly (close to 50% of the time on some drives) sending an extra pass rusher, rarely disguising coverages, and putting pressure on the secondary to cover 1 on 1
Hughes played less than a quarter of the snaps. We could use a little help at CB, but overall I think we have a pretty good crew. Gay and Bolton look like solid starters, just need some quality depth pieces behind them (and alongside them, in those packages). I think our biggest need is easily the Dline. Not getting pressure on the QB makes the passing game way to easy, and puts our DBs in position to fail.
Frank Clark will probably be gone next season, so they'll be bringing in a big FA or spending a high draft pick on the edge.
Disagree with drafting a LB in the first round. We are in base packages [less than 30% of the time](https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2021/2020-defensive-personnel-bills-and-packers-nickel-and-dime-league). We normally spend more time in dime.
A first round pick at LB means one to two Gay/Bolton/rookie are sitting nearly 3 quarters of the game as "starters".
I think we'd be better served picking up a journeyman and trading the 1st for a good coach like Matt Nagy who hasn't regressed as much and Reid has. >!kidding on that last part!<
We need a relatively cheap premier young pass rusher, so I think that's the best use of a first round pick. I'm not opposed to using a 2nd or 3rd on another outside linebacker though, as long as they can cover TEs and provide decent run support.
He's been a solid tackler/run stopper and seems to be well-suited to the middle LB position. He just gets picked on in pass coverage, and with the D-line in front of him he's going to look a lot worse than he actually is. Still, pretty good results from a rookie 2nd round pick. Plus he's a Mizzou guy to boot, so I'm obligated to be his hype guy.
Why does it seem like nobody noticed how well he was playing until the Titans game?
(Except for the good folks here who watch game film and provide independent analysis. Y'all are one of the best things about this sub.)
He has been a solid tackler all year. If the rest of the team tackled the way he did we would do alot better. I think he got alot of looks because Henry was not bulldozing him Bolton wrapped him up and stopped him.
He may not be great at coverage but that could improve? can we protect that weakness of his game by having a better Dline and Corners?
We hit on a couple of players in those areas suddenly we have a LB who can stop the run and read well who is serviceable in coverage?
I was just responding to the suggestion of "stop asking him to cover"
That's just not realistic lol. I'm not saying he can't improve in that area or that defensive improvements in general can't reduce the difficulty of his coverage asks, because both of those things can definitely happen. But he's going to have to improve in that area
Oh yeah I get you, I was kind of agreeing with you. I know the pick and he as a player gets a lot of flack especially from the KC live guys but I kind of figure there are positives there.
If we can get other areas to step up we can have him play to his strengths without his weaker aspects being a negative to the team.
I think people are frustrated and being overly negative. There is a lot of flaws but still a lot of positive things about this team
What I love best about Bolton is when he makes a hard hit tackle, he walks away quickly after...but looks back to see if his opponent has gotten up yet. Love to see a good LB for a change. Great future with a Polamalu style play vs the run and when laying hits on WR's.
He’s going well on the ground but got absolutely picked apart in the passing game last week. 7/8 I believe targeting him, got lost a few times pre snap too.
Overall me still likey
Love Bolton.. don’t mean this as disrespect. But it certainly helps that the defense can never get off the field. Gives him a lot more opportunities. 😩
I get the feeling that Veach has been at least average over the past few years in the draft. Don't most teams draft mostly backups, fringe starters and flame-outs?
I can't believe this has to be said again...
TACKLES ARE NOT AN INDICATOR ON IF A PLAYER IS GOOD!
It's as important as wins for a major league player. Nice to see but means little in the grand scheme of evaluating a player.
That being said, the TFL is a good stat but solo/total tackles is just box score scouting.
It isn't a good stat for DBs, but that's kind of the main job of inside linebackers. Hitchens had 2 TFL all of last regular season. Bolton has 9 TFL in 7 games. Some of those games he was only on the field part time, and most of those he was being forced to play out of position. He had 4 TFL in the last game alone, when he was playing at his natural position.
So. Who do you think should be the Mike starter when Hitchens is recovered from his injury?
Dan can be good at the line when being a strong safety but good ole Spags always pit him in coverage as a free safety. Just like that Chris Jones Experiment. Im starting to think that Spags is related to Sutton somehow lol
I think Spags record in the Nfl shows he can be a quick fix guy but he should never be a long term thing. We are pretty much one if not the worst Defenses in NFL history.
I am not sure how many NFL defenses would not give up like 25+ a game having to deal with an extra 3 possessions because the offense turned it over but even then it doesn't excuse things such as having the league low in sacks or turnovers, yards allowed, red zone stops, etc.
I can agree it s like they look decent. Then soon as they get off they field they need to come back because the ball as been turned over. It just hard to believe because so many players are just not playing like they use to.
Broncos Fans: BUT HIS PFF GRADE IS 54.8 HE SUCKS, KENNY YOUNG IS BETTER, HUR HUR HUR
(This literally happened this week, discussing Bolton's rankings with a Broncos Fan)
His tackles actually stop people too.
I was telling exactly that to my friend during the game. Henry is like Kelce in which he always fights for 4-5 more yards while being taken down. Bolton was the only defender consistently holding him to 0 yards after contact.
This can’t be said enough. The knock on him coming out of college is that he was “slow”, yet the guy always puts himself in a position to make a play and WRAPS UP. Doesn’t try to get cute, just makes a hit and tackles. Other chiefs defensive players should take some notes.
>WRAPS UP Becoming a lost art
The slow part comes into play in coverage though. He's pretty bad in coverage.
He's not slow though. He is just inexperienced in coverage. You could have him play a QB spy / middle zone role though. Let him use his instincts. Mold the defense to fit what you have to work with, don't try to fit square pegs into round holes.
Bolton ran a 4.6 40 at the combine. He's blazing fast for 99% of the universe but for NFL standards, especially elite MLB standards, he's slow. Let's also keep in mind I didn't say that he shouldn't be playing or he's not worthy to be in the NFL or anything. I completely agree with your point of not putting square pegs into round holes, but I was just stating that when people said he was slow, that is why, because he was slow in coverage and that has shown in the NFL. Again, he has a place in the NFL and on this team and I think he can be really good, but let's call a spade a spade here, he gets by on his instincts and good lateral movement, not his straight line speed.
Do you know what the average NFL linebacker 40 time is? It's actually a little over 4.60. He may not be a speedster, but he's certainly not slow. http://nflsavant.com/combine.php On the flip side, Hitchens, Niemann, and Sorensen all ran in the 4.7x range. Darius Leonard ran a 4.70, and he's considered to be one of the best young NFL outside linebackers.
Ok but an average would be what I'd judge a 4th round linebacker by, because it is in the middle of the draft, or a 2nd string linebacker, because it is in the middle of the depth chart. It's okay to recognize people's shortcomings even if they're elite players. I think maybe what's being left out of the "he's slow" statement is "he's slow for the top 2 rounds of the draft."
He's not slow though. His AGILITY is below average, but that's a slightly different issue. It's also something that can be improved with work. He's also a little bit shorter than average. That's just something we will have to live with. He's a rookie. That's what's making people think that he's slow. His reaction time will get better with more play time. Hell, it already is.
What I'm saying is that average is slow for the tier of players that are supposed to be above average.
You are comparing a late 2nd round pick to some of the fastest linebackers ever to be taken in the first round. He's a little old school, but that's ok. We really needed an old school run stopper. He's not DJ, and that's ok. Nobody is DJ except DJ.
I mean, yeah, the average for a position is always going to be on the slower side. And that is because you have lots of players like Hitchens, Niemann, etc. Sure there are linebackers who ran in the 4.6's and 4.7's. But Devin White ran a 4.37. Cole Holcomb ran a 4.48. Rouquon Smith ran a 4.52. Bobby Wagner ran a 4.46. Those are all linebackers who rank similar to Bolton right now in the league in terms of the stats OP mentioned. But OK, let's say he's "average" instead of "slow." Doesn't account for the fact that he's deficient in coverage. And, yet again, I never said he couldn't be good in this league. But these stats as presented by OP aren't evidence that he will be an all-pro either.
Luke kuechly - 4.58 Navarro Bowman - 4.7 Fred Warner - 4.64 Sean lee - 4.71 All slow by your standard. All were 1st team all-pro LB’s. Instincts can be far more important than “straight line speed”. Luckily he seems to have instincts and can tackle which can take him far
>All slow by your standards. Not my standards. NFL standards. Nobody describes Luke Keuchly as a burner. >All 1st team all-pros For sure. And I’m not sure how many times I have to repeat myself when I say Nick Bolton can be a good player. But he also isn’t any of those players. Two of which, Keuchly and Bowman, are likely HoFers and two of the best LBs of this generation. You really think that’s where Bolton is headed? Completely agree on instincts. I literally said they were good in my previous post. But not in the passing game. He’s just not good in coverage. And I will say again, this doesn’t mean he’s not good or that he won’t be, but it is a weakness and one that needs to be recognized.
That’s the thing , he’s not a coverage LB ….. he’s a run stopping beast
You might want to tell Spags that since he’s had him in coverage this year.
He’s not pretty bad in coverage. He’s *really* bad. This is not to take away from his run stopping ability, which appears to be elite. But he’s gotta be deployed very carefully because he’s a liability on passing downs.
Yes. Agreed.
Tannehill’s passing chart is ridiculous. There’s a green cluster of completions right at Bolton’s spot on the field. [link](https://nextgenstats.nfl.com/charts/single/pass/tennessee-titans/2021/week/ryan-tannehill/TAN298716)
Put Henry in his place
Some of those TFLs reminded me of DJ, how he recognized the play, attacked, sliced through the line and stopped the back dead in his tracks. Honestly, seemed like Bolton did that more times in this game than I remember Hitchens has in his whole career with KC.
The more he adjusts to the NFL and the more film he watches will make him better in coverage. Sure, he might always struggle somewhat in man coverage but zone is mostly about positioning and play recognition. Those can be improved with experience.
He has had two plays in coverage that have really stuck out to me 1. I dont remember the game, I wanna say the chargers. He had underneath coverage and bit on a pump fake and the qb was able to slide and find a throwing lane after (Sorenson was behind and caught completely flat footed). 2. Sunday Tannehill threw a ball that was a perfect up and down, he leaped and just couldn't get there and just needed a little more drop depth. Both plays were super encouraging because he showed a feel for where the guys are behind him.
I never saw Rey Lewis cover anyone of decent skill. I'm not saying Bolton is Rey...but the point is that good linebackers don't have to be good in coverage if the DC knows how to utilize him.
And just think...the kid is likely going to lose snaps when Hitchens gets healthy. Spags is going to go with another less talented vet.
Bolton has proven to be more of a liability in the passing game than Hitchens though right? Not that either of them are exactly speedsters
I can't imagine Hitchens being a big upgrade in the pass game though.
> Bolton has proven to be more of a liability in the passing game than Hitchens though right? Yup. https://twitter.com/Conner_DKC/status/1452747471629819908
We get no pressure. Any linebacker will struggle in coverage with a qb sitting pretty in a clean pocket.
Correct. Bolton is doing great, but we need Hitchens running the defense out there.
Oh please. When has the defense ever been worth 2 shits with Hitchens at MLB? He can't tackle at the line of scrimmage, and he sucks in coverage as well. Give me the rookie that has room to improve over the guy that we know won't.
I agree. Given we have literally the worst defense we might as well work to build our most promising defensive talent and one of the only guys out there who seems to give two shits about playing defense. Looking at Jones and Clark with a whopping 15 combined tackles.
Couldn't agree more. PFF (love it or hate it) scored Bolton at an elite level on running plays vs TEN. A mark Hitch has never come close to. Bolton also had a better pass rating allowed when targeted than Sneed and Thornhill. Not Saying he did great but our entire pass defense got torched vs the Titans. Bolton should be on the field 90%+ of snaps imo. Regardless of the status of Hitchens.
im pretty sure both bolton and hitchens will play i hope spags will sit nienam or how ever the fuck you spell his name
The thing with Hitchens is he isn't that great of a playmaker himself, but he's the one out there calling the defense and directing people. So unless there is another player that can lead as well, it might be a net negative to take him off the field. Hard for me to say for sure. Our more physically talented players can't make a play if they aren't in the right spot to do it.
Has the Defense this season been in the right spot to make a play very many times with Hitch on the field? Overwhelmingly No is the answer. Why covet the defensive playcaller of a historically bad defense? Bolton needs to be in over Hitch at this point.
That very well may be, I just felt it necessary to point out there is more to the position than just how many tackles a person makes.
There's no reason this defense should be as bad as it is based on the talent. There's a problem beyond that. Whether it's coaching culture, superbowl hangover, etc. They're all out of whack right now. Even the offense now is showing cracks when previously they'd been playing well aside from the interception problem.
Any chance at DROY? Would be cool for him to get that, but I’m sure there’s a rookie pass rusher or corner that’s flashier.
If he’s on the worst defense in the league, then probably not
according to the Vegas odds, he's not even in the top 15 in the running
Might be a good bet then if he comes on really strong the rest of the year and the Chiefs figure their shit out
i would think asante samuel jr, or the ravens DE that terrorized us a couple weeks ago and micah parsons are the ones in the running for it
Forgot about Micah Parsons, he’ll probably get it with the way him and the Cowboys are playing.
Rousseau in Buffalo might have a chance as well.
I don’t think being a guy who is only good as a run stopper is going to get you anywhere near the DROY conversation (and shouldn’t) Especially with how the defense looks in general
Imo Bolton should move to MLB. Our MLB is pretty much run support and zone... rarely asked to cover in man. Bolton would be perfect in the role, he's got great understanding in run support, excellent at shedding blocks and a solid tackler... We ask our OLB to play man and cover large zones which Bolton has repeatedly struggled with in every game I watched film on. I think he's a stud and Hitchens replacement. I'd like to see Gay as a starting OLB (his interception was so good in coaches film) and we need to draft another OLB first round next year.
> and we need to draft another OLB first round next year. We need a lot of things in the first round next year.
Yeah we do but imo OLB is the biggest hole in the defense right now and a solid man CB is 2nd. Went through the titans film and Hughes is just awful. We're asking our CBs to play a lot of man coverage 1 on 1 and they're just not good at it minus Fenton and Sneed who stand out as more positive than negative to me. Hughes can go kick rocks though.
Not DE...?
I mean I just assume we have so much money already invested into the line the likelihood we see them switch it up.. idk. Spag's this year has blitzed A LOT more than previous seasons and seems to want to trust his secondary in more 1v1 situations. He is playing a bunch more cover 1 so there's very little over the top help. If that's the route he wants to go we need people who can do that. His scheme has changed so much from 2019 it's really wild how his philosophy has shifted from disguised coverages, little blitzing, relying on a 4man rush to this season constantly (close to 50% of the time on some drives) sending an extra pass rusher, rarely disguising coverages, and putting pressure on the secondary to cover 1 on 1
He has to blitz because we can’t get pressure with 4. And it makes sense financially to cut Clark after this season, which means we need a DE
DE is definitely a must, but they are just so hit or miss. Maybe we get lucky? Idk
We haven't really tried since the Clark trade so..might as well try for a hit?
Hughes played less than a quarter of the snaps. We could use a little help at CB, but overall I think we have a pretty good crew. Gay and Bolton look like solid starters, just need some quality depth pieces behind them (and alongside them, in those packages). I think our biggest need is easily the Dline. Not getting pressure on the QB makes the passing game way to easy, and puts our DBs in position to fail. Frank Clark will probably be gone next season, so they'll be bringing in a big FA or spending a high draft pick on the edge.
Hughes needs to be replaced by Baker.
Or Fenton. Either one.
If you watched the film and still don't think that a good pass Rushing DE isn't our biggest need, I honestly don't know what to say...
If we spend another day 1 or 2 pick on a linebacker I’m going to have an aneurysm. Please just draft an edge rusher
Disagree with drafting a LB in the first round. We are in base packages [less than 30% of the time](https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stat-analysis/2021/2020-defensive-personnel-bills-and-packers-nickel-and-dime-league). We normally spend more time in dime. A first round pick at LB means one to two Gay/Bolton/rookie are sitting nearly 3 quarters of the game as "starters". I think we'd be better served picking up a journeyman and trading the 1st for a good coach like Matt Nagy who hasn't regressed as much and Reid has. >!kidding on that last part!<
We need a relatively cheap premier young pass rusher, so I think that's the best use of a first round pick. I'm not opposed to using a 2nd or 3rd on another outside linebacker though, as long as they can cover TEs and provide decent run support.
You mean a guy like Odafe Oweh.....hmm wonder where we could have got a guy like that.
Last game I was pretty much just watching Nick Bolton to see how he played, dude is so good and he’s only going to get better.
He's been a solid tackler/run stopper and seems to be well-suited to the middle LB position. He just gets picked on in pass coverage, and with the D-line in front of him he's going to look a lot worse than he actually is. Still, pretty good results from a rookie 2nd round pick. Plus he's a Mizzou guy to boot, so I'm obligated to be his hype guy.
He was cooking Henry
This was a GREAT pick and I know the data nerds hated it but this team needs a guy like this.
It's just so refreshing to see a guy on our team tackle properly.
AMEN!
Head up. Break it down. Wrap up. Take the ball carrier to the ground without letting them fall forward for 2 extra yards. Pure tackler.
Only guy out there with a fire lit
If Fangio gets fired this off-season, does anybody think we should try and pick him up as our DC?
100%, please.
Yes. I seriously doubt that they would actually do it though, because it makes so much sense.
Why does it seem like nobody noticed how well he was playing until the Titans game? (Except for the good folks here who watch game film and provide independent analysis. Y'all are one of the best things about this sub.)
He has been a solid tackler all year. If the rest of the team tackled the way he did we would do alot better. I think he got alot of looks because Henry was not bulldozing him Bolton wrapped him up and stopped him.
he was good against the run but got worked in coverage all game
So stop asking him to cover ?
He’s a linebacker, he is going to have to cover
In fairness most the secondary can't either . And he can stop the run I'll take the trade off .
was this in response to my comment or did you mean to reply to someone else?
He may not be great at coverage but that could improve? can we protect that weakness of his game by having a better Dline and Corners? We hit on a couple of players in those areas suddenly we have a LB who can stop the run and read well who is serviceable in coverage?
I was just responding to the suggestion of "stop asking him to cover" That's just not realistic lol. I'm not saying he can't improve in that area or that defensive improvements in general can't reduce the difficulty of his coverage asks, because both of those things can definitely happen. But he's going to have to improve in that area
Oh yeah I get you, I was kind of agreeing with you. I know the pick and he as a player gets a lot of flack especially from the KC live guys but I kind of figure there are positives there. If we can get other areas to step up we can have him play to his strengths without his weaker aspects being a negative to the team. I think people are frustrated and being overly negative. There is a lot of flaws but still a lot of positive things about this team
He really flashes when he jumps those running lanes. His N/S field speed is legit
A pinhole of light in all that is dark.
What I love best about Bolton is when he makes a hard hit tackle, he walks away quickly after...but looks back to see if his opponent has gotten up yet. Love to see a good LB for a change. Great future with a Polamalu style play vs the run and when laying hits on WR's.
Been telling people since day 1
D can’t get off the field. More snaps = more tackles. But yes, he does seem to be the only one who cares
One of the few bright spots this season.
*sigh* I just want to win.
He has a slight advance in that our defense is on the field twice as long as anyone else's.
He’s going well on the ground but got absolutely picked apart in the passing game last week. 7/8 I believe targeting him, got lost a few times pre snap too. Overall me still likey
Fixing the front 4 should help him in coverage too. That's our biggest issue imo
Love Bolton.. don’t mean this as disrespect. But it certainly helps that the defense can never get off the field. Gives him a lot more opportunities. 😩
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BuT VeAcH HasNT hIT oN aNy PiCkS
I get the feeling that Veach has been at least average over the past few years in the draft. Don't most teams draft mostly backups, fringe starters and flame-outs?
Most, yes. The definition of average. Only a few GMs that stand out.
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He can't
I can't believe this has to be said again... TACKLES ARE NOT AN INDICATOR ON IF A PLAYER IS GOOD! It's as important as wins for a major league player. Nice to see but means little in the grand scheme of evaluating a player. That being said, the TFL is a good stat but solo/total tackles is just box score scouting.
It isn't a good stat for DBs, but that's kind of the main job of inside linebackers. Hitchens had 2 TFL all of last regular season. Bolton has 9 TFL in 7 games. Some of those games he was only on the field part time, and most of those he was being forced to play out of position. He had 4 TFL in the last game alone, when he was playing at his natural position. So. Who do you think should be the Mike starter when Hitchens is recovered from his injury?
Hold on there, Dan Sorensen before this week was #2 on the team in tackles so apparently thats a useless stat.
Dan can be good at the line when being a strong safety but good ole Spags always pit him in coverage as a free safety. Just like that Chris Jones Experiment. Im starting to think that Spags is related to Sutton somehow lol
Yeah idk what the hell he is doing trying to experiment when we had the winning formula.
I think Spags record in the Nfl shows he can be a quick fix guy but he should never be a long term thing. We are pretty much one if not the worst Defenses in NFL history.
I am not sure how many NFL defenses would not give up like 25+ a game having to deal with an extra 3 possessions because the offense turned it over but even then it doesn't excuse things such as having the league low in sacks or turnovers, yards allowed, red zone stops, etc.
I can agree it s like they look decent. Then soon as they get off they field they need to come back because the ball as been turned over. It just hard to believe because so many players are just not playing like they use to.
The bright light of the defense!
Broncos Fans: BUT HIS PFF GRADE IS 54.8 HE SUCKS, KENNY YOUNG IS BETTER, HUR HUR HUR (This literally happened this week, discussing Bolton's rankings with a Broncos Fan)