Nick Bolton Focused On Recharging Ahead of Third Season
Despite allowing 35 points to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII, the Kansas City Chiefs' defense still managed to play a significant role in the win.
Steve Spagnuolo's unit stepped up when it mattered the most on the biggest stage in all of football, helping preserve a three-point victory that brought Kansas City its second world championship with Andy Reid as head coach. Linebacker Nick Bolton was one of the team's leading contributors in that contest, recording a team-high nine tackles and also returning a fumble for a touchdown. After performing at a solid level all regular season, the former Missouri Tigers standout elevated his play for the final outing of the postseason.
The Chiefs began their offseason workout program on Monday, with Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes addressing the team's progress and plans via Zoom. Bolton also checked in virtually as phase one of programming gets underway, speaking about his offseason and the defense as a whole. When asked about coming off a Super Bowl win in year No. 2, Bolton said the feeling of winning just made him want to go after another trophy in year three.
“It’s still a crazy experience," Bolton said. "I’m still trying to soak it in. It’s just one of those things — you keep watching it and you really don’t understand the magnitude of it, especially me, it’s still my second year so I guess ignorance is not a bad thing in terms of that. But, yeah, it just means it’s exciting to manage, just makes you ready to go for the next season. A lot of people talk about winning a Super Bowl and how addicting it is and how that emotion and how that feeling is, and you can’t really explain it until you win one. Then it’s also like you’re always trying to get another one, so that’s kind of my mindset is and just kind of come back in day one, just start over and just try to get better every day and try to get back to that end goal.”
Bolton, a second-round pick by the Chiefs in the 2021 NFL Draft, burst onto the scene as a rookie and played some inspired football. Playing in 16 games and starting 12 of them, he amassed 112 tackles and won the team's Mack Lee Hill Rookie of the Year award. This past campaign, he upped his tackle figure to 180 — a combined tackle total that ranked second in the league. He also had three passes broken up, two interceptions, two sacks and a forced fumble. Bolton plays one of the more taxing roles on the team, and he thinks stepping back to refresh a bit has allowed him to still remain focused on the ultimate goal.
"I’ve just been resting, sleeping, spending a lot of time with my family and my dog," Bolton said. "I feel like that kind of helps me refresh. I’m a big family guy. Being around my family, my friends and that’s probably the biggest thing for me. I spend a lot of time during football season kind of locked in, kind of away from those things, so when I get a chance to be with family and enjoy that, that’s probably the biggest thing for me.
"It helps me get mentally refreshed, physically refreshed, understanding your why and why you’re doing it. I feel like that’s important, especially when you got a long season ahead of you, especially with ups and downs of how football is. And again, things can change in a flash, and so taking the chance to be around family and enjoy those little things that we really take for granted, I feel like that’s huge.”
The Chiefs' linebacker group is partially the same one from a season ago. Bolton and 2020 draft pick Willie Gay Jr. project to form a solid tandem once again, and Leo Chenal will be tasked with continuing to progress as he enters year two in Spagnuolo's system. The addition of Drue Tranquill, however, adds a significant amount of veteran experience, athleticism and production to the room. Bolton thinks highly of Tranquill, and the two will soon be logging reps together in advance of the season.
With last year's draft class panning out on the defensive side of the ball, namely in the secondary, that crop will be expected to take another step forward in year two on the job. Part of the defense as a whole experiencing an increase in productivity will hinge on just how good of a leader Bolton is. While he's still just 23 years of age, he's been put in an important spot both on and off the field. He understands that and as phase one of the offseason program unfolds, he's excited to get back to work and improve as a leader in the process.
"I think my leadership role is ever evolving," Bolton said. "It’s kind of just one of those things that just keeps growing as we keep going and I’m loving it. So I feel like that’s the next challenge going into this year – I’m trying to up my level of communication and leadership – that’s one of the biggest things I know that’s going to be needed for this season. And also, just being around the guys, being around your brothers is something you miss. You don’t really realize until, boom, it’s over with and you just got to experience a couple of months by yourself, and you miss those guys. So, getting back in the building with those guys, it’s going to be fun."
