Kansas City’s MIKE linebacker is being identified as one of the best at what he does.
On Tuesday, ESPN’s Field Yates published another NFL position ranking based on the voting of league executives, coaches and scouts — this one on off-ball linebackers. The San Francisco 49ers’ Fred Warner topped the list, followed by the Baltimore Ravens’ Roquan Smith, the Philadelphia Eagles‘ Zack Baun and the leader of the Kansas City Chiefs’ second level.
4. Nick Bolton, Kansas City Chiefs
Highest ranking: 2
Lowest ranking: Unranked
Age: 25
Last year’s ranking: 5Bolton put together his most complete season in 2024, boasting career bests in sacks (3), pass deflections (6) and quarterback hits (7).
His game has shades of Warner’s, a true field general whose leadership qualities were too good for Kansas City to pass up in free agency. The Chiefs struck a three-year, $45 million extension on the eve of the tampering period — a big step for a team that doesn’t always keep home-grown defensive talent.
Coaches say Bolton is elite at making checks or adjustments at the line of scrimmage. “He allows [the Chiefs] to get all 11 players in the best call based on all of the information provided by the situation,” a veteran NFL defensive coach said. “Very much a coach on the field.”
Since 2021, Bolton leads all linebackers (minimum 1,000 snaps) in stuffing opposing rushers at or behind the line of scrimmage on 4.7% of his run defense snaps.
My take
The former Missouri linebacker doesn’t always get high marks from Kansas City fans — and that’s as it should be. While he’s never been bad at coverage, he’s never been great at it, either — and as any NFL cornerback will tell you, you don’t have to have very many receivers get big gains against you before a lot of fans consider you to be a terrible pass defender.
But the Chiefs made him their MIKE linebacker — and gave him the $45 million contract — because he’s proved to be very good at running Steve Spagnuolo’s defense. They took him in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft to do exactly that — and according to Spagnuolo and the rest of the defensive coaches, he’s done it very well. It appears that the insiders who cast votes in this ranking agree with them.
Bolton’s value to Kansas City is amplified by the fact that Spagnuolo’s scheme depends so much on the MIKE linebacker’s ability to run it. The coaches are more than willing to give up a little coverage ability (probably not nearly as much as most people think) in exchange for the rest of what Bolton brings to the table. That includes his ability against the run.