Nicholas Bolton (born March 10, 2000) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, and was drafted by the Chiefs in the second round of the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

Early years

Bolton attended Lone Star High School in Frisco, Texas. He had 130 tackles and five

interceptions In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

as a senior and 111 tackles and one interception his junior season. He committed to the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

to play

College career

As a true freshman at Missouri in 2018, he played in all 13 games recording 22 tackles and one sack. As a sophomore in 2019 he became a starter. He was named first-team All- SEC after finishing with 103 tackles, two interceptions and one sack. During a

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

scheduled ten game season in 2020, Nick finished with 95 tackles and two sacks to close out his junior year. He was once again named first-team All-SEC. In addition, he received AP Second-team All-American honor.

Professional career

Bolton was selected by the

in the second round (58th overall) of the

. On May 13, 2021, Bolton officially signed with the Chiefs on a $5.84 million deal. Bolton was put on the Reserve/COVID-19 list on December 21, 2021. He was activated on December 25, 2021. In Week 18, against the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

, he recorded an 86-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the 28–24 victory. As a rookie, he appeared in 16 games and started 12. He finished with 112 total tackles and three passes defended. He was named to the 2021 PFWA All-Rookie Team. In the

2022 NFL season The 2022 NFL season is the 103rd season of the National Football League (NFL). The season began on September 8, 2022, with the defending Super Bowl LVI champion Los Angeles Rams falling to Buffalo in the NFL Kickoff Game, and will end on Ja ...

, Bolton recorded two sacks, 180 total tackles (108 solo), two interceptions, three passes defended, and one forced fumble. He finished second in the NFL in combined and solo tackles in the 2022 season. Bolton helped the Chiefs reach Super Bowl LVII where they defeated the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

38-35. Bolton led the Chiefs with nine tackles and scored a defensive touchdown on a fumble from quarterback

Jalen Hurts Jalen Alexander Hurts (born August 7, 1998) is an American football quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played his first three seasons of college football at Alabama, where he was part of the team t ...

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

Kansas City Chiefs bioMissouri Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolton, Nick 2000 births Living people People from Frisco, Texas Players of American football from Texas Sportspeople from the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex American football linebackers Missouri Tigers football players Kansas City Chiefs players