Many players in the league must rebound from an off-year due to injuries, especially during training camp. The Kansas City Chiefs will have a few players working through injuries to start camp but should expect their top linebacker to be healthy in time for the season.
Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton spoke with the media on Monday, sharing his mindset heading into the new season after an injury-riddled 2023.
“I got a lot true to myself, first and foremost, not necessarily to the outside. I feel I can play a lot better football. I think last year’s kind of the first year where I battled some adversity in terms of injuries in my career period, and so things like toughness with that, learning who I am as a person, learning who I can lean on outside of football.” said Bolton. “Now, I think it means to be a better person, a better leader, be able to learn and sit up from the outside and learn from Spags (Steve Spagnuolo) and son why he calls different things, and it helps me play a little bit faster. So yeah, I think I’m excited for this year to get out there and show what I can do.”
Bolton missed nine games last season due to multiple injuries, most notably his wrist and parts of the left side of his body.
“Not being able to use my whole left side. Man, I have my wrists messed up. I had a cast on it, my elbow, my left ankle, so I was trying to get through a little Humpty Dumpty all the way to the Super Bowl.” said Bolton. “So I was trying to find a way to play, get out there, and give my team a chance to win. So that’s kind of what I was going through last year.”
A healthy Bolton will go a long way toward helping the Chiefs’ defense maintain the dominance that helped propel them to last year’s Super Bowl title.