Nick Bolton

Direckshun · 11-04-2021, 08:05 AM

Here's an interesting, perhaps-purely-academic question.

Nick Bolton was our pick at the bottom of the 2nd round. I was lukewarm on this selection at the time. I viewed him as the replacement strategy for Anthony Hitchens, and I saw him as a capable ILB. But, like Hitchens, I saw him as a two down LB, and I still think that view is warranted, given how weak he seems in coverage.

That being said, we've seen him get a ton of reps now, and he's had a good month, to say the least.

The potential we now see in him is still a player who is a liability in coverage, and probably always will be, but can probably make strides to make that a slight weakness rather than a glaring one in the long run.

In everything else: his ability to captain the defense, fill gaps, pound the run, and be the always-around-the-ball Mike that every defense needs... he's doing well right now and we can all expect, I think, that this will continue long term, barring health issues.

My projection of him, when we drafted him, was that maybe he can become a slight upgrade over Anthony Hitchens -- and that simply isn't worth a 2nd round pick.

But we've now seen a month of him playing damn well as a linebacker, and I think his projection could very well be London Fletcher. I mean, he may very well end up leading the league in tackles a couple times.

So here's the academic question, because it doesn't matter with Bolton anymore, but will matter in future drafts:

Is that worth a 2nd round pick?

You can get smart, physical linebackers that suck against the pass everywhere in the draft, but if you can nab one at the bottom of the 2nd, what're your thoughts?

11-04-2021, 08:05 AM	Topic Starter
Direckshun __ Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Springpatch Casino cash: $2023447	Nick Bolton Here's an interesting, perhaps-purely-academic question. Nick Bolton was our pick at the bottom of the 2nd round. I was lukewarm on this selection at the time. I viewed him as the replacement strategy for Anthony Hitchens, and I saw him as a capable ILB. But, like Hitchens, I saw him as a two down LB, and I still think that view is warranted, given how weak he seems in coverage. That being said, we've seen him get a ton of reps now, and he's had a good month, to say the least. The potential we now see in him is still a player who is a liability in coverage, and probably always will be, but can probably make strides to make that a slight weakness rather than a glaring one in the long run. In everything else: his ability to captain the defense, fill gaps, pound the run, and be the always-around-the-ball Mike that every defense needs... he's doing well right now and we can all expect, I think, that this will continue long term, barring health issues. My projection of him, when we drafted him, was that maybe he can become a slight upgrade over Anthony Hitchens -- and that simply isn't worth a 2nd round pick. But we've now seen a month of him playing damn well as a linebacker, and I think his projection could very well be London Fletcher. I mean, he may very well end up leading the league in tackles a couple times. So here's the academic question, because it doesn't matter with Bolton anymore, but will matter in future drafts: Is that worth a 2nd round pick? You can get smart, physical linebackers that suck against the pass everywhere in the draft, but if you can nab one at the bottom of the 2nd, what're your thoughts?
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