Five biggest player surprises for the 2021 Kansas City Chiefs

Nick Bolton

For years, the Kansas City Chiefs struggled to fill the chasm left after Derrick Johnson’s Achilles injury. Johnson would return following the injury, of course, but he was never really the same and one could argue the defense wasn’t either. They missed his speed and consistency.

Through the years they’d drafted and signed a handful of players in the middle of the defense in an attempt to replace that element, but nothing really stuck. That is until the last two offseasons, where the Chiefs front office pulled the trigger on two talented linebackers early in the draft.

Willie Gay has been very good this season. With his athleticism and a year under the tutelage of the current defensive staff, that’s not really a surprise to me. With his speed, I had very high expectations for him coming into this defense. The bigger surprise is Nick Bolton, the Chiefs rookie second-round pick out of the University of Missouri.

He’s had his ups and downs as rookies do, but in the last three games, he’s averaged 12 tackles a game and flashed serious potential. In one play against the Titans, he was reminiscent of the aforementioned Johnson, instinctively sprinting through a gap and meeting Derrick Henry head-on in a collision he got the best of.

While the defense as a whole has struggled this season, it’s hard not to have some optimism. This young unit of Bolton and Gay is here for a while and they both look to have Pro Bowl potential.