The Kansas City Chiefs might be making a change at the linebacker position this week with the return of injured veteran Anthony Hitchens.
Hitchens, who has started at MIKE in Steve Spagnuolo’s defense since 2019, suffered what the team has described as a triceps contusion during the Week 6 win over the Washington Football Team. Filling in for Hitchens the past two weeks was rookie LB Nick Bolton, who impressed taking over as the defensive signal-caller. Bolton even earned NFL Defensive Player of the Month honors for October, in part for his performance the past two weeks.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Spagnuolo had nothing but effusive praise for the job Bolton has done this season.
“I just found out, not too long ago,” Spagnuolo told reporters. “I think Brett Veach texted it to me before I went out there for the walkthrough. So I haven’t even had a chance to (see Bolton) but I’m sure it’s a big smile. Listen, he’s played some really good football for us and he’s been impressive in regards to how much volume he has been able to absorb and that has helped us. Hopefully, it keeps going that way with him as well.”
Asked about how he’d handle things with Bolton playing so well and Hitchens returning from injury, Spags didn’t beat around the bush. He has always considered Hitchens as the “glue guy” on defense and explained that both players would have opportunities to play.
“Hitch (Anthony Hitchens) to me is the guy who smooth’s everything out,” Spagnuolo said. “He’ll be in there in certain situations. I’m sure we’ll have Nick (Bolton) in there in certain ones. I’m sure they’ll both be in there together, which is a good problem to have. Any time you can have intelligent, good football players at the linebacker spot, I think that’s a good thing for us.”
Asked specifically whether Hitchens could be utilized as the SAM linebacker, Spagnuolo shot down any notion of him playing a different position.
“I don’t know if we’ll go that route,” Spagnuolo said. “They’ll be — there’s usually four of those guys that work in there, really, and they’ll all get work. We’ve got packages for all of them, so we’ll get them in there.”
Bolton should still get opportunities in the base and nickel defense, but Hitchens’ return will cut into someone’s snap count. Whether that someone is Bolton, Willie Gay Jr. or Ben Niemann remains to be seen. Spagnuolo feels like he has a good problem on his hands here, but navigating it and ensuring the right players get snaps at the right times could prove to be a difficult task.
