The Kansas City Chiefs have spent a lot of resources rebuilding their defense ahead of the 2022 NFL season.
After the departures of veteran leaders like Anthony Hitchens and Tyrann Mathieu, the Chiefs have built up their defense with a wave of young talent acquired in free agency and the draft. Those players will help foster a new era of defensive football in Kansas City. A lot of it will come down to talent, but a portion of what they accomplish on the football field will be derived from mentality.
Speaking to reporters following the conclusion of training camp, second-year LB Nick Bolton spoke about the defensive identity that the team wants to be known for. It starts with playing with attitude, energy and most importantly having fun according to Bolton.
“We kind of preached it earlier in the offseason, you kind of heard a couple of guys come through and say it’s an attitude defense,” Bolton explained. “I want to have that attitude. I want to know that we’re all going to play together. We’re young, so we’re not going to be perfect every single play. We can make it up by running around, having fun, speed to the ball, getting a little bit of hands on the ball, creating turnovers.”
This message seems consistent throughout the locker room, with Justin Reid also mentioning the idea of being an attitude defense. Chris Jones called it grit and Willie Gay Jr. called it swagger, but the message is the same. They want to play with an edge and be a reason that the team is closing out games, but they want to have fun while doing it.
“Just having fun and having juice,” Bolton concluded. “That’s our creed going into the season. We’re going to run around, have fun, and have an attitude defense this year for sure.”
