Washington Football Team 7-round mock draft: Rolling with Taylor Heinicke
By Ian Cummings
Round 2, Pick 50 – Missouri LB Nick Bolton
Richie Grant wasn’t available this time around, so the Washington Football Team missed out on its center fielder. But there is a bright side: Washington was able to fill another need on the defensive side of the ball by selecting Missouri linebacker Nick Bolton.
Aside from free safety, the biggest need for Washington is linebacker. Cole Holcomb could keep progressing in 2021, and Kevin Pierre-Louis had his moments. But the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl performance, among other things, displayed the kind of difference that elite linebackers can make, especially when they have a disruptive front four ahead of them.
The Washington Football Team has the front four. Now they just need to solidify their linebacker group, and Nick Bolton has a great chance to do that at this juncture.
Standing at around 6-foot-0, 232 pounds, Bolton is a bit undersized. Nevertheless, he’s an extremely dense, high-motor playmaker who has very good instincts and range at the second level. He can swim past blocks and make tackles for loss with his closing speed, and he has the nose for the football you want from your linebacker prospects.
Bolton reminds me a bit of former Michigan linebacker and eventual Steelers first-round pick Devin Bush. He won’t test nearly as well as Bush from an athletic standpoint, but Bolton has enough athleticism to supplement his instinctive and physical play style, and he can be a productive every-down linebacker right out of the gates for Washington.