ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Broncos left tackle Garett Bolles was an easy choice for one of the Zoom media interviews Tuesday.
He had just come off a remarkable game in the Broncos’ 20-13 win against the Miami Dolphins, one that featured his unique athleticism. Bolles is a rare 6-foot-5, 300-pound behemoth who while opening up running lanes for Melvin Gordon and Phillip Lindsay pulled all the way from the left side of scrimmage to right lane of the field with light enough feet to take out a cornerback.
Bolles’ pulling maneuvers, alongside left guard Dalton Risner, made blocking as an entertaining as watching the running back with the ball.
Late in his media interview Tuesday, Bolles was asked if he would like to get a contract extension done before season’s end. After Bolles struggled with holding penalties through his first three seasons -- (13 in 2019 alone, although only 6 were accepted. He has just 3 holding penalties through 10 games this year; one accepted) -- the team declined his fifth-year, $11.064 million option back in May -- to near unanimous approval from Broncos Country. Declining the fifth-year option meant Bolles would be a free agent after this year.
He responded to this slight by making arguably the greatest improvement among active players in the league this year. Bolles is often ranked No. 1 among left tackles by Pro Football Focus, one of the few websites that bothers to rank offensive linemen.
A new deal?
"I mean, that would be nice, but it’s not up to me," Bolles said. "That’s why I hired an agent, he talks to Mr. Elway. When they want to do it, they’ll do it. That’s just how I look at it. I just want to be consistent. I have to go out there and play at a high level every single week. Fix my mistakes throughout the weeks but go out there and shine.
"Love what Coach (Mike) Munchak says. He says, ‘You get paid during the week, but on Sundays you play for free,’ and that’s what it is. You’re grinding throughout the week, you’re working on technical things, you’re doing everything that you can so when you get to the game it slows down for you and you’re ready to pick up whatever they throw to you. My agent Chase Callahan, he’ll take care of that, and at the end of the day he continues to tell me my job is to play football and his job is to talk to the front office. I’m just going to continue to do that."
That night, Broncos contract boss Rich Hurtado and Callahan started talking contract. By Saturday it was done – Bolles received a new four-year, $68 million extension that includes nearly $42 million in guarantees. The $17 million annual average makes Bolles the fourth-highest paid left tackle, behind only Green Bay’s David Bakhtiari ($23 million a year average), Houston’s Laremy Tunsil ($17 million average) and Baltimore’s Ronnie Staley ($19.75 million).
Bolles’ $1.969 million salary this year as the final year of his first-round rookie contract will stay in place.
With the franchise tag for offensive linemen projected to drop from $14.78 million this year to around $13.1 million in 2021 because of a certain reduced salary cap, it didn’t make as much sense for Bolles to wait until he hit free agency for a bigger deal. Besides, he has always make it clear he would prefer to stay.
"The job's not done yet, my friends," Bolles said back in that Tuesday media interview. "I truly believe a man goes through a rough patch in their life for a reason, to make them better, and it speaks highly of how a man comes out of that. I truly believe I came out of it on a high note—I learned from my mistakes.
"I know exactly what I need to do to not let those mistakes happen. Munchak and I talk on a regular basis. I love that man dearly. I give him all the credit in the world because of what he's done with me and in such a short amount of time, and it's really nice to know that I have an O-line coach I can rely on and that I can trust and we can talk man to man.
"It's always nice to get recognition, but at the same time, I'm not in it to say, 'Hey, look at me', or anything like that. I'm in it because I love this game and I know what this game has done for me and my family, and what it's done for a lot of other people's families.
'It's a job, but at the same time it's something that you're grateful to be a part of. This is a great organization. I love Denver, I love the fans here, I love everything about here. I know you all kicked me in the butt over the years, but that's just something that I took and was for me to change, and if it wasn't for me to change, I know I wouldn’t be where I'm at."
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