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Garett Bolles

Broncos LT Garett Bolles Expected To Play Out Contract

November 14th, 2024 at 1:10pm CST by Sam Robinson

Although Justin Simmons will be in Denver on Sunday as a member of the visiting Falcons, the decorated safety’s March release made Garett Bolles the longest-tenured Bronco. A lack of substantive extension talks threatens to move that distinction to another player soon.

Bolles has expressed an interest in a third Broncos contract, but he remains attached to the four-year, $68MM deal agreed to during the 2020 season. The eighth-year left tackle did agree to his current extension in November 2020, during his lone All-Pro campaign, but plenty has changed about the Broncos in the years since. The GM that drafted Bolles (John Elway) is gone, with the subsequent honcho (George Paton) seeing his power curbed thanks to Sean Payton‘s 2023 arrival. This all leaves Bolles with a cloudy Colorado future.

The Broncos have reached extensions with three 2021 draftees this year, coming to terms with Quinn Meinerz, Patrick Surtain and Jonathon Cooper over the past four months. Bolles, however, is expected to play out his second contract this season, ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler notes. While Denver passed on trading Bolles before his contract year and would still have exclusive negotiating rights with its longtime LT in the weeks before the legal tampering period, a separation would move closer to a reality if Bolles finishes the season unsigned.

Bolles is 32 despite being a 2017 draftee, which would stand to affect his market to some degree. That said, the Utah alum wants to play at least a few more seasons. He has been seeking a Broncos extension since before 2024. Bolles became the longest-serving Broncos left tackle this season, hitting Year 8 to surpass Ryan Clady (who missed all of the 2015 season).

Denver used Russell Okung as a stopgap upon trading Clady to the Jets in 2016 but drafted Bolles 20th overall in 2017. The investment delivered some choppy waters early, thanks to Bolles’ holding penchant, but he has stabilized himself into a solid option at the premier O-line position.

After a broken leg ended Bolles’ 2022 season five games in, he has returned to play in all 27 Broncos contests since. Pro Football Focus slotted Bolles 19th in 2023 and has him 14th among all tackles this season. He checks in as a top-15 player in both ESPN’s pass block and run block win rate, sitting 14th in pass pro and sixth on the ground. Avoiding a serious injury should stand to deliver Bolles a strong third contract, with the question then being whether it will come from the Broncos or another team.

Meinerz’s extension gave the Broncos four O-linemen tied to eight-figure-per-year contracts, joining left guard Ben Powers and right tackle Mike McGlinchey. The veteran RT’s 2025 salary is fully guaranteed, providing a potential complication for a third Bolles-Broncos agreement. Denver saw some promising play from 2023 UDFA Alex Palczewski early this season, but the Illinois alum filled in exclusively for McGlinchey at right tackle and did not play as a rookie. A Bolles exit likely moves LT to the top of the list of Broncos needs for 2025, which would be an interesting development due to the organization’s Bo Nix development effort.

Next year’s LT market (as of now, that is) is slated to feature Cam Robinson and Ronnie Stanley, both joining Bolles in playing out their second contracts. Dan Moore Jr. and Walker Little headline the list of LTs going after their first big paydays. While this crop gives the Broncos options, the team also will be navigating the second and final year of Russell Wilson‘s dead money; that figure is set to check in just north of $30MM next year, limiting the AFC West club’s options a bit.

Broncos LT Garett Bolles Addresses Playing Future

September 12th, 2024 at 5:29pm CST by Adam La Rose

Garett Bolles is a pending free agent who has expressed interest in remaining with the Broncos beyond 2024. Regardless of if that happens or not, the eighth-year left tackle intends to continue playing for the foreseeable future.

Bolles inked a four-year, 68MM extension during John Elway‘s final season as general manager. Since then, the regime led by GM George Paton and head coach Sean Payton has made a number of lucrative investments up front. Right tackle Mike McGlinchey and left guard Ben Powers were added as outside free agents, while right guard Quinn Meinerz landed a big-ticket extension this offseason.

That has led to questions about Bolles’ future in Denver, although the team did not consider trading him ahead of the 2024 campaign. The 32-year-old has made it clear he hopes to continue his tenure in the Mile High City, but another lucrative contract will be challenging given the other commitments already on the books along O-line. Bolles will not consider retirement in the event a new Broncos accord is not worked out, though.

“I pride myself on that I feel like I’m in good health,” the former first-rounder said (via Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette). “I feel like my mind and body feel great. I feel young for what everybody wants to say my age is. I feel like I can play for a lot more years.”

Bolles is the team’s longest-tenured player and he is set to remain the unquestioned starter along the blindside. A veteran of 100 games, he has yet to make a playoff appearance but his career has consisted of consistent play as a full-time left tackle contributor. Bolles finished 19th amongst all tackles in overall PFF grade last season, and another strong campaign in 2024 would help his free agent stock.

A number of high-end blockers have managed to continue their careers well into their 30s, especially if they manage to remain healthy along the way. Bolles has missed notable time only once (in 2022), so the former second-team All-Pro could draw attention on the open market if he were to avoid a major injury this year. It will be interesting to see if the Broncos pursue another extension over the coming months or if they allow Bolles to test free agency in 2025. Either way, he will be aiming for another multi-year pact given his comments.

Garett Bolles Seeking Third Broncos Contract; Patrick Surtain Addresses Extension Status

July 26th, 2024 at 4:48pm CST by Sam Robinson

While dead money somewhat overshadows the contracts still on the Broncos’ 2024 payroll, the team did just give an $18MM-per-year deal to Quinn Meinerz. That gives Denver four eight-figure AAVs on its offensive front, with Mike McGlinchey, Garett Bolles and Ben Powers tied to lucrative deals.

McGlinchey and Powers, signed weeks into Sean Payton‘s HC tenure, are respectively on deals that run through 2026 and 2027. This places Bolles in an uncertain position, as his extension — authorized during John Elway‘s final year as GM — expires after this season. Denver did not entertain trading its left tackle this offseason, but the team’s expenses elsewhere up front open the door to a lower-cost LT being in place come 2025.

Bolles, who is 32 despite being a 2017 first-rounder, continues to aim for another extension that keeps him in Denver for the rest of his career. The Utah alum has been lobbying for a new deal for an extended stretch now. A new deal would create more cap space for the Broncos this year, but it is unclear if they want Bolles around on another big-ticket accord.

“I love this city; I love this organization. I want to play my whole career here,” Bolles said, via 9News’ Mike Klis. “The front office knows that. They know I want to be a Bronco for life. My family’s here, established here. We love it here. We don’t want to go anywhere else. My job is just to play good football. The ball is in their court. I just got to do my job and the rest will take care of itself.”

Bolles is coming off a quality campaign, ranking 13th among tackles in pass block win rate and slotting 19th among all tackles in the view of Pro Football Focus. Despite an early-career issue with penalties, Bolles has never finished a season outside the top 30 in PFF’s tackle rankings. He could set himself up for an interesting free agency run in 2025, having only missed significant time due to injury in one season (2022). Bolles started all 17 Broncos games last season.

Bolles surpassed Ryan Clady in terms of games played by a Broncos left tackle last season, and although other Denver blockers have started for the team beyond Year 7, Bolles (99 career starts) would be the only post-merger option to line up as the Broncos’ primary left tackle in eight consecutive seasons.

One player whom the Broncos clearly do have in their long-term plans, Patrick Surtain is now extension-eligible. GM George Paton has said the team wants its top player in the fold beyond his rookie contract, and Surtain (via the Denver Gazette’s Chris Tomasson) confirmed the organization has expressed as much. Surtain, 24, has not set a hard deadline in terms of when he wants an extension, but the Broncos — after making the quick decision to exercise the All-Pro cornerback’s fifth-year option — have him signed for two more seasons.

Surtain was not as dominant last season as he was in 2022, when his play helped a dysfunctional Broncos squad stay afloat on defense. Surtain said Friday he views himself as the NFL’s top cornerback; a recent ESPN poll among anonymous executives agreed, despite the 2021 first-rounder not repeating his All-Pro 2022 showing last season.

Surtain and Sauce Gardner figure to move cornerback salaries well north of their present ceiling (Jaire Alexander‘s $21MM AAV). With Surtain entering the league a year earlier, he figures to be the player to help bridge the gap between corners and wide receivers. The market booms of 2018, 2022 and 2024 have created a staggering gulf between the top WR contract (Justin Jefferson‘s $35MM-per-year pact) and the CB ceiling.

As corners have been left behind, the Broncos’ negotiations with Surtain could become tricky. The team declined trade offers for the standout cover man at last year’s deadline, and Payton admitted he led a smokescreen effort — one that included Surtain’s name as a trade chip — connected to a quarterback-driven trade-up in April. When the Broncos enter substantive talks with Surtain, it should be considered likely he will want to become the position’s highest-paid player by a notable margin.

Broncos Not Looking To Trade Garett Bolles

July 14th, 2024 at 10:23pm CST by Rory Parks

Broncos left tackle Garett Bolles is entering the final year of his current contract and is due a non-guaranteed $15.75MM base salary this season, to go along with a team-high $20MM cap hit. A trade or extension would have eased the burden on Denver’s cap, which is currently bloated by a league-leading $67.65MM in dead money stemming largely from the Russell Wilson release.

As Parker Gabriel of the Denver Post writes, however, the Broncos made it clear throughout the offseason that they are not looking to trade Bolles, their longest-tenured player. That makes it sound as if other clubs contacted Denver about acquiring the 2017 first-rounder, though there have been no public reports in that regard. Teams did check in on Bolles in the run-up to last year’s trade deadline, with the Broncos rebuffing overtures for all of their offensive talent.

Despite their resistance to any trade interest, the Broncos also do not seem to be in any hurry to extend Bolles. We heard in November that Bolles is interested in a new multiyear pact, and while the two sides could always open negotiations, it currently appears that the team is prepared to simply let their LT play out his contract and revisit the situation in 2025.

There is some logic to that. Denver is clearly in rebuild mode, so carving out cap space for 2024 is not necessarily a top priority, and authorizing a big-ticket extension for a 32-year-old blocker may not be the best use of limited resources (although it may have allowed the club to retain center Lloyd Cushenberry, who defected to the Titans in free agency). A trade for draft capital would have contributed to the rebuilding effort, but despite the Broncos’ bleak competitive outlook for the upcoming campaign, there is perhaps more value in having an established blocker protect the blind side of either Jarrett Stidham or first-round rookie Bo Nix, whom the team hopes will become its franchise QB.

While Bolles has never earned Pro Bowl honors, he has been a solid, starting-caliber LT since he entered the league, even considering his struggles with penalties during the early stages of his professional tenure. While he has been unable to replicate his elite 2020 performance, which made him Pro Football Focus’ third-highest-graded tackle that season and which earned him the four-year, $68MM extension he is about to finish up, he has mostly justified that investment.

He has also proven to be durable, with 2022 representing the only season in which he missed significant time due to injury. Bolles’ desire for a new contract notwithstanding, he was present for all of the Broncos’ voluntry workout this offseason, as Gabriel observes.

LT Garett Bolles Seeking Broncos Extension

November 3rd, 2023 at 5:51pm CST by Sam Robinson

Other than the pick-swap 49ers trade involving Randy Gregory executed weeks ago, the Broncos did not opt to make any moves at the trade deadline. Sean Payton‘s team stood down, and it will see how its batch of trade chips performs down the stretch.

Deals will undoubtedly be revisited in 2024, with trade-rumor mainstays Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton more likely than not to be back in those discussions. Justin Simmons, who joins Jeudy and Sutton in being under contract beyond 2023, also generated trade interest leading up to this year’s deadline. Like Simmons, Garett Bolles was mentioned as a potential chip. But the longtime Denver left tackle did not emerge as a regular in pre-deadline rumors.

Bolles has been the Broncos’ left tackle starter since they selected him in the 2017 first round. Simmons is in place as the team’s longest-tenured starter; Bolles holds that distinction on offense, arriving a year after the Pro Bowl safety. The Utah product also has a second-team All-Pro nod on his resume, from 2020, when he signed his Broncos extension. That deal runs through 2024, but Denver7’s Troy Renck notes Bolles is interested in another extension that would keep him in Denver beyond 2024.

Coming into the NFL in his age-25 season, Bolles is 31 despite being in his seventh season. The Broncos drafted him during Vance Joseph‘s first year as HC. The team has used nine play-callers since choosing Bolles 17th overall six years ago, but he has been a constant on offense during this unremarkable period for the franchise. Despite struggling with penalties during his early years, Bolles played well during his 2020 contract campaign and secured a four-year, $68MM extension in November 2020.

While current GM George Paton signed off on Simmons’ through-2024 extension (four years, $61MM), John Elway remained in place as GM when the Bolles deal came to pass. Bolles also suffered a broken leg in Week 5 of the 2022 season, accelerating the Broncos’ descent to last place in points last year. The team has deployed a healthier squad in 2023, and Bolles has started all eight games. Pro Football Focus rates him 23rd among tackles, slotting his pass-protection grade in the top 10 at the position.

Denver has Mike McGlinchey and Ben Powers signed to upper-crust deals at their respective positions. Even with Bolles on his $17MM-per-year accord, the Broncos join the Texans as the only team with both their tackles in the top 10 (AAV-wise) this season. The team’s willingness to give Bolles a second extension may also come down to its plans with Russell Wilson. While the scrutinized QB has fared better in 2023, he has not yet justified the lofty trade cost nor the $49MM-per-year extension he signed before the 2022 season. But a record-setting dead-money bill would await if Payton signed off on making the accomplished QB a post-June 1 cut next year. This stands to overshadow however the Broncos proceed with Bolles, who is due a nonguaranteed $15.7MM base salary in 2024.

Broncos’ Frank Clark Generating Trade Interest; Team Not Inclined To Trade Offensive Talent

October 8th, 2023 at 10:33am CST by Rory Parks

We heard just last week that the 1-3 Broncos are not planning to be early sellers in advance of the October 31 trade deadline. Naturally, the team’s decision-making will be impacted quite a bit by how it fares over the next several weeks, and as ESPN’s Adam Schefter writes, Denver has received calls about a number of players on the roster and could be an active participant in deadline activity.

Specifically, the Broncos are willing to listen to offers for any defensive player, according to sources around the league. The team just dealt edge defender Randy Gregory to the 49ers for a minimal return, and fellow pass rusher Frank Clark could be next. Per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, Clark has drawn interest from rival teams, and if he performs well in the coming weeks, that interest will only increase.

Clark was released by the Chiefs prior to the opening of free agency in March, and after he lingered for a couple of months on the open market, he and the Broncos agreed to a one-year contract in June. The plan was for Clark and Gregory to spearhead the Denver pass rush, but as has been the case for most aspects of Sean Payton‘s Mile High tenure thus far, things have not gone according to plan.

Gregory played in just six games in 2022, his first season in Denver, and his lack of effort in the club’s historic drubbing at the hands of the Dolphins in Week 3 of the current campaign led to his losing his starting job for the Broncos’ Week 4 tilt with the Bears (although he entered that game in the second defensive series and ultimately played nearly half of the defensive snaps). Pro Football Focus has Gregory graded as a bottom-10 edge defender through the first four games of the year, and the Broncos needed to eat nearly all of his 2023 salary just to coax a late-round pick swap in 2024 out of San Francisco.

Clark, meanwhile, played in the Broncos’ season-opening loss to the Raiders but suffered a partial abductor tear in practice several days later. He is expected to be back on the field for Denver’s bout with the Jets today, which could be an audition of sorts for potential trade partners. Most of Clark’s compensation came in the form of a signing bonus, so an acquiring team would be on the hook for only the remaining portion of his $1.21MM base salary.

Wide receivers Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy have generated trade interest in the past several years, and Schefter expects teams to again inquire on both players as October rolls along. Likewise, Armando Salguero of Outkick.com hears that GM George Paton has fielded calls from clubs that believe Denver could be in sell mode, with those calls focusing on Clark, Sutton, Jeudy, and LT Garett Bolles. Quarterback Russell Wilson has not been the subject of any trade inquiries.

Dianna Russini of The Athletic (subscription required) reports that the Broncos are not looking to move any of their offensive talent at present. As the team currently ranks last in both total defense and points allowed, it makes sense that Paton would be more inclined to move defensive pieces.

Broncos Seeking O-Line Upgrades; DL Dre’Mont Jones Plans To Test Market

March 1st, 2023 at 2:03pm CST by Sam Robinson

Coming off a wildly disappointing season, the Broncos carry a few needs. Multiple such spots come along Denver’s offensive line, which struggled to both establish a steady ground attack or protect Russell Wilson.

The Broncos are keeping Garett Bolles in place at left tackle, GM George Paton said, and Quinn Meinerz will be back at right guard. Despite the Broncos’ dreadful season on offense, Pro Football Focus ranked Meinerz as a top-10 guard. The rest of the line is in flux going into Sean Payton‘s first season.

“We need to upgrade at the offensive line,’’ Paton said, via 9News’ Mike Klis. “There’s a lot of different ways to acquire any position—free agency, the draft. It just kind of depends on what’s stronger. Is free agency stronger or the draft stronger? Obviously, we need to upgrade there on the offensive line.”

Right tackle has created annual issues up front for the Broncos. The team is near certain to go into an 11th straight season with a different Week 1 starter at that position. Aside from that streak set to drag into a second decade, the team has four-year guard starter Dalton Risner headed to free agency and center Lloyd Cushenberry coming off an injury-plagued season.

PFF has viewed Cushenberry as a bottom-tier center during his three-year run with the Broncos; Paton was not yet in place when the former third-round pick arrived. While the Broncos struggled up front for much of 2022, they were without three starters for most of it. Bolles went down in Week 5, while right tackle Billy Turner missed nine games. Potential right-side starter Tom Compton missed 16.

This will be a year for right tackle-needy teams to strike in free agency. Mike McGlinchey, Kaleb McGary and Jawaan Taylor are, barring franchise tags for the Falcons or Jaguars right-siders, poised to hit the market. These would be costly investments, but the Broncos’ repeated failures to staff this position could point to such a move. The team has generally tried stopgap types here, though its one big swing at the position during this carousel produced a resounding whiff. Big-ticket 2019 signing Ja’Wuan James failed to play 100 snaps for the team before being released in 2021.

One season remains on Cushenberry’s rookie deal, and Graham Glasgow has played both guard and center for the team. While the Broncos brought Glasgow back on a pay cut in 2022, the John Elway-era free agent signing is set to carry a $14MM cap number this season. He joins Ronald Darby as prime cut candidates for the Broncos, who have just $9MM in cap space.

Denver is not expected to need to create room for a franchise tag. The team is not planning to cuff defensive lineman Dre’Mont Jones, but that will probably mean a bidding war. Although the Broncos are trying to re-sign the former third-round pick, Jones is eager to see what is out there for him. The three-year starter is planning to test free agency, Troy Renck of Denver7 tweets.

With Washington tagging Daron Payne, Jones will enter free agency as one of the best D-linemen available. He has expressed interest in staying with the Broncos, but it will be expensive for the team to retain the Ohio State alum. Denver only has one defender attached to a top-10 contract at his respective position (Justin Simmons), but the team could need to add Jones to that list were a second contract agreement to be reached.

AFC West Rumors: Payton, Munchak, Nagy

October 16th, 2022 at 11:47am CST by Rory Parks

With a young, top-flight QB in Justin Herbert and a talented roster surrounding him, the Chargers would appeal to almost any head coaching candidate. The team has once again dealt with major injury problems this year, but the decision-making of second-year HC Brandon Staley and the defense’s poor performance under Staley, a former defensive coach and coordinator, has led some to question his job security.

While it would be highly surprising to see Staley dismissed in-season — after all, as of the time of this writing, the club is 3-2 — Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post suggests that the Bolts could be willing to move on if the 2022 season does not “provide an acceptable outcome” (for a team like Los Angeles, an acceptable outcome presumably means at least a postseason berth). If Staley is indeed ousted, one longtime NFL personnel exec who has worked with former Saints head coach Sean Payton says the Chargers job is the one that Payton really wants.

Payton, 58, surprisingly stepped away from the Saints in January after having served as New Orleans’ head coach since 2006. He has left the door open for a return to the sidelines, and in July, it was reported that the Chargers would be one of his preferred teams, along with the Dolphins and Cowboys. Payton is said to be looking for a club that plays its home games in a warm weather city and that boasts a strong QB situation and roster, and the Chargers check all of those boxes. Plus, since the team is in the AFC, the Saints — who still hold Payton’s rights — may be willing to trade their Super Bowl-winning coach to LA.

However, Payton is also seeking control over personnel decisions, and Chargers GM Tom Telesco has been with the club since 2013. It would be interesting to see if team ownership would ask Telesco to cede at least some of his authority if a Payton acquisition becomes a possibility, and if Telesco would be willing to do so.

Now for more from the AFC West:

  • The surprising performance of rookie Jamaree Salyer means that the Chargers have a viable solution at LT in the absence of Rashawn Slater, as Daniel Popper of The Athletic writes (subscription required). Originally drafted as a guard, Salyer was appointed as Herbert’s blindside protector in Week 4 after Slater was placed on IR, and he played quite well in the team’s victory over the Texans. Then, in a Week 5 win over the Browns, Salyer held his own against Cleveland’s Myles Garrett, so Los Angeles should not have to make a move for a left tackle while it waits for Slater to return (which could happen at the end of the season).
  • Speaking of left tackles, Broncos LT Garett Bolles went under the knife on Wednesday to repair his broken right fibula, per Mike Klis of 9News.com. Bolles suffered the injury during Denver’s Week 5 loss to the Colts, and he will miss the remainder of the season. As Klis notes, Bolles’ $2MM injury guarantee for 2023 will be triggered, but given that the 2017 first-rounder is due to earn $14MM in salary in 2023 — a modest sum for a top left tackle — that presumably won’t matter too much.
  • Broncos rookie HC Nathaniel Hackett is under plenty of heat at the moment, and there are rumors that he may not even make it through his first season as a head coach. In light of his early difficulties, pundits are revisiting Hackett’s construction of his coaching staff, which included the decision to part ways with Denver’s former O-line coach, Mike Munchak, and replace him with Butch Barry (who had never worked as a lead OL coach in the NFL). Hackett made the move for schematic reasons, but as Peter King wrote in his weekly FMIA column on Monday, Munchak wanted to stay in Denver, and in addition to his reputation as one of the game’s best OL coaches, he is also a respected leader who has HC experience of his own. In hindsight, retaining a veteran influence like Munchak might have been the better decision.
  • The Bears relieved Matt Nagy of his head coaching duties at the end of the 2021 season, and he subsequently rejoined the Chiefs as quarterbacks coach/senior offensive assistant. Nagy put himself on the HC radar as the QBs coach and offensive coordinator for Kansas City from 2013-17, and he also worked under Chiefs head coach Andy Reid when both men where with the Eagles. It’s clear that Reid thinks highly of Nagy’s abilities, and a league source tells Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network that Nagy could eventually succeed his mentor as head coach of the Chiefs. Reid, 64, is under contract through 2025, and though he has said he is open to coaching into his 70s, it is feasible that he could end his Hall of Fame career before then. By the end of Reid’s current contract, Nagy will have had time to distance himself from the disappointing end to his Chicago tenure, and he may even find himself back as Kansas City’s OC if Eric Bieniemy ever lands his own head coaching post.
  • Chiefs linebacker Willie Gay Jr. is set to serve the final game of his four-game suspension on Sunday, and as Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports writes, the league initially pushed for the maximum six-game ban. The union advocated a two-game suspension, and the two sides met in the middle at four games before the matter reached the jointly-appointed disciplinary officer, Judge Sue L. Robinson. Gay missed time due to injury in 2021 but finished the season as a top-25 ‘backer in the eyes of Pro Football Focus, and his return should provide a boost to KC’s defense.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/10/22

October 10th, 2022 at 6:18pm CST by Ely Allen

Today’s minor moves:

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins

Seattle Seahawks

  • Claimed off waivers (from Saints): RB Tony Jones

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

 

Young continues to struggle to find a long-term home in the NFL. After Baltimore drafted him and traded him in his second year to the Rams, it took Young over a full season with the team to earn a starting role. When he was finally starting on a consistent basis, Los Angeles traded him once again to Denver where he started six straight games before being inactive for the remainder of the year. Young signed in the offseason with the Raiders but was released ahead of roster cut deadlines. He signed to the Buccaneers practice squad days before the season started and was active for the last four weeks, only playing on special teams. He’ll likely land on another practice squad somewhere in the league, perhaps with one of his former teams as both Baltimore and Los Angeles have experienced some injuries to their linebacker depth.

Broncos LT Garett Bolles Suffers Broken Leg

October 7th, 2022 at 12:37pm CST by Sam Robinson

12:37pm: Nathaniel Hackett confirmed Friday afternoon Bolles will need surgery and will miss the rest of the season. Anderson will move into position as the Broncos’ starting left tackle.

8:39am: Injury troubles continue to mount for a Broncos team that has now endured two crushing primetime losses. Thursday’s Colts overtime defeat brought an injury to their longest-tenured offensive starter.

Sixth-year left tackle Garett Bolles sustained a broken leg during the closing minutes of regulation, Mike Klis of 9News reports (on Twitter). A six-week timetable represents the best-case scenario here, but Klis adds the Broncos fear a lengthier absence could be in store. It is a lower right leg fracture, per ESPN.com’s Jeff Legwold. This injury, which will remove a fifth offensive starter from the team’s equation, could sideline Bolles for the season’s remainder.

The Broncos lost wideout Tim Patrick to an ACL tear early in training camp, while Javonte Williams went down with the same injury in Week 4. Denver entered the season without both members of its right tackle competition (Billy Turner, Tom Compton) and has played without right guard Quinn Meinerz since Week 1. The team’s third-round tight end, Greg Dulcich, has also been on IR throughout the season. Bolles’ absence will represent fairly new territory for the franchise, however. The 2017 first-round pick has not missed more than three games in a season previously.

The first tackle chosen in that 2017 draft, Bolles has started all 82 games he has played in Denver. The Broncos went through a period of left tackle instability between Ryan Clady‘s run and the Bolles selection, and while the Utah product has gone through an up-and-down tenure as a pro, he has locked down Denver’s blindside post since being acquired.

Holding penalties have been a frequent issue for the talented blocker, and the Broncos declined Bolles’ fifth-year option in 2020. That season, however, provided a breakthrough — a second-team All-Pro campaign — that prompted the franchise to reverse course. Bolles, 30, signed a four-year, $68MM extension midway through that season. That contract runs through 2024. Thanks to Russell Wilson‘s recent extension, Bolles’ $21MM 2022 cap hit checks in atop the Broncos’ payroll.

Denver brought in Calvin Anderson to replace Bolles on Thursday. Turner suited up for the first time this season against the Colts but did not see any game action. A knee injury led to Turner’s extended absence to start the season. Compton is on Denver’s reserve/PUP list due to a summer back surgery. He has not yet returned to practice. A former UDFA, Anderson is playing on an RFA tender ($2.5MM) this season. He has made five career starts. That number will likely rise in the coming weeks.

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