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It’s almost a certainty at this point that we’re in an era of Denver Broncos football that will be looked at as the worst since the franchise began play in the AFL in 1960. Going into 2024, the team hasn’t been in the playoffs for 8 consecutive seasons and hasn’t had a winning season since 2016.
In that time, a handful of players have still managed to place themselves among the NFL’s elite. One of them is offensive tackle Garett Bolles, who is in the final year of a 4-year, $68 million contract extension.
Bolles told The Denver Gazette’s Chris Tomasson that even though he’s 32 years old and in his 8th season he feels like his career is far from over. Whether that’s in Denver or somewhere else is anyone’s guess.
“I pride myself on that I feel like I’m in good health,” Bolles told Tomasson. “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 made his 100th career start for the Broncos in the 2024 season opener on Sept. 8 — a 26-20 loss at the Seattle Seahawks.
Bolles Has Been Model of Consistency for Broncos
Bolles has been with the Broncos since they selected him out of Utah in the first round (No. 20 overall) of the 2017 NFL draft. He earned NFL All-Pro honors in 2020 and bounced back from a season-ending injury in 2022 after 5 games to start all 17 games for the Broncos in 2023, when he played every single offensive snap.
Before the season, Bleacher Report’s Matt Holder wrote that the Broncos’ No. 1 priority should be re-signing Bolles to a long-term contract extension.
“Bolles has been a solid left tackle in Denver over the last seven years, but he’s entering a contract year and nearing his mid-30s,” Holder wrote. “That’s typically when players start to decline, however, the Broncos will have to consider giving the 2020 second-team All-Pro an extension seeing as they have a young quarterback in Bo Nix.”
Broncos Projected to Take OT in 2025 NFL Draft
It would make sense for the Broncos to try and get a long-term solution to protect Nix’s blind side. CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso’s latest mock draft has the Broncos taking Texas offensive tackle Kelvin Banks at No. 7 overall in 2025.
As a true freshman at Texas, Banks established himself as the starter before the Longhorns’ season opener in 2022. He has started 27 consecutive games, is a 2-time All-Big 12 selection and earned All-American honors in 2023.
Banks was named to the Associated Press Preseason All-American Team before the 2024 season and was on the Lombardi Award preseason watch list ahead of the 2024 season. Banks also helped lead the Longhorns to a College Football Playoff appearance after the 2023 season.
“Banks’ season-long PFF run-blocking grade shot up from 64.9 as a true freshman to 70.0 (considered an average PFF grade) as a sophomore,” wrote 247Sports’ Jeff Howe. “Still, Banks said during SEC Media Days in Dallas in July that he hasn’t come close to reaching his ceiling, something he’s working toward every day.”
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