Garett Bolles Proving Broncos Wrong for Not Exercising his Fifth-Year Option

Don't look now but Garett Bolles has quietly gotten out to a great start in 2020, making the Broncos look remiss for not picking up his fifth-year option. The question is, can Bolles sustain this level of play?

The Denver Broncos need to find a solution at the tackle position. No, not the one you are thinking… well… maybe it's the one you're thinking. 

GM John Elway needs to figure out what the team is going to do at the left tackle position now that things appear to have ‘clicked’ for 2017 first-round pick Garett Bolles. Now, before we get ahead of ourselves it would be prudent to remind folks that Bolles has had stretches of good play before in his career from which he eventually regressed. 

However, typically those stretches would come after a rough start to the season where Bolles would eventually level off and improve. The 2020 season has been different in that Bolles has been quite obviously the Broncos’ best offensive lineman through the first three weeks to start the season.

Bolles was drafted in the first round for a multitude of reasons. With solid size, exceptional movement skills, and a nasty disposition, he's that classic raw, 'toolsy' tackle that has all-too-often gotten a coach fired. However, it really appears things have come together for Bolles.

Through four games Bolles is currently Pro Football Focus’ highest-graded Bronco on the entire team earning an 86.6 grade. He also currently resides as the fourth highest-graded tackle (left or right) in the NFL. 

While the validity, and to what extent, of these grades can be debated, what can’t be debated — outside of having an agenda — is that Bolles looks competent out there at left tackle and has been one of the few bright spots to a devastating start to the season. Bolles is looking like a former No. 20 overall pick and a first-round tackle.

It hasn’t been perfect by any means. Bolles has committed two penalties so far (of which one was highly questionable), while giving up three pressures, two hits, and one hurry. Furthermore, any statistician would cry foul if anyone were to make any grand conclusions from three games against the rest of the body of Bolles’ up-and-down first three years in the NFL. 

Can Bolles stay at this level? The answer is yet to be determined and will need to play itself out.

This is the first year in Bolles’ career that he gets to work with the same offensive line coach in back-to-back seasons and gets the bonus of having the same left guard next to him as last year in Dalton Risner. Bolles also is staying balanced far more often in his sets and not leaving himself vulnerable to get beaten and, therefore, holding his opponent as a last resort. He still has some issues with edge rushers who can convert speed to power and overpower him, but overall his play really has been quite good to start the season.

Have the Broncos finally solved the left tackle position? Perhaps, but unfortunately, this also is the last year of Bolles’ rookie contract. Looking like a big mistake in hindsight, Elway and the Broncos declined Bolles’ fifth-year option this past offseason. 

If the Broncos had exercised the option, the team would have only been on the hook for $11,064,000 in 2021 which would have only been guaranteed for injury. Under $12 million for a starting tackle hitting the market is a bargain. Now, given the recent contracts for D.J. Humphries, Jack Conklin, and Dion Dawkins, it is extremely possible Bolles could make $15 million a year or more.

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After four games in 2020, it seems a bit premature to say but it really seems like Elway and the Broncos made a big mistake in deciding not to pick up Bolles’ rookie option. Gaining an extra year of control seems obvious looking back but it is even more of a head-scratcher when considering the option was only guaranteed for injury and Bolles, if nothing else, has been extraordinarily durable (knocks on wood, does three hail marys, lights sage, sacrifices a Tebow to ensure Bolles doesn’t now go down after typing that and the curse of 2020 bites again).

If Bolles had stunk this year and had stayed healthy, Denver could have rescinded the option at no cost at all. However, because the Broncos didn’t pick up his fifth-year option, Bolles is now set to hit unrestricted free agency in the offseason, putting the organization in a real bind. 

Considering that the Broncos are purportedly one of the more cash-poor franchises in the NFL, and already feeling the economic ramifications of the pandemic, is the team really going to let its left tackle walk, now that he appears to be finally putting it all together? 

In the end, the Broncos might, and after the years of watching Bolles and his growing pains, that would be extremely disappointing. The Broncos paid their dues with Bolles, so to speak. 

There is still a lot of season left to be played in 2020 and there is a possibility that Bolles regresses once again back to his inconsistent self. However, there is an equal (if not greater) chance that it finally has come together for the first-rounder and he has actually become an above-average left tackle in the NFL. If he is, considering his relative age and the demand for even average tackle play in today’s league, Bolles is going to get paid.

If that happens, it will be easy to look back in retrospect and say that Elway made another mistake added to the long list of previous misses along the offensive line. But what is done is done and all the Broncos can do is react from here on out. 

If Bolles continues this level of play going forward in 2020 then, given how utterly impossible it seems to be to find good tackles in the NFL, the Broncos will need to do all they can to keep him on the team. Finally stabilizing one tackle position only to immediately let that player go and create a hole there again shouldn’t fly.

The Broncos could approach Bolles with an extension offer, but that doesn’t seem likely. First, the Broncos probably want to see if Bolles can continue this level of play and that it is not another mirage. It doesn’t seem like Denver would offer a fair extension offer right now. 

Second, with Bolles playing so well and the tackle market just exploding more and more by the month, why would he accept anything less than a huge deal before hitting the market? It just doesn’t seem probable for either side.

This leads the Broncos to very interesting and perhaps sad realization. If Bolles continues this level of play and the two sides can’t come to an extension agreement, then the Broncos may have to use the franchise tag on Bolles which was just under $15 million this last season for offensive linemen. Further, if the Broncos use the tag on Bolles, where does that leave the team's currently franchise-tagged safety Justin Simmons? The ramifications reach wide.

Given the scarcity of quality tackle play in the NFL make no mistake about it, Bolles is likely to find himself a rich man very soon. Will that be on the Broncos or elsewhere remains to be seen but it seems with each passing week that Elway and the team made a mistake in not exercising Bolles’ fifth-year option. 

With issues once again on the Broncos’ offensive line this season and the level of play at the right tackle position, it would have been nice to have at least the left tackle squared away going into 2021— especially now that it seems things have finally come together for Bolles. 

Follow Nick on Twitter @NickKendellMHH and @MileHighHuddle.