The Denver Broncos offense is a unit on the rise. After an incredibly uneven start to the season with understandable growing pains starting first-round rookie quarterback Bo Nix, the Broncos have stabilized into a league-average offense that is protecting the ball and playing complementary football over the last four weeks.
The Broncos offense may be lacking in the playmaking department, and Nix still has a ways to go before answering definitively whether he can be the kind of quarterback that can go throw for throw against the gluttony of elite passers in the AFC, but the Broncos have positive direction and growth on the offense.
Amidst the ups and downs of Denver's offense this year is the underappreciated play of the line, and left tackle Garett Bolles, specifically. How has Bolles faired this season on a contract year?
According to SBNation's Doug Farrar, Bolles is logging one of the better offensive tackle seasons in the league and is not garnering nearly the credit he deserves. Mustering a spot on Farrar’s All-Underrated Team at the midway point, Bolles is considered a "Secret Superstar." His play down the stretch and his future is one of the biggest Broncos storylines this upcoming offseason.
"So far, 2024 has been one of those top-shelf seasons. Bolles has allowed one sack, one quarterback hit, and 11 quarterback hurries in 356 pass-blocking snaps. That’s especially impressive given that Bolles is blocking for a rookie quarterback in Bo Nix who is still learning the importance of not breaking the pocket early and getting himself in trouble.
"Bolles is playing in the final year of the four-year, $68 million extension he signed in 2020, and he’s turned it up at the perfect time for the contract-year phenomenon to work decidedly in his favor," Farrar wrote.
As Farrar also points out, Bolles’ play season-to-season has been a tad up and down. Turning in a fantastic 2020 campaign, the left tackle is likely having his best singular season since his three-year stretch from 2019-21.
Bolles’ play was not fantastic in 2022 nor 2023, but playing in shifting offenses, suffering a season-ending injury in 2022, and blocking for Russell Wilson, who is famous for holding onto the ball too long, hunting for big plays, and taking sacks that are far more the fault of the passer than the line, likely impacted Bolles’ and the entire offensive line’s outlook and output.
Bolles is still prone to penalties, having been called for 10 this season, ranking fifth-most in the NFL among offensive tackles, but only four of them were holding fouls, and three have been called over the last four weeks of play. He's not an overwhelmingly dominant blocker at the point of attack in the run game, but his athleticism and tenacity make him more than capable in that department while also making him versatile in both gap and zone concepts.
The Broncos defense has rightfully earned credit for its play this season, and the argument for the team's best unit has come down to the defensive front and secondary. But the Broncos’ offensive line deserves to be in that discussion as well, and with how Bolles is playing, he deserves more credit, just like defensive lineman Zach Allen.
If folks aren’t paying attention now, they will be when the offseason rolls around and the 32-year-old signs a new contract. With what team? That remains to be seen.
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