After giving a new deal to guard Quinn Meinerz, the next massive contract extension on deck for the Denver Broncos is that of cornerback Pat Surtain.
Surtain is still under contract for two more years, though, whereas left tackle Garett Bolles is set to become a free agent in 2025. If the Broncos want to keep Bolles in Denver beyond the 2024 season, they will likely work on an extension before next spring.
Unlike Surtain, Bolles is unlikely to become the highest-paid player at his position, but a new deal — or free agency — looms.
Despite going into the final year of his current deal, Bolles has not made a peep about his contract publicly. Broncos receiver Courtland Sutton skipped part of the team’s offseason program this spring in protest of his contract that had two years left. Other players across the league have held out while negotiating new deals.
Bolles has reported for duty with an expiring deal lingering.
“This team counts on me, so any time that we have voluntary or team meetings or whatever it is, I’m going to be the first one there,” Bolles said last week. “I love this city and I love this organization. I want to play my whole career here. The front office knows that. They know I want to be a Bronco for life.
“My family is here and established here. We love it here. We don’t want to go anywhere else. My job is to just play good football and the ball is in their court. I just have to do my job and the rest will take care of itself.”
Bolles went on a two-year church mission before college and eventually entered the NFL as a 25-year-old rookie. Now 32 years old, Bolles is entering his eighth season in the NFL. He doesn’t move like an aging veteran.
“He’s a tremendous athlete,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “He’s extremely athletic. You don’t feel eight years. Sometimes you feel that when you work with a player, other times you don’t. I don’t feel that with him.”
This will be the second time in his career that Bolles has received a new contract. When his rookie deal was winding down in 2020, Denver gave Bolles a four-year, $68 million extension. That deal is now set to expire following the 2024 season. The left tackle isn’t focused on an extension.
“They know I want to be here,” Bolles said. “There’s no — I’ve addressed that to them — they know that, but at the same time I can’t worry about that. I just have to do my job. Me and Coach Payton have a unique relationship.
“We’re super close and we talk. He just tells me to focus on the things that I need to focus on. That’s just being a good father, being a good husband, being a good son and then playing good football. If I can focus on those things just like I did in 2020, it worked out good for me.”
The Broncos have missed the playoffs and posted a losing record in each of Bolles’ first seven years in the NFL. The team now appears to be trending in the right direction, and Bolles wants to be part of the turnaround.
“I love being a Bronco,” he said. “I love this city. I love everything about this organization. We’re going in the right direction. I don’t think there’s anyone else in this building that wants to win here more than me just because I’ve been here the longest.
“I’ve seen the history that we have and the legends that we have in this organization. I feel like it’s my job to continue to build that and continue to create this team that we need to go forward.”
Following the release of safety Justin Simmons earlier this year, Bolles is the longest-tenured player in Denver. He’ll need a new contract for that status to extend beyond this fall. Perhaps an in-season extension is on the way. With or without a new deal, though, Bolles will show up with an excellent mentality every day.
