Denver Broncos: Shelby Harris, others who deserve contract extensions

2. Garett Bolles, LT

The Denver Broncos have been through a number of ups and downs with Garett Bolles.

When they hired Mike Munchak as their offensive line coach in 2019, the hope was that Munchak could not only work wonders with an offensive line that has struggled badly since at least 2015 if not longer but really work wonders with the 2017 first-round pick.

Bolles has been a penalty machine since he came into the league, but something clicked for him down the final five games of the 2019 season.

He has picked up where he left off in 2019 to open the 2020 season. The Broncos decided not to pick up Bolles’ fifth-year option on his rookie contract, which would have been worth around $11 million in 2021, fully guaranteed for injury.

That means that if Bolles would have some kind of season-ending injury in 2020 and couldn’t pass a physical before the new league year, that $11 million would fully guarantee and count against the team’s cap space.

If Bolles would stay healthy, that $11 million could be wiped away completely with no dead money.

The Broncos apparently didn’t want to risk the possibility of him getting injured and getting that fully guaranteed 2021 salary, not to mention they probably weren’t sure going into the 2020 season if they wanted Bolles as the left tackle beyond this season.

Over the course of his last 10 regular season games between 2019 and 2020, Bolles has played much cleaner football than any of us are used to seeing and he’s earned a new contract with the Broncos.

The price to retain him is going to be higher than it was even six months ago, but that’s the nature of the business. Bolles has earned a second contract in Denver, and the Broncos should get that done before he has a chance to leave.