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Saturday actually started off on an incredibly positive footing for Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio. As he began preparations for the final training before the Week 12 fight with the New Orleans Saints – shortly before the NFL dropped a thermonuclear bomb on the Broncos’ heads – Fangio’s day was made brighter by a visit he received at his office from the start on the left. tackle Garett Bolles.
The news was about to hit the thread of Bolles’ massive $ 68 million four-year extension, making him the fourth-highest-paid tackle in the NFL. Fangio came face to face with Bolles where the big tackle briefed him on news from his agents that a deal was basically done.
On Monday, Fangio recounted that reunion with Bolles, which took place before the momentous NFL decision to remove all Broncos quarterbacks from the building and make them ineligible to play against the Saints on Sunday without giving the team the advantage of postpone the match.
“Well my Saturday started off well. Garett came into my office and told me he thought the deal was done. I didn’t know it was done – I knew they were talking. we had an emotion a few minutes there, him and me together. [I’m] very happy for him. “
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Bolles entered Week 12 as the NFL’s top-notch tackle according to Pro Football Focus. But even that abomination that was the Broncos ‘offensive product on the pitch on Sunday only saw Bolles’ standings drop to third in highest quality tackles by PFF.
The Bolles expansion completes a remarkable story of redemption. After playing a year of Division I football as a left tackle at the University of Utah, the Broncos selected him in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
Bolles became a day one starter at left tackle for Denver. Although he suffered an injury in the second week of his rookie season, it didn’t make him miss time. He started all 59 games at left tackle for the Broncos.
It wasn’t often pretty, as Bolles quickly called himself a constant perpetrator of sanctions and became a repeat offender in the eyes of NFL officials with a figurative target on the back of his jersey. This is in no way to relieve Bolles of responsibility, but he has become a target, although unfortunately he has contributed to it. By the midpoint of his rookie year he had become Public Enemy No.1 in the minds of umpires and it didn’t take long for him to become Broncos Country’s.
In his first three seasons, Bolles was among the most penalized players in the NFL at any position. However, something remarkable happened in its third season.
After hiring Mike Munchak to coach the Broncos’ offensive line, Bolles initially did not seem to accept the new tutelage well. But during the 2019 campaign, he raised his game to a level that had so far not been seen and reduced penalties by a wide margin.
The Broncos weren’t convinced Bolles had turned a corner and chose not to exercise his fifth-year option, making 2020 a contract year for the beleaguered tackle. But he took the team’s message for what it was and stuck with his game.
This last offseason, despite the lack of practice repeaters and OTAs, Bolles took every opportunity to improve his game, focusing on his technique, even with the help of his wife at times in the couple’s kitchen. at home. By the time the 2020 regular season unfolded, it quickly became apparent that Bolles’ late 2019 version was not gold. It was here to stay.
Bolles’ recovery was radical. But coach Fangio doesn’t see him as an outlier.
“It can happen, it happens,” Fangio said.
The Broncos have shown patience in the player, applied the right coaching to develop him, and reaped the rewards, even in a season that has been marred by the pandemic, excessive injuries and unfair treatment by the NFL . Despite all the ups and downs, the Broncos have stood behind Bolles and the dividends are paid in kind – to both the team and the player.
“I just think it kept him in there and let him play,” Fangio said. “I think that’s the key decision and the key moment was to let him play, to let him improve continuously. He’s improved last year over the season and he’s had a great offseason. this year, although under the strain of the situation. He did it. come back in great shape, in a good state of mind. I would too likely think that it was the year of his contract that helped him to motivate himself We trust him that he will keep the same mindset in the future.
“I needed time,” Bolles explained last week. “I am extremely grateful to Coach Fangio. I know he told you how grateful he was to let me go out there and learn from my mistakes.”
Bolles considers himself a “fighter” and perhaps a kind of modern gladiator. But without the team and their hardworking coaches, the Bolles clan would not have received the generational change contract extension.
“I am a fighter,” Bolles said last week. “I never give up and I’m just going to keep doing what I need to do to help this team win.”
To be a fly on the wall of this “emotional conversation” between Fangio and Bolles, I imagine, would have offered a very poignant, tender and triumphant interaction to see.
“I’m going to stay for myself with coach Fangio, but I’ll tell you this, I really like this man,” Bolles said on Monday. “He put up with me for the last two years with boos and people telling him to fire me. But he knew what I was capable of doing because he saw me in practice every day. We talk regularly. believe in me. I believe in him. I think he’s a phenomenal head coach running this organization in the right way. That moment that I had with him where we both shed teary eyes and even the moment he said, “I knew you could do it”, that meant a lot to me. I also said to him, “I won’t let you down coach”, and he told me he was going to hold it accountable. So I’m very grateful for that and I know I won’t let it down. “
Bolles became the fifth draft pick in the John Elway era to receive a contract extension with the club. That doesn’t count the franchise tag of Justin Simmons this year or Chris Harris, Jr., the latter not being drafted and signed with Denver in 2011 as a college free agent.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
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