AFC South Projected Destination for Broncos’ $68 Million OT

Getty Denver Broncos offensive tackle Garett Bolles.

The Denver Broncos have some tough financial decisions to make before they  shed the last remnants of $85 million in dead money spread across the 2024 and 2025 seasons thanks to the disastrous Russell Wilson contract.

One of those big decisions will be whether they want to sign veteran offensive tackle Garett Bolles to a new contract or find a new player to protect the blind side of quarterback Bo Nix via the 2025 NFL draft.

Because of Bolles’ age — he’ll be 33 years old next season — the Broncos might be leaning toward letting the former NFL All-Pro find a new team in free agency. Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine predicts that team will be the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC South.

Bolles is in the final season of a 4-year, $68 million contract extension he signed in November 2020.

“The Jaguars have not done a good job of protecting (Trevor) Lawrence and changes are likely to be made,” Ballentine wrote. “Left tackle Cam Robinson is a free agent. It’s not hard to picture them targeting Garrett Bolles as a possible upgrade over Robinson.”

Bolles One of Few Bright Spots for Broncos

The Broncos drafted Bolles in the first round (No. 20 overall) out of Utah in the 2017 NFL draft. Now in his eighth season, Bolles has yet to play on a team with a winning record but has been among the NFL’s elite players at his position at different times.

The Broncos might still want to consider signing Bolles to a new deal. Especially if the Broncos make the playoffs for the first time since 2015.

Before the season, Holder singled out Bolles’ new contract as the most important move the team needed to make.

Bolles earned NFL All-Pro honors in 2020 and bounced back from a season-ending injury in 2022 after five games to start all 17 games for the Broncos in 2023 and played every single offensive snap of the season — 1,072 snaps in total.

The Broncos have already made one move to shore up their offensive line for the foreseeable future when they signed guard Quinn Meinerz to a 4-year, $80 million contract extension before the 2024 season.

“Bolles has been a solid left tackle in Denver over the last seven years, but he’s entering a contract year and nearing his mid-30s,” Holder wrote. “That’s typically when players start to decline, however, the Broncos will have to consider giving the 2020 second-team All-Pro an extension seeing as they have a young quarterback in Bo Nix.”

Jacksonville Has Bottomed Out in 2024

Jacksonville went into the season thinking it was going to be a battle between them and the Houston Texans for AFC South supremacy. That just hasn’t been the case.

The Jaguars seem to have bottomed out in 2024 and are 2-6 at the midway point of the season, with head coach Doug Pederson unlikely to last beyond this season — if he even makes it to the end of this season. It also comes after Lawrence became one of the highest-paid players in NFL history with a 5-year, $275 million contract extension signed in June 2024.