Contract Analysis - Garret Bolles
Hey everyone, TC here,
Back after a much-needed break from writing and content creation, relaxing with the family over the holidays. I hope you also enjoyed the Thanksgiving holidays.
The offensive tackle market has become clearly defined over the past 18 months, and the latest contract extension for Garett Bolles aligns perfectly with that market. In this edition of Cap & Trade, I will break down the details of that contract.
The latest contract extension is another marker for the offensive tackle market. For Bolles, this is his third NFL player contract, including his initial four-year rookie deal.
In 2017, the Denver Broncos selected Bolles, #20 overall in the NFL draft out of Utah, to man the offensive left tackle position and protect the blind side. Historically Bolles has been a solid performing tackle with an impressive ability to remain healthy.
Now in his eighth season in the NFL. Bolles was on the field for 14 games or more and logged over 800 snaps in six of the last seven seasons. The lone season of low playtime was in 2022 when Bolles fractured his lower leg five weeks into the season.
On May 1, 2020, the Denver Broncos opted to decline Bolles's 5th-year option (included with his first-round rookie contract). At the same time, then-President and General Manager John Elway notified Bolles that he would compete with Elijah Wilkinson for the starting job.
"Garett's going to compete for a job like everybody else on the football team," Elway said during the 2020 NFL Draft. "The bottom line is [G/T] Eli Wilkinson will be back. They're going to compete for jobs like everybody else. I think it's our job on the personnel side to give Vic and his staff the best players we can to create that competition. That's what our job is to do on the personnel side."
Bolles took that to heart by winning the job and putting together his career-best performance during the 2020 season, finishing the season as the third-best offensive tackle per the PFF grading system.
Subsequently, on December 1, 2020, the Denver Broncos rewarded Bolles’s efforts with a four-year contract extension worth $68 million in new money and $40 million in total guarantees.
New Contract Extension
Fast-forward four years, and the two sides have agreed on another four-year contract extension worth $82 million (up to $86 million with escalators) and including $42 million in total guarantees. Bolles is currently the 16th-highest overall graded offensive tackle but has the fourth-highest pass-blocking grade.
Bolles has allowed just 14 total pressures and 1 sack thus far into the 2024 season.
When comparing the Bolles contract to the Tier 1B group of offensive tackles, players are not quite thought of as elite but rather as very good-quality players.
The guarantee package for Bolles includes a signing bonus, guaranteed salaries, and vesting dates on multiple option bonuses. The contract has five (5) separate option bonuses over the 2025 and 2026 league years, with triggers scattered across the offseason and training camp. This structure is solid; it just doesn’t have the same weight as the Mailata contract.
The running cash flow for the Bolles contract slots in appropraitely against the market comparables.
If I had one complaint about this extension, that would be giving a player a sizeable extension at the age of 32. I could easily counter that argument with two points: offensive lineman generally age well and Bolles’s injury history proves he can remain healthy.
Bolles’s salary cap charge for 2024 remains nearly the same after the extension, at $20.8 million, with just a minor $800,000 increase.
Solid job by the agent and the team here.
-TC
How does Bolles contract stack up against Howard & Tunsil? Based off those numbers, what grade would you give Caserio?