There’s only one hard and fast rule when it comes to generating interest in the Grading The Week offices: enjoy good stories. Enjoy good stories. Don’t cheer for teams.

But when it comes to individual players around the Front Range, full disclosure, those in charge have been known to make…um, exceptions.

Cards on the table? The bloopers at GTW HQ are happy for Garett Bolles after the Broncos’ big left tackle received a four-year, $82 million contract extension earlier this week.

After spending a few months debating whether the Broncos would fish or bat in the Big 72, his new contract more or less makes him a Bronco for life — or at least until 2028, his age-36 season.

Boles’ contract extension – B-plus

Was it an overpayment? Depends on who you ask. According to Spotrac, Bolles’ AAV of $20.5 million would rank eighth among NFL tackles in 2024, eighth in 2025, eighth in 2026 and seventh in 2027 behind Tristan Wirfs of the Bucs ($28.1 million), followed by Penei Sewell of the Lions ($28.1 million) and Trent Williams of the 49ers ($27.55 million).

Bolles isn’t quite the eraser that Williams has at the Bay, and Sewell the athlete isn’t in the Motor City either. But at 32, he’s managed to split the difference well while – and this part becomes even more impressive once you turn 30 – staying relatively healthy.

Meanwhile, Mr. Availability also brings out many other skills. According to Pro Football Focus film critics, Bolles ranks fourth among tackles in the league when it comes to pass protection. According to PFF, heading into Sunday’s Colts game, he had given up just one sack in 817 snaps and 13 starts, ranking him fourth among tackles in the league in pass protection rating.

Now that Bo Nix is ​​doing everything right, the next trick for the Broncos front office is checking off the boxes around him.

The Sean Payton & George Paton law firm has built a top-six offensive line, and every starter except center Luke Wattenberg is currently under contract through at least 2026. Given the old principle of not trying to fix what isn’t broken First of all, you can understand the doubling of continuity from the start.

So extending Bolles takes Nix’s blind side off the table, at least as far as the draft is concerned. NFL.com draft analyst Chad Reuter listed just three college tackles among his top 25 Senior Bowl candidates in October, and most mocks list the top two – LSU’s Will Campbell and Kelvin Banks Jr. of Texas – long gone from the field when the Broncos would pick in the early to mid 20s.

But do you know who else is likely to be there? (Unfortunately, not Boise State tailback Ashton Jeanty.) Tight ends! A handful of Big Ten greats achieving goals. In particular, a couple of seam route giants — 6-foot-6 Tyler Warren of Penn State and 6-5 Colston Loveland of Michigan.

Sean Payton is building Saints 2.0 in Dove Valley piece by piece. In Nix he has his Drew Brees. In Powers and Quinn Meinerz, he has a pair of Pro Bowl-caliber guards, just like he had in the Big Easy. The next task is to get another Jimmy Graham or an Alvin Kamara. Bolles’ extension clears the way to address one of the two slots via the draft. And then this real the fun begins.