Miles
Well-known member
- Mar 18, 2019
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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Garett Bolles heard the boos.
Early last season, as Bolles struggled to avoid being called for holding penalties, he didn't miss the Empower Field at Mile High crowd express its displeasure.
As the former first-round pick enters his fourth season in Denver, he made it clear Thursday that he doesn't blame Broncos fans for making their opinions known. Bolles, too, said he knows his play wasn't good enough.
"Listen, our fans are some of the best fans in the country," Bolles said. "They deserve the best football. Here in Denver we have a tradition of winning. It's unacceptable the way that I played. I take full responsibility of that."
Instead of spending the offseason lamenting a year in which he led the league in holding penalties, Bolles got to work.
"Nobody likes to get booed, so I took that upon myself to get better," Bolles said. "I did whatever I can. I took [steps]. I worked out hard. I put on 20 extra pounds. I did whatever I can to make myself better, the best version of me moving forward, because I know this is a very important season not just for me but for my family. This organization is counting on me to be the best version of myself. I know whatever I had to do this offseason I did it."
In fairness to the Utah product, he did show improvement in the late stages of the season with Drew Lock under center. He was whistled for just one holding call over the final five weeks of the season, and he ranked fourth in Pro Football Focus' grading among all tackles who played at least 200 snaps from Week 13-17. He did get flagged for an unnecessary roughness penalty that likely cost the Broncos the ability to ice their win over the Raiders, but he largely looked like a different player with Lock under center.
He also allowed just one sack as the rookie quarterback was sacked just five times in five games.
"I love Drew," Bolles said. "Me and Drew have a great relationship. I think he's a phenomenal athlete. He's a great leader. I think he is capable of doing anything. I think he's going to be a very special quarterback in this league. I look forward to blocking [for] him for many years. That's my goal: to do whatever I can to make him feel comfortable back there, to move the guys off of him. It's really nice knowing that I have a mobile quarterback that can move. I'm not always perfect on every play, but [it's helpful] having a quarterback that can see that and can move and get open and hit our big-time receivers that we have for big gains. ... I know Drew's doing everything he can to lead this team."