https://player.anyclip.com/anyclip-widget/lre-widget/prod/v1/src/lre.js
After serving on a LDS Church mission right out of high school, left tackle Garett Bolles’ pro football career got a later start than a typical rookie’s.
Following his two-year mission, Bolles spent two seasons at the junior college level before one season at Utah. He then entered the NFL as a 25-year-old rookie in 2017.
Eight years later, Bolles is now set to turn 33 in May ahead of his ninth season in the NFL. Despite his age, Bolles recently received a four-year contract extension that will keep him with the Denver Broncos through the 2028 season.
Bolles will be 36 in the final year of his extension, but at the rate he’s going, the left tackle could very well still be playing at a high level in four years from now.
“I take really good care of my body,” Bolles said after signing an extension in December. “I thrive on that. I make sure that I’m doing everything I can to make sure that I can play on Sundays. I feel like I’ve been one of the most reliable offensive linemen in the league. I don’t miss games and I think it just speaks for how I eat and how I train. Not only that but the team that I put together outside this building to put me in the best positions to come in this building with the mindset of dominating. That’s just my mindset of doing whatever I can just to dominate and to put myself in positions to help this team win.
“I love this team more than anyone. You can probably ask anyone. The Denver Broncos, to put on that uniform and to play in front of our amazing fans and to be here for so long, it’s just amazing. To do that at a high level with my age — I have so many more years to prove myself, to be better and to continue to stack seasons after seasons. I want to play as long as I can.
“I’m here for 12 years and hopefully I have two or three more years after that. I’m just going to enjoy this time of having an amazing time. I’ve been through a lot. You know how it is. The last eight years haven’t been great. This year it just puts a different pep to my step of just winning. [I just] want to win and bring this state what it deserves, [which is] a championship.”
If Bolles does play two or three years beyond his extension, that would put him at 38 or 39. It’s certainly been done before — Jason Peters played in the NFL just last fall and he turned 43 in January.
Outside of a broken leg that prematurely ended his 2022 season five games into the year, Bolles has had great health with the Broncos. He started 59-straight games before missing a game for the first time in his career with an illness during the 2020 season. Since recovering from his broken leg, Bolles has started 17 games in each of the last two seasons.
Yes, he’s turning 33 this spring, but Bolles still has plenty of gas left in the tank to remain Denver’s left tackle going forward.