Russell Wilson changed Garett Bolles' world -- and his job

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Garett Bolles hasn’t seen it all since the Broncos made him their first round pick in 2017. For him to have seen it all, he would have needed to experience the kind of success that eluded them during their seemingly endless trip on the quarterback carousel.

And at one point Thursday, he paused to gather himself when he tried to recall one of the key games in a career — a November 2019 game at Minnesota of which he said, “I realized I belong in this league.”

Who was the quarterback then?

“What quarterback did we have — Brandon Allen, I believe?” Bolles remembered. “We’ve had so many.”

Which brought Bolles to March 8.

“I was in California, in Orange County, where I train,” Bolles said. “I saw the Aaron Rodgers thing, and I was like, ‘Man, it happens again.’

“And then all of a sudden, a couple of minutes later, my agent calls me, and I heard some things, and then — boom — it happened.”

Russell Wilson was a Bronco, and Bolles’ football world changed forever.

He’s blocked for 10 different quarterbacks — and another wide-receiver-turned-quarterback, Kendall Hinton. Now, it looks like that has — barring injury — come to a halt.

A few hours after hearing the news, Bolles’ phone buzzed while he was playing pickle ball.

“He sent me a message and said, ‘Hey, [Garett], it’s No. 3.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness,'” Bolles said. “And then he FaceTimed me, and we talked, like, 10 minutes. Like I said, I was just excited.”

But not too excited to convey a simple message.

Bolles, of course, is known for saying that he protects a quarterback like he protects his wife. Of course, the on-field work there has seen varying levels of success, although he has gotten past the struggles of his first two-and-a-half seasons to become the Broncos’ longest-tenured offensive player on the roster.

The desire to succeed has never been lacking for Bolles. But with success in the last two years has come the “skins on the wall” — in the parlance of John Fox — to back up his bold proclamations.

And when he spoke with Wilson for the first time after the trade news broke, he made his sentiments perfectly clear:

“I told him, ‘Hey, man. I know you’re used to getting hit,’” Bolles recalled. “‘You’re not going to get hit here.’”

Strong words from a strong man, whose task has never been bigger: Protect a franchise quarterback who is already on a track that will lead him to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, a player on whom all of the Broncos’ hopes for a return to prominence rest.

No pressure.

“We have so many weapons, as you guys already know. We were just missing a puzzle piece,” Bolles said. “Now, we have a puzzle piece, and, now, we’ve got to put in the work.”