Broncos Update When OT Garett Bolles Will Return to Roster
The Denver Broncos have taken a huge hit at the offensive tackle position over the last month of football, seeing both starters go down to injury. The straw that might have broken the camel's back, however, was when reliable swing tackle — Calvin Anderson — suffered an injury in Week 12 that'll keep him out 2-4 weeks.
Down to playing Quinn Bailey and Cam Fleming, with their first matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs next on the schedule, getting at least one of either Garett Bolles or Bobby Massie back for Week 13's action would be mission-critical.
Fortunately, head coach Vic Fangio revealed on Wednesday that Bolles — a 2020 second-team All-Pro — will be back in the building on Thursday after missing time with an ankle injury and last week's action due to testing positive for COVID-19. Bolles is still in COVID protocol as of Wednesday, but that changes tomorrow.
“He’ll be here tomorrow," Fangio said.
The question is, what version of Bolles will the Broncos be getting back? After all, he had the misfortune of first injuring his ankle before testing positive for the virus, so what's the status on that ankle?
“We think good," Fangio said. "We haven’t seen him since he tested positive, but we were planning on him playing last week before he did. We’ll see when he gets here tomorrow.”
Bolles' huge Year 4 jump in 2020 was sparked by his famous workout routine at home with his wife during the offseason where he worked out the flaws in his technique in the kitchen of his home with his spouse's help. Knowing that, perhaps fans shouldn't worry about the once-beleaguered Bolles. Fangio certainly is not.
“He’s been in the meetings via Zoom," Fangio said of Bolles. "We give him instructions on rehab. He’s told me on several occasions he’s been working out like crazy. He didn’t get sick at all, so we’ll see.”
Bolles had been an iron man for the Broncos before suffering that ankle injury in Week 8, missing just one start since arriving as the team's first-round pick in 2017. Anderson did well to mitigate the sting of losing Bolles in the lineup, and while Bailey's performance in relief of Anderson was encouraging, if the Broncos are going to keep up with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, they'll need every horse they can possibly have.
As for Massie, here's the last we heard on that front from Coach Fangio on Monday.
"Bobby made some improvement last week — not enough to play last week — but ... we have some hope for him," Fangio said.
Massie was listed as a limited participant in Wednesday's practice which is a positive harbinger for his availability on Sunday night in Arrowhead.
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