Broncos left tackle Garett Bolles was named to the AP’s All-Pro second team Friday, his first All-Pro selection of his career.

Bolles ranked as the third best tackle in the NFL by Pro Football Focus, allowing zero sacks and having seven total penalties. Last season, Bolles ranked 19th, giving up four sacks and had 17 penalties.

While he missed out on the Pro Bowl this year, Bolles’ exceptional 2020 season earned him the second most All-Pro votes for a left tackle, finishing behind Green Bay’s David Bakhtiari. He also earned a four-year, $68 million extension with the Broncos.

Earlier this season, Bolles credited last year’s offseason for his turnaround and said Monday in his exit interview that he hopes to recreate that over the next several months ahead of the 2021 season.

Broncos GM search: Interviews set for Friday, Saturday (live updates)

“I want to be the best. Y’all know my goals. I want to be the best left tackle, so I’m going to always try and find new ways to improve my game and new things to do to benefit me on and off the field,” Bolles said. “I’m going to continue to do a lot of the same things. I’m going to work hard; I’m going to hit the weight room and I’m going to do a lot of field stuff.  (I’m) still going to have my wife line up with me to do my sets. Whatever I can do, man.

“I had a great year. I feel like I did, and I have to build off it and continue to hold the left side down for many years to come.”

Simmons left off first and second team All-Pro

What will the Broncos do with Justin Simmons? ‘This is a must extension’

After being named a second-team All-Pro a season ago, safety Justin Simmons was left off the first and second teams this year, despite having a career-high five interceptions and playing every defensive snap for the Broncos. He finished sixth among safeties in voting.

Simmons did make his first career Pro Bowl this season, having had arguably the best season of his career, totaling 96 tackles, nine pass breakups, five interceptions and zero forced fumbles.

Kansas City’s Tyrann Mathieu, Pittsburgh’s Minkah Fitzpatrick and Arizona’s Budda Baker were AP’s first team safeties, while Seattle’s Jamal Adams and Cincinnati’s Jessie Bates III were second team. Adams finished with 83 tackles, three pass breakups, zero interceptions and zero forced fumbles, but did have a career-high 9.5 sacks. Bates had 109 tackles, 15 pass breakups, three interceptions and one forced fumble.

Some consider Simmons a “must extension” this offseason for the Broncos. It’s clear he’s become one of the best safeties in the league and in a season where the secondary lost several starters, Simmons remained the constant.

“I talked about it all throughout the year, I think personally the thing I kind of grew in the most was communication,” Simmons said Monday. “You look at all the injuries that we’ve had and we’ve kind of been hurting all around but playing with 10 different corners and going out there and competing at a high level is not easy to do. So, I always thought I was a pretty good communicator at the safety spot, but I think this year kind of put that in perspective for me that it needed a little bit more of a boost than I thought. So, I think communication was the biggest thing.”