Baby Bolles steals the show at NFL draft

By AP
Published

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) Baby Bolles has become a star of the 2017 NFL draft.

After answering John Elway's call Thursday night as the 20th overall pick of the draft, Garett Bolles , the 6-foot-5, 300-pound tackle from Utah, grabbed his 4-month-old son Kingston and carried him on stage.

He alternately cradled him like a football and held him high like Mufasa introducing Simba.

''My first thought was, `Don't drop him. Going down the stairs, don't trip,''' Bolles' wife, Natalie, said Friday at her husband's introductory news conference in snowy Denver.

The Broncos didn't just stitch up an XXXL jersey for Bolles with his name on the back and the number 1 for the first-rounder's photo shoots, but they also made up an XXXS jersey for Baby Bolles, who was born in December to the couple who's been married 18 months.

''I was glad he got to bring him on stage because Garett wanted to do that from the very beginning, because he loves to show off his son,'' Natalie Bolles said. ''But you know, he started moving him around and he started going down the stairs and I was thinking, he's so nervous, I hope he doesn't trip. Just make sure the baby's OK. But I'm glad he got to take him on stage.''

And admittedly relieved when her husband handed him back to her.

Leave it to the GM, too, to find in the baby a telling sign or two about his new draft pick's priorities.

''That was awesome to see him bring his child down there,'' Elway said. ''I think that shows you a little bit about what he's about.''

Asked what he'll tell his son one day about this weekend, Bolles said, ''I just want to be a great father, that's what it comes down to. I want my son to know that I'm a hard worker and that I put my family first in everything I do.''

And who knows, maybe Baby Bolles will be ambling onstage himself to meet the NFL commissioner in say, 2038.

''Whatever he does, if it's football, awesome,'' Bolles said. ''If he can be in the shoes that I am, then awesome. But whatever he wants to do, I'm just going to be a proud father and lead him in the right direction.''

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