Latest news with #PatBryant
USA Today
21-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Broncos WR Pat Bryant impressed with reaction test at NFLPA Rookie Premiere
Broncos WR Pat Bryant impressed with reaction test at NFLPA Rookie Premiere Denver Broncos running back RJ Harvey (a second-round pick) and wide receiver Pat Bryant (a third-round pick) attended the NFLPA Rookie Premiere in Los Angeles last week. Top rookies from each class (usually on offense) attend the event each year for trading card photoshoots, marketing deals, networking opportunities and media interviews. One of the popular stations at this year's Rookie Premiere was a reflex challenge for this year's draft class. The NFL (and other accounts) shared videos on social media of various rookies doing the drill. Several of the videos showed a board in the background with player standings. It appears that Bryant was No. 1 on the list. After being pushed by fans and pundits to show the Bryant video, the NFL posted it on Instagram: Bryant got all but one, and he likely would have gotten that one if he had not been focusing on attempting to catch a fumbled stick (we'll count it as close enough). Bryant has steady hands (with just one drop on 78 targets last fall), and he figures to earn a key role in Denver's offense this summer. Related: These 25 celebrities are Broncos fans.
New York Times
05-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Pat Bryant and the ‘frickin' clutch' plays that led him to the Broncos in the NFL Draft
When the Denver Broncos selected Pat Bryant in the third round of last month's NFL Draft, head coach Sean Payton and general manager George Paton zipped through the attributes that attracted them to the wide receiver from Illinois. They talked about his big hands and how aggressively he attacked the ball down the field. They lauded his explosiveness off the line of scrimmage and his physicality in the run game. They gushed over the leadership intangibles. Payton even compared some of Bryant's receiving traits to Michael Thomas, the former All-Pro wide receiver with the New Orleans Saints. Advertisement Then, there was perhaps the most appealing aspect of studying Bryant in the pre-draft process. 'He was just a player,' Payton said, 'that excelled in crunch time.' Bryant caught 10 touchdowns in 2024, tying an Illinois single-season record. Three were game-winning receptions made in overtime or the dying seconds of regulation. Digging deeper into the situations surrounding each grab gives a better understanding of why the Broncos made multiple trades on Day 2 with an eye on landing the receiver. 'He understands situational football,' The Athletic draft analyst Dane Brugler wrote of Bryant before the draft, words that may as well have been music dancing in Payton's ears. 'That's Pat Bryant, man,' Illinois wide receivers coach Justin Stepp said in a recent phone conversation. 'He's just frickin' clutch.' Bryant had already caught four passes for 70 yards and a touchdown in the Big Ten opener at Nebraska last September when he exited an overtime huddle and headed to an unfamiliar spot. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound receiver crouched his frame as he slinked toward the line of scrimmage, then dropped into a three-point stance as a fullback, just behind quarterback Luke Altmyer. At the snap, Bryant slid out of the backfield, smoothly navigated around a defender trying to set the edge, and found himself wide open in the flat for a game-winning, 4-yard touchdown reception. ¡ILLINOIS TOMA LA DELANTERA! 🏈🔥 Pat Bryant con un touchdown que adelanta a los Illinois Fighting Illini 31-24 sobre los Nebraska Cornhuskers. #CFBenFOX — FOX Deportes (@FOXDeportes) September 21, 2024 Bryant was a big fan of the play call, of course, but he almost made it clear to the coaching staff that he'd be willing to fulfill a fullback's more foundational duty — paving the way through a hole for a running back — if he ever needed to serve as a decoy. 'I think the trait of any great receiver is being unselfish,' Stepp said. 'We all knew who needed to get the ball, but there were times where he didn't touch it for a few drives, and before he'd touch it, we'd be like, 'On this run play, we need you to go in and crack a safety and block a linebacker.' He never said one word about it. He's the ultimate team player. Something he took a lot of pride in this year was taking his blocking to another level.' Advertisement Added Bryant, who will take the field with the Broncos for the first time during a rookie minicamp later this week: 'My motto was always, 'You block, you get the rock.' So my main focus was just using my physicality both in the pass game as well as the run game, just helping my running backs get to the end zone.' The second game-winning play for Bryant came three weeks later in another overtime thriller, this one at home against Purdue. Illinois trailed by three points and faced a second-and-10 from its 27-yard line with only 35 seconds left in regulation. Bryant, lined up outside to the right, made a subtle shake at the line of scrimmage that gave him the room to burst past his defender and haul in a 32-yard catch near the sideline that helped Illinois get in range for a game-tying field goal. The heroics were only getting started. 'We're in the huddle and we've got the ball first to start overtime, and Pat looks at Coach (Barry) Lunney, our OC, and goes, 'Scissors!' which is one of the play calls,' Stepp said. 'Coach Lunney looks at (quarterback) Luke (Altmyer) and goes, 'You like scissors?' Luke goes, 'Yeah, let's run it.' So Pat essentially called the play in overtime.' The play had Bryant lined up in a tight alignment on the right side of the formation, just off the tight end. At the snap, he slithered past the linebacker trying to jam him off the line of scrimmage, then navigated between two defensive backs to find just enough real estate in the end zone to haul in a 25-yard, toe-tapping touchdown pass from Altmyer. 'My main focus when the ball is in the air is, 'It's mine, and I'm better than the man that's in front of me,'' Bryant said. Stepp could feel Bryant's self-assuredness since he became his new position coach last year. He couldn't help but make a comparison. 'He's just like Courtland,' the coach said. Advertisement Stepp coached star Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton at SMU for three seasons before he became Denver's second-round pick in 2018. Sutton made such an impression on his coach during that time that Stepp and his wife named their now 7-year-old son Courtland. What the two now teammates in Denver share, Stepp said, is a humility that belies a sturdy confidence in who they are — and, just as importantly, who they aren't — as players. 'I remember during the pre-draft process with Courtland, people would say, 'Is he mean enough to play football? He's so dadgum nice,'' Stepp said. 'I'd be like, 'I'm just telling you, he has an unbelievable confidence to him.' Pat is the same way. He knows who he is. He knows his strengths and he knows his weaknesses.' Never did that confidence come more to the surface for Bryant than during the top highlight of his career — an improbable touchdown catch against Rutgers that ended what Stepp called 'one of the craziest games I've ever been a part of.' Illinois, trailing 31-30, began the game's final drive from its 25-yard line with 68 seconds left. Bryant caught a 21-yard pass from Altmyer early in the drive and then drew a 10-yard holding penalty, helping to push the Illini into Rutgers territory. But things still looked bleak for Illinois as it approached a fourth-and-13 from the 40-yard line with 14 seconds left. Head coach Bret Bielema decided to trot out kicker David Olano for a potential game-winning, 58-yard field goal into a driving wind. Just before the snap, Rutgers coach Greg Schiano called a timeout to freeze Olano. The kicker booted the ball anyway, and it barely reached the same zip code as the uprights. 'So we're like, 'Hell, we can't kick the field goal. Let's just go for it,'' Stepp said. When the ensuing play was called on the sideline, Bryant was tabbed as the No. 2 option. But as he walked onto the field, he caught his coach's eye. 'I'm switching,' he told Stepp. So Bryant moved to the left of a trips formation. As the two receivers to his right pushed up the field in a pair of go routes, Bryant darted underneath into the vacated space. He caught he ball at the 22-yard line with 9 seconds left. When he made the grab, Bryant had enough for a first down and put Illinois in more manageable field-goal range. But there were five defenders in his vicinity. PAT BRYANT SCORES THE GAME-WINNING TD ON 4TH DOWN! 😱@IlliniFootball — NBC Sports (@NBCSports) November 23, 2024 'If you go back and watch that play and watch the sideline, I'm on the sideline screaming, 'Get down!' because I thought we were going to get down and kick a field goal,' Stepp said. Instead, Bryant made a juke to get around the nearest defensive back, darted to the outside and sprinted into the end zone to complete a stunning, 40-yard touchdown play. The 22-year-old was pegged as a fifth- or sixth-round prospect by numerous draft evaluators largely because he ran a 4.61-second 40-yard dash at the scouting combine in February. Only one wide receiver prospect at the event posted a slower time. But on the game-winning play against Rutgers, Bryant ran away from everybody. Advertisement It's why Bryant never sweated his lackluster 40 time in Indianapolis. He passed up a chance to improve it at his pro day. Everything teams needed to know about his speed, Bryant reasoned, could be found on his film — in snapshots like the one on that memorable November day in New Jersey. 'That's the confidence he had,' Stepp said. 'He didn't think twice about it.' Stepp and Bielema were with Bryant last month in Orlando as he gathered with family and friends during the second day of the draft. The coaches planned to be there through Saturday before beginning a recruiting trip. But shortly before the Broncos were on the clock with their third-round pick, Bielema told Stepp that plans had changed. They would be leaving that night. Bryant wasn't going to last until Day 3. 'I was like, 'Hell, Coach B must know something,'' Stepp said. When the Broncos selected Bryant with the 74th pick, Stepp pulled his phone out of his pocket and texted Sutton. The two have maintained consistent contact since Sutton entered the NFL seven years ago. The week before the draft, Stepp was working in his office when he came across film of some of Sutton's one-on-one matchups from SMU. He recorded videos and sent them to the wide receiver. Sutton responded that he had recently been watching film alongside Bo Nix, the Broncos quarterback, and the pair had watched the same plays. 'I literally couldn't think of a better place for Pat to go,' Stepp texted Sutton after Denver picked Bryant. 'I know you're going to take care of him.'
USA Today
30-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Broncos dubbed a ‘perfect landing spot' for WR Pat Bryant
Broncos dubbed a 'perfect landing spot' for WR Pat Bryant The Denver Broncos drafted Pat Bryant, a wide receiver from the Illinois Fighting Illini, with the 74th pick in the 2025 NFL draft last week. Bryant, who played all four years with the Illini, finished his career tying Brandon Lloyd for most touchdowns in a season (10) and ended third in the Big Ten conference in touchdowns and receiving yards. According to Draft Wire's Paul M. Banks, Bryant's keeping his school colors and changing locations is a win for the Broncos. Banks highlighted how Bryant's versatility could help Denver second-year quarterback Bo Nix continue to flourish. You saw that at the Senior Bowl, where his performance helped to offset his disappointing showing at the combine. He is a vertical threat who can easily go over the top on opposing DBs, and everyone was able to see that on his tape. Bryant is going to give second year starting quarterback Bo Nix another big target to work with, and that should help the young QB1 further develop quicker. While Bryant may not have the speed (4.61 40 time), he has the size (6-3, 200 pounds) that could should him a threat in head coach Sean Payton's offense. Related: These 25 celebrities are Broncos fans.
USA Today
30-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Broncos WR Pat Bryant says it will be 'very, very special' to play with Bo Nix
Broncos WR Pat Bryant says it will be 'very, very special' to play with Bo Nix After being picked by the Denver Broncos in the third round of the NFL draft, former Illinois wide receiver Pat Bryant is set to join a rising young quarterback who helped lead Denver to a playoff berth as a rookie last fall. 'I've seen a lot of great things," Bryant said of his new quarterback. "It's crazy because I was just at the Senior Bowl with Tez Johnson, his adopted brother, and we were kind of talking about him and his dream of playing with him. So just having an opportunity to play with a great quarterback like Bo Nix, it'll be very, very special.' Bryant hauled in 54 receptions for 984 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2024, averaging 18.2 yards per catch. All four categories were career highs for the senior receiver. In the NFL, Bryant will team up with Nix, who totaled 3,775 passing yards and threw 29 touchdown passes in his first year in the league. Denver fans will get their first opportunities to see Bryant in live action when the Broncos play three preseason games later this summer. Related: These 25 celebrities are Broncos fans.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Report: Jaguars have had 'a lot' of contact with Illinois WR Pat Bryant
The Jacksonville Jaguars have had "a lot" of contact with Illinois wide receiver Pat Bryant during this pre-draft process. While appearing on 1010XL's 'Helmets & Heels,' Bryant mentioned that the Jaguars were a team he's had "a lot" of contact with compared to other teams. This includes conversations at the Senior Bowl, the NFL combine, multiple Zoom meetings, and the Jaguars have been in contact with Bryant's high school coaches. Measuring in at 6-2 - 204 pounds, Bryant fits that bigger-bodied wide receiver mold that Albert Breer mentioned the Jaguars could be looking for. He recorded a Relative Athletic Score of 7.08, which included a 37.5-inch vertical, 10-04 feet on the broad jump, and a 4.61-second 40. Advertisement Bryant had been a key figure in the Illinois offense for the last three seasons, which included 197 targets during that span. The 2024 season was a career year for him with 984 receiving yards at a whopping 18.2 yards per catch and 10 touchdowns. Bryant primarily lined up out wide, but he does have slot experience as well, and that is something that will be important when it comes to playing receiver in Liam Coen's offense. Contributing to Bryant's impressive yards per reception figure was that he was extremely effective with the ball in his hands, picking up YAC. Lance Zierlein has Bryant with a sixth-round projection and had this to say about him in his scouting report: "Bryant has good size but lacks suddenness and pure vertical gas. What he lacks in explosiveness he makes up for with intelligent releases, physicality inside the route and elite ball skills. Bryant has average play strength but musters it all when competing for the catch. His body control and focus put him in position to win fade routes but his high-point talent often seals the deal. The ball skills are superior, but he needs to prove he can find ways to uncover against NFL press coverage to become more than a downfield target with backup value." Advertisement The receiver position will be one of the larger needs that the Jaguars will have to address in the draft, as they look to not only bolster their depth, but ideally add some competition on the depth chart behind Brian Thomas Jr. This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: 2025 NFL draft: Jaguars 'a lot' of contact with Illinois WR Pat Bryant
