His time in Champaign was long done, yet Pat Bryant kept hanging around in the rain at Illinois this spring, just wanting to watch some ball.
In January, Mike Neu — once a scout and quarterbacks coach for Sean Payton and the New Orleans Saints — took a senior offensive assistant job at Illinois. And he got to know Bryant well enough in snippets, even as the receiver was in the middle of NFL draft prep. He loved football enough, Neu reflected, to come out and hang around spring camp, observing teammates and the next generation of Fighting Illini.
A couple of times, gloomy Midwest skies opened and rain dumped on Illinois’ field. Bryant didn’t have any rain gear. He had no obligation to be there. He stayed anyway.
“He’s one of those guys — you can tell, when you meet somebody, you’re like, ‘Oh, he’s a football guy,’” Neu said. “‘He’s a dog.’”
Sean Payton, historically, covets dogs. Grinders. NFL.com pinpointed Bryant pre-draft as a sixth-round talent, a 6-foot-2 receiver who didn’t exactly burn stopwatches with a 4.61-second 40-yard dash. But the Broncos swung on Bryant in the third round in April, as Payton called him “a player that excelled in crunch time” in a Day 2 presser.
Bryant, certainly, doesn’t view himself as a sixth-round talent.
“I’m pretty sure,” he said on a draft conference call, “I was on just about everybody’s radar.”
He was specifically on Payton’s, though, for reasons beyond simple makeup. Neu, who worked for Payton in personnel in 2006 with the Saints and then again from 2014-15 as New Orleans’ quarterbacks coach, has spent plenty of time the past few months breaking down film of Bryant in an effort to dissect Illinois’ offense. And beyond Bryant’s playmaking instincts — three of his 10 touchdown grabs in 2024 were essentially game-winners — his versatility pops on tape, Neu said.
He took a consistent share of snaps from the slot for Illinois in 2024, despite profiling as more of an outside weapon. And he can play “any of the three wideout spots” in an 11-personnel formation, Neu said of Bryant — X, Y or Z.
On draft night, Payton tossed out former Saints Offensive Player of the Year Michael Thomas as a Bryant comparison. The two are similar in size (Thomas at 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds, Bryant at 6-foot-2 and 204) and speed (Thomas ran a 4.57-second 40). Neu pointed to a similar New Orleans standout: Marques Colston, who wasn’t a burner but found consistent separation from a variety of slot alignments.
“He’s one of those guys that I can envision — when Sean gets him in there, gets to work with him every day — moving him all over that field,” Neu said of Bryant. “And when you’re playing in the NFL and you’re only dressing four or five or maybe six wideouts, that’s important.”
Bryant’s 40 time, too, doesn’t accurately tell the whole story. He caught a standout 55% of his deep targets in 2024 and ranked 13th in FBS (min. 15 targets) on yards-after-catch on short passes, according to Pro Football Focus.
The roles of Denver’s current receiving corps are fairly well-outlined. Veteran Courtland Sutton is the de facto X. Speedsters Marvin Mims Jr. and Troy Franklin are Z’s, likely to be put in constant motion. Newly signed Evan Engram will fly up the seam as the Y, and Devaughn Vele will get plenty of reps from the slot.
Bryant’s most obvious path to reps, come 2025, is to flash steadiness at a number of spots in 11-personnel.
“He wants his number to be called,” Neu said of Bryant. “He’s excited about that. He can’t wait to go make a play.
“And so, when the lights get just a little bit brighter — from the tape I’ve been watching, I see him thriving in that environment.”
