Pat Bryant looks like NFL draft steal for Broncos: ‘He ain’t scared’

Pat Bryant wasn’t where he was supposed to be on the biggest play of his life. Only he was exactly where he was supposed to be.

Down 31-30 to Rutgers on a fourth-and-13 from the 40-yard-line, Bryant trotted out from Illinois’ sideline with 14 seconds left. He was supposed to line up in the slot. But he looked back at receivers coach Justin Stepp. Stepp looked back at him.

“You want me to go outside?” Bryant said, reading Stepp’s thoughts before he even opened his mouth.

And so Bryant toed the line at the top of the Fighting Illini’s formation on the left side, breaking off the move that’d been his favorite since his Pop Warner days in Florida: 10-yard dig. Or, in this case, 15-yard dig. A route of little fuss. A route that doesn’t require burners or a superhuman vertical. A route that requires toughness, intelligence and an understanding of how to just plant and go.

Bryant, open as ever, caught the ball from quarterback Luke Altmeyer and went. He juked one Rutgers DB out of his cleats, crossed the hashes, and pulled into the end zone with the moment he’d been waiting for for four years.

He splayed his hands out behind him as he crossed the pylon like a track star stretching across the finish line. Bryant didn’t run much track going up in Florida. Maybe he should’ve, his parents reflected years later. It could’ve quelled the chatter around his draft profile — a 6-foot-2 kid who ran a 4.61-second 40-yard dash at the combine, third-slowest of any wideout there. He was projected as a sixth-round pick, largely because of that lack of burst.

Burst, coaches say, could never sum up Bryant, a patient gamer who always trusted his sheer ability to win.

“A lot of guys can’t handle it, right?” Stepp said. “I mean, a lot of guys don’t want the ball for the last shot.

“Pat Bryant wants it. And he ain’t scared to go get it.”

By most evaluations, the Broncos reached for Bryant in the third round of April’s NFL draft this spring. Father, Patrick Bryant Sr., was expecting a late fourth-round pick. Mother, Louanne, said Bryant’s family and friends were “totally shocked” when Denver called his name.

But Bryant Sr. drilled into his son since he was 6 years old to always believe he was better than the man in front of him. And Bryant always believes he’s better than the man in front of him.

When asked about his Day 2 selection on his initial draft call, Bryant responded bluntly, “I’ve been watching since yesterday.”

Months of offseason programming and training camp later, that third-round reach has begun to look like a third-round steal. Whether it’s Bo Nix, Jarrett Stidham or Sam Ehlinger throwing him the ball, Bryant is always open. It is a confounding reality. He is big, but stands 6-foot-2 — a few inches shorter than fellow Denver outside target Devaughn Vele. He is elusive, but he won’t win many footraces without the 4.3-4.4 zip of Marvin Mims Jr. or Troy Franklin.

And yet, he became a go-to staple at Illinois on the back of another skill: self-awareness.

“I think where he lacks in athletic ability with top-end speed and stuff like that, he made up for studying,” Stepp said, “and knowing how to use his body and use his frame.”

Bryant’s seen a bigger picture going back to his high school days at Atlantic Coast High in Florida, coach Mike Montemayor said. He told his mother, Louanne, he wanted to play in the NFL since he was in middle school. Everything he did from that point forward was held to that standard.

Louanne and Bryant Sr. both had master’s degrees and were never ones to let their son’s grades slip. Friends who started going down the wrong path in their hometown of Duval County were no longer allowed to stay over at the Bryants’ home. Louanne would drive Bryant 45 minutes to an hour each morning from the north side of Jacksonville to the south side so he could attend Atlantic Coast, a more diverse school than those closer to home.

“He knew that in order to do the things you want to do, you have to do the things you’re supposed to do,” Louanne said.

Bryant wanted to leave a mark in college ball. So he did what he was supposed to. He signed his letter of intent to Illinois exactly three days after head coach Lovie Smith, whom he had committed to, was fired. He entered a program with no head coach, an uncertain receivers coach, and an unstable foundation, and never transferred, because his parents raised him to finish what he started. His brothers, one of whom played football at USF, told him he could take the next step by learning to block. Two-thirds of his freshman-year snaps were spent as a run-blocker.

In the mornings, Bryant beat Illinois’ NFL liaison, scouts and dawn itself to the Illini training facility. He studied individual backs on Illinois’ schedule, Stepp remembered, so he could anticipate the specific techniques corners would use against him.

In October, before the first snap of overtime in a barnburner against Purdue, Bryant suggested to offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. that they run a play they’d been honing in practice: a scissor-action with him and receiver Zakhari Franklin crossing to opposite sides of the end zone. Lunney looked at Altmeyer.

“Let’s run it,” Altmeyer said, as Stepp recalled.

Seconds later, Bryant rose up to grab an eventual game-winning toe-tap touchdown.

“Frickin’ Pat’s the one who called that one,” Stepp said.

The Broncos zeroed in on Bryant — without most anyone close to Bryant knowing — thanks to a hand-in-glove fit with Payton’s preferred WR profile. Payton loves tall receivers who can block. Bryant’s self-described motto is “block, you get the rock.” Payton loves physical receivers who are strong in traffic. Bryant had one drop in 78 targets his senior year at Illinois, and he finished with 984 yards and 10 touchdowns.