Mile High Report
The Denver Broncos third round pick has an opportunity to contribute right away this upcoming season.
In the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft, the Denver Broncos selected Illinois wide receiver Pat Bryant. He is a 6’2, 204-pound wide receiver who is considered a sure-handed possession receiver and one of the better run-blocking receivers in the draft.
Bryant played a total of four seasons at Illinois and is coming off his best season with the team. During his four-year career, Bryant played in 46 games, which included 35 starts, and totaled 137 receptions for 2,095 yards and 19 touchdowns. This past year, he started all 12 games and totaled 54 receptions for 984 yards and 10 touchdown receptions.
After the draft, Denver Broncos Head Coach Sean Payton met with the media and compared Bryant to former Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas.
“There were so many things about his game that reminded me of Mike Thomas. With respect to Mike, who became… I mean, holy cow. You don’t ever want to put pressure on a rookie like that, We’re just talking about traits. But really explosive off the line of scrimmage, he’s very competitive, very tough. We mentioned this yesterday, periodically, you have more insight into a certain player. Jim Leonhard worked at Illinois the year before we hired him. So Jim had insight into the makeup, toughness. I really think the body of work and all the additional film study, but his size and his hands are outstanding. His competes… I don’t know how many critical… He was just a player who excelled in crunch time. I think he had a walk-off or a couple of these big plays. Obviously , he’s physical, but the player comp for me—forget the jersey number—just a lot of traits that Mike had, especially at the line of scrimmage.”
This is high praise for the rookie receiver, as Payton mentions in the quote, because Thomas was among the best wide receivers in the league during his time with the Saints. During his best season in 2019, Thomas had 149 receptions for 1,725 yards and 9 touchdowns. Before that season, he had back-to-back seasons of 100+ catches for 1,200+ yards and 5+ touchdowns.
So, when Sean Payton is going on about how Pat Bryant reminds him of Michael Thomas, that should be pretty exciting for Broncos fans.
Now with the Broncos, Pat Bryant has the opportunity to be an instant playmaker for them this upcoming season. After veteran Courtland Sutton, the Broncos' wide receiver room is a bit up in the air, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if Bryant pushed for a starting job this summer. He does a lot of things that Payton values at the position; he has spoken highly of him already and compared him to Michael Thomas. So, it’ll be interesting to see how everything shakes out this summer.
