Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos' Pat Bryant Could SHAKE UP Wide Receiver Room

Starting point is 00:00:00 John Payton shocked Broncos country after he took Pat Bryant in round three of the 2025 NFL but we'll tell you why Pat Bryant is a seamless fit inside of his offense here on day one on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. What's happening in Broncos country? Happy Cinco de Mayo. Welcome into another episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast, part of the

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Starting point is 00:00:57 This is the place to be. I'm Cody Rourke. Broncos reporter from Ohio Sports. And I'm Sarah Bedinger, site expert predominantly orange. Our rookie profile series continues here as we recap the 2025 NFL draft class here for the Broncos. It's going to lead us all the way up into this weekend's rookie minicamp. Today's focus is Pat Bryant, wide receiver out of Illinois in the third round. We'll talk about where he is placed on the depth chart right now going into the season if we had to project it based on where he went in terms of positional value.

Starting point is 00:01:27 And on top of that, we'll highlight some of his strengths as a blocker as a rut runner. And what he does when the ball is in his hand, but we'll also highlight is the. 4.6 140 yard dash. Is that really a legitimate concern? We're going to get all that. And much more on today's episode of the show. Sarah, let's dive into it here. Obviously, Broncos countries, we've done these player profile series.

Starting point is 00:01:47 If you missed our episode on R.J. Harvey from last week, go check it out. Then we did one on Jaude Baron as well. You can check all that out wherever you get your podcast. But Pat Bryant is the focus today. And Sarah, look, you know, you and I reacted to the NFL draft live as it was happening. We did episodes here. Broncos country. This seems like the one pick that a lot of people initially were like, what are the Broncos doing? But I also think a lot of the people I've seen some negative comments

Starting point is 00:02:12 about, you know, from they've kind of changed her tune a little bit on Pat Bryan after they've actually had a chance to put on the tape and watch some film. Yeah, the guy's good. He can play, right? He's got a lot of good qualities about him, whether you're talking about, you know, his strong hands or just the different nuances of the wide receiver position that he really excels that. I know we're going to get into his strengths here in a bit too, but really when you look at this Broncos wide receiver room, it's pretty fascinating that this is kind of the only move they have made all offseason, right? We know they added Trent Sherfield, but Trent Sherfield was added to play special teams, not necessarily to rotate in the wide receiver group unless there's an emergency

Starting point is 00:02:51 and we certainly hope that there's not any sort of emergency situations this year. So Pat Bryant is really the only competition that guys like Devon Vay. and Troy Franklin are getting this offseason. We think that Corton Sutton Sutton and Marvin Mims are probably going to be the top two guys on the depth chart once again for the Denver Broncos this coming season. But as we saw last year, it was Velae who was third on the team in targets. Now, Evan Ingram complicates everything with this, the target share, doesn't he? I mean, because the Broncos will now have a legitimate threat at that position to be able to take a, you know, reasonably large share of the. the targets this season.

Starting point is 00:03:32 It's going to be interesting to see where Pat Bryant fits into that mix because he's an outside first type of guy who I think can play inside, but he's more of an outside receiver. To me, Cody, based on what we saw last year, I feel like he's kind of a direct threat to maybe Troy Franklin more so than anybody else. Yeah, I think that's interesting. Honestly, I disagree, Sarah. I think he's more of a threat to Devon Velae than he is Troy Franklin just because of usage. But I think there's value to be had here with Valey, with Pat Bryant, with Troy Franklin.

Starting point is 00:04:03 I mean, with Marvin. Sarah, you and I were talking about it. I mean, when we were doing our mock drafts kind of pounding the table for a wide receiver in round number one of the NFL draft, the argument was like, all right, hey, you have a room where you have a proven guy in Cortland Sutton who's trending towards an extension, but you're also in the boat where what if you have an injury at that position to one guy or two guys? What does that room look like? And there's a lot of unknowns.

Starting point is 00:04:25 There's a lot of guys who are still developing. they're in that process there. Well, now you add a guy like Pat Bryan in the mix. And, you know, I'm glad that you brought up Evan Ingram because I've seen some irresponsible takes on social media as of late saying that Evan Ingram isn't a joker and that he's more of a receiver. That's not necessarily the case. You know, he's going to line up in line.

Starting point is 00:04:42 He's going to line up, you know, as an offset wing. He's going to line up in the slot. He's going to line up on the outside. But that's not, I think, going to take away anything from the wide receiver room, right? Because those positions are entirely different. And Sean's plan with, you know, we talked about R.J. Harvey with a running back position in the tight-in position, he wants to be able to take advantage of matchups in the middle of the field.

Starting point is 00:05:02 You know, when you face defenses to have that too high shell, he wants to attack those inside linebackers in the passing game in different ways. And those guys give him flexibility. Pat Bryant to me is going to probably be the guy that I think is going to challenge Devon Valle, right? You lose Little Jordan Humphrey and NFL Free Agency. Well, who plays little Jordan's role here? I think Devon Velae, I mean, by snaps last year, you look at the prototype,

Starting point is 00:05:24 certainly fit the mold of that. I think Pat Bryant is a guy who can also push Velae as well. While Vaili is going to have the upper hand going into training camp in the preseason because of his experience, I mean, his spot isn't necessarily safe, though I do think when it's all said and done, he will be on the 53-man roster. I think the Broncos are going to have really good depth at wide receiver. I think it's paramount that they do that. But Pat Bryant, I think we can see him pushing for playing time right away.

Starting point is 00:05:50 You mentioned Cortland Sutton, Marvin Mims. Those are the top two guys. Pat Bryant is going to, I think, thrive in that role. player type of role where he can play in the slot. He can play on the outside as that big Z. We'll obviously get into his strengths here in a little bit. But man, you look at his production, obviously at Illinois, which when you think at Illinois, you don't really think a great quarterback performances, though I did catch

Starting point is 00:06:09 some flack on Twitter. I said something about the Rutgers game where I was just like, man, I was so mad for Pat Brian because in that game, you know, his quarterback is just missing throws left and right. Well, apparently, you know, you don't see this on the All-22, but a lot of Illinois fans are chiming and saying, did you not know about the win that day? No, I don't know. They don't show it on the all 22, but apparently the wind was really bad. And so that's a big reason why.

Starting point is 00:06:31 But obviously the Illinois quarterback is talented young guy, but I was frustrated by watching the game without knowing the context of that. I mean, Sarah, last year, 54 total catches, 984 yards and 10 total touchdowns there. He's averaging 18.2 yards per catch here. But it's not just that. I mean, they even used him as a rusher, five rushing attempts for 14 yards. So that tells me he could be a player that you can use on jet motions. So you use a guy with size, he could be a lead blocker out of that.

Starting point is 00:06:57 You can use Marvin Mims in different ways as well. This just adds another dynamic to the Broncos wide receiving core, which I feel like it is desperately needed. It does. And it's something that this team has to, Sean Payton's always going to find ways to get guys on the field, right? He is always looking for different personnel groupings to use. He's always looking to rotate guys.

Starting point is 00:07:17 You're almost never going to see the same group of guys out there twice during the game. I know that's not necessarily true. but I think if Sean could make that happen over the course of a game, he probably would try because, you know, he loves to use those different personnel groupings and to put guys in different spots to keep defenses guessing. Pat Bryan is the type of guy that I feel like you can isolate him in one-on-one coverage. I feel like when you are facing zone heavy teams,

Starting point is 00:07:42 this is like a baseball lineup where you're facing a guy, a pitcher who's really good against left-handed bats, but not against right-handed bats. And you want to load up the lineup with right-handed bats. I feel like Pat Bryant, especially against zone coverage, is going to be one of the Broncos better receivers on the roster because you can see he has a great feel for beating zone coverage, for sitting down in those soft spots and for coming back to the ball and working back to the quarterback. I feel like he's going to get a lot of usage this season. I don't know how consistent it's going to be. Hopefully, you know, the Broncos are able to find some sort of semblance of consistency at wide receiver because last year,

Starting point is 00:08:22 there wasn't really anything. It was, you know, stretches from Cortland Sutton, stretches from Marvin Mim, stretches from Velae from Franklin. There was nothing really that you could rely on every single week. I feel like Pat Bryant kind of gives you at least in terms of his skill set. He gives you a guy that you should be able to rely on him to do the same things well all the time.

Starting point is 00:08:42 And that is a really strong quality of his, Cody, that I feel like is going to vault him up the death chart rather quickly in his rookie year. I think right now on paper, at least, right? And everything's got a formula. Look, we're not coming out here, Broncos country. We're not coming out here and crowning this, that or the other, but we're saying, like, these are the things that we see. There's things that we know that Sean Peyton has mentioned that he likes about guys. But Sarah, I also see a player in Bryant who, maybe this might be the

Starting point is 00:09:07 wide receiver on the Broncos. I know he made the comparison to Michael Thomas. I always think it's crazy to get into copping players, you know, right? There's certain things, certain things like size, the way that maybe your physical is a blocker that reminds you of somebody, right? But the comp, I think, is going to be something that people. people are going to use and be like, oh, he doesn't look like Michael Thomas as a rookie. This is a bus pick. Like you see some of those things come back to bite you in the narrative. I do think he probably gives the Broncos the one consistent guy at wide receiver.

Starting point is 00:09:35 I feel like I can be effective with the slant route. You know, we haven't seen too many slants here since John Payton has come to Denver. You know, we are hoping to see more slants with Cortland Sutton. I feel like you can with Velae, but I feel like Pat Bryant, this is where you can actually bring the slant back to life inside of this offense, whether that be inside the slot, whether that be on the outside. I think that's going to be something we see here with him. But obviously, we're highlighting some of the strengths here of Bryant and his mix here inside the Broncos offense.

Starting point is 00:10:01 But we'll tell you why his catch focus is probably the biggest strength here for him going into this season. We'll break that down. And much more on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos. Today's episode of Lockdown Broncos is brought to you by Upwork. Scaling your business, it requires the right expertise at the right time. With Upwork, you can find specialized freelancer. in marketing, development, design, and more.

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Starting point is 00:11:37 And strong hands were one of just a number of strengths that Pat Bryant to the Broncos' third round pick brings to the table. Cody and I are going to tell you a little bit more about what you should love about his game on today's episode locked on Broncos. but Broncos country, want to say thank you to all of you that make us your first listen of the day every single day. You know your boys, Cody and Sayer will have you covered every day throughout the course of the offseason with something, anything that's going on with your favorite team, the Denver Broncos. So if you haven't already done so, hit subscribe and don't miss a single episode of the show. Let's talk about strengths for Pat Bryant, Cody.

Starting point is 00:12:11 I think the biggest thing that stands out to me when watching him. And it's more than just the statistical production here. but one drop on 78 targets last season, you see when you watch this guy play the strong, soft hands that just reliable. When you throw it in his vicinity, he comes down with it. He catches the ball away from his body. He makes ridiculous catches look easy. He catches through contact.

Starting point is 00:12:37 He does all of these sorts of things that I think was desperately missing from last year's receiver group. Well, and he's clutched too. I mean, Sarah, he's got three game winning catches last season. The one against Rutgers was crazy because I'm, I believe that was fourth and 15, and he just did work, you know, yards after the catch there. And I thought that was a fantastic play. I think there was a game.

Starting point is 00:12:56 If I'm not mistaken, it gets Purdue where I think he caught a game winner in overtime. I know he also caught a pretty crazy pass against Nebraska. Shout to our friend Cam. I know he's reliving that game every single day. But my thought on Pat Bryan is just, you know, you get that clutch factor and you talked about it, Sarah, you nailed it to open up the start of this segment here, is that the Broncos had issues last year with drops with their receivers. Look, Cortland Sutton led the team in drops.

Starting point is 00:13:20 Granted, he had the higher volume of targets. That's natural. I think when you look at any wide receiver won on any team, look at Jamar Chase, look at Justin Jefferson, look at the amount of drops that those guys have collectively as well because of the volume in which they're being targeted. But you look at a player who had 78 targets and only one catch, Sarah, that's productive, that's efficient.

Starting point is 00:13:40 What do we talk about? What hurt the Broncos in that playoff game against the Buffalo Bills? Cortland had a big drop in that game. Troy had a big touchdown catch, but he also had a drop later on in that game. Devon Bailey had two or three drops that were crucial. Marvin, you know, you didn't have that worry about Marvin. Marvin came in clutch for. He caught a forked down pass from a punter in that game here.

Starting point is 00:13:59 But you need more consistency from that group, and drops were certainly an issue last year. Heck, we were even talking about Josh Reynolds early on the season against Seattle. Remember that he had the easy drop on a third down on an out route that could have given the Broncos life in week one. Bow next threw a great ball to him, and he dropped it. Little Jordan Humphreys had a couple of key drops as well last season. So really, this is something that the Broncos, I think internally, they view as needing to upgrade in their department of the wide receiver room, reliability.

Starting point is 00:14:27 Now, you get that. But I also think you get that six foot three size, Sarah. I mean, you see how fast he plays in space. So this is going to obviously go into maybe the weakness, the perceived weakness that people are talking about. But I also think he's explosive within the catch point, right? When he's running his routes, whether it's at zero to 10 to 0 to 15 yards, if he's in breaking or outbreaking,

Starting point is 00:14:47 once he gets the ball on his hands or he makes a move, he's a great route runner. I don't think people are talking about that enough. He runs very clean routes and he's got some bend to it as well. That I think is a strength that nobody is highlighting here about Pat Bryant that when I went through and I watched the All 22,

Starting point is 00:15:03 which I got some film reviews on him coming out this week on Mile High Sports YouTube, that's one thing that stood out to me. And I don't think he's being talked about enough. I'm excited to see your film reviews there, Cody, because I feel like just in the, the amount of time that we've had since processing this draft selection, there's really only a couple of folks out there that have truly broken down his game.

Starting point is 00:15:25 And I find that fascinating because this guy was obviously extremely productive at Illinois. And with, you know, let's just be honest, it was a shaky quarterback situation at best. And I think that you have plenty of examples of that when the wind is not swirling around the stadium. So I think this is a guy that you look at the hand-eye quarterback. coordination and then the ability to keep his body under control when he's closing in on the sideline or when you got to make the toe drag swag types of plays. He's very adept with that. He's so good in those types of situations. So when you combine strong hands with great hand-eye coordination and being able to come down with those tight plays, those, hey, you got to go walk

Starting point is 00:16:07 to tightrope here. You got to go make a, you know, a ridiculous play for your quarterback. This is the type of guy that's going to do it. And I know that people, call this hyperbole, but you got to remember when you're making some player comparisons, like some of these guys coming out of college were scrutinized for a lot of the same things. Like I know Amun Ra St. Brown posted almost this exact same rath score as Pat Bryant. And we talk about some of their skills and some of their strengths coming out of the college level, other than the fact that I think Amin Ra was a lot more proficient from the slot. And that's where he's worked really well in the NFL.

Starting point is 00:16:42 I feel like there's a lot of qualities that they possess that are similar in nature. Like, I'm in Rob, ran a 4-6-1, but he's one of the best receivers in the NFL after the catch. He figures it out, right? He manages to make it happen. He's so tough. That's another thing that the Broncos love about Pat Bryant, his toughness. You heard George Payton, Sean Payton talk about the toughness. The guy can block, which is a prerequisite because they're going to try to run to the perimeter.

Starting point is 00:17:07 They're going to try to get guys out in space. They're going to throw screen passes. You have to be able to block. if you're a wide receiver for Sean Payton. And so there's just so much to like about his game, Cody. I can't wait to see your film review because there's, I don't know. I mean, you don't see the lack of 40-yard dash time really on tape. He ran what a 19.1 miles per hour at the gauntlet at the combine.

Starting point is 00:17:31 So I don't know, game speed, play speed. It doesn't seem to be a problem. I mean, it's always different too. And we always talk about this. Like even before the combine, we talk about players 40-yard dash time. People get so never, oh, this guy ran a lot. four, three, five, okay, great. What can he do when he's running across the field?

Starting point is 00:17:47 Like, you know, we're talking about straight line speed. It's rare in a sense that we ever see a player unless, you know, he's running a fade and he beats the corner where he's just running straight line for 60, 70, sometimes 80 yards or even 40 yards. Like, it's hard when you factor in how NFL defense has try to compress the field in today's game. Can you capitalize on the inner workings? I think you mentioned, you know, obviously the strength that he has. I think his body control as well when he's adjusting to routes are great. I see the back shoulder throw being a big benefit to him this upcoming season. I also see his ability to throttle down quickly on curls and hitches, you know,

Starting point is 00:18:23 dig routes. I think this is going to be an area that's going to be a strength of him. But also the high effort, you watch him on tape, even when there's a pass play that's going to the other side, right? But he's got press coverage on the other side. He's running a guy off in the run game, you know, when he's playing press because, hey, you know, these big guys, you want to jam them at the line of scrimmage. You don't want them to get a free release. The fact that teams are playing press coverage on him quite a bit in college,

Starting point is 00:18:48 knowing even though he wasn't the fastest long speed type of guy, I think that says a lot about how they viewed him in their film study there because ideally if you feel like a guy slow, guess what's there? You don't got to press. You don't have to press the guy at all. You can play inside leverage. You can play head up coverage, five to six yards off the ball, back pedal T-step, if you're into that thing these days,

Starting point is 00:19:08 and break on the football. if you're so worried about it. Instead, he was a guy that teams would consistently press. He'd win press man situations, but it's just the high effort stuff on top of everything else that you're getting as a willing blocker, you know, a guy who's tough, a guy who's a great route runner that the Broncos are getting a really, really good player here. And look, you're not bringing Pat Bryan in to be wide receiver one. That's the point I've been trying to tell people this is a move where he very well could be in two years, three years now.

Starting point is 00:19:36 Maybe even as a rookie, right? I think it's a stretch as a rookie. But in two years, he could be your wide receiver too in terms of you need two guys who are alive on the outside. Well, you got Cortland on one, got Pat Brown on the other. And then you got your speed guys like Marvin Mims and Troy Franklin who are going to factor him the mix heavily. And then you got Evan Ingram at the tight end position. It's going to be that move around piece. On paper right now, this is a big boost to what the Broncos offense wants to do.

Starting point is 00:19:58 And I think getting a, getting Bow, Nix, a player like this, I think these two are going to have a very good connection here early on. But we're going to have to wait and see. You have to get on the field, put the pads on, training camp, preseason, all that. That's where it's all going to matter here, Broncos country. But until then, we can only tell you what we're seeing and why the Broncos has made this pick. But let's get into some of the weaknesses here about Pat Bryant. People are saying 4.640-yard dash, that's a problem. We'll tell you why it's not here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos.

Starting point is 00:20:29 They say if you run a 4-640-yard dash that you are a good pick in the NFL draft, while I think history has shown that that's actually a lie. You can run a 4-6, 40-yard dash and still be productive at the NFL level. It just depends on what your role is on the offense. We're getting to some of the weaknesses that people are talking about as it pertains to Pat Bryant here on today's episode. Lockdown Broncos Rooker. I want to say thank you once again, everyone in Broncos country, all the everyday years out there. We appreciate you so much for tuning and making us your first listen.

Starting point is 00:20:57 However, you choose to do so as we continue our rookie profile series here on the show throughout the remainder of this week, leading us into Broncos rookie mini camp. We're going to get coverage and recap. I'll be at those practices. And then we're starting to get ready for OTAs, mini camp, all that exciting stuff. And then training camp will be here. Rockos Country football is right around the corner. So make sure you're rocking with us every single day all year long.

Starting point is 00:21:20 Sir, let's get into some of the perceived weaknesses here about Pat Bryan. I think the number one thing that I see when people talk about Pat Bryant, right? You and I, we just highlighted the strengths. I've mentioned this so much. I see you do the same thing on social media. But the number one reply, I always see people say, well, he ran a 4.6, 140 yard, I miss me with that nonsense. That doesn't matter.

Starting point is 00:21:41 That drives me nuts. Yeah, it does me too, Cody. I think because you can't write a player off based on 40-yard dash. You know, if that was the case and there'd be a lot of players out there that, well, they probably shouldn't be playing today and yet they're playing at a very high level. We already mentioned Amunra St. Brown. I know Mike Thomas, he ran a 4-5-7, I think, something like that. So we're talking about 400th of a second difference.

Starting point is 00:22:05 And that's, I mean, that can be a lot if you're talking about the Olympics. But when it comes to the NFL, it matters way more what you're doing on the field and how fast you can move at full speed. And that's what we talk about. Like when you think of a guy like Tyreek Hill, in game GPS type stuff, the guy plays the game at a different speed. Can you play the game at that speed? Or if you run the 4-2 in the 40-yard dash like John Ross, but you can't play the game that fast, your speed really doesn't matter. You're not going to get bubble screens every single time the ball is snapped. So I think it's a valid concern, but I think when you watch and play, you kind of see it get erased.

Starting point is 00:22:43 Now, I think one of the other concerns that gets brought up pretty frequently is was his production against top competition a concern? And I think this is where, okay, people will say this move in the goalpost a little bit, but I think it's worth acknowledging, like, who else are you throwing the ball to in that Illinois offense? Who else is getting the ball? And I'm not saying they don't have anybody else that has draftable qualities, but I think Pat Bryant was pretty clear their top receiver. And so if a good college defense is trying to take away that top guy, I mean, what are you expecting? It's not C.D. Lamb out there, right?

Starting point is 00:23:21 So, I mean, it's just difficult for guys to get things going when you don't have a quarterback that can throw you open all the time. Well, I was going to say he was there, Pat Bryant was their number one receiver in terms of overall yards, the second guy was Zachari Franklin who had 55 catches for 652 years. So he had one more catch than Pat. But Pat had obviously close to 300 more yards, obviously more touchdown. So really it was just one other guy in the mix there.

Starting point is 00:23:46 Hank Beattie was the other guy who had 20 catches for 294. So really when you talk about overall volume, it wasn't even close. Pat Bryant was wide receiver one here for this Illinois team and wasn't even close. Yeah. And that's exactly what I'm saying is that, you know, people are. moving the goalposts on both sides of these arguments, aren't they, Cody? It's like, okay, well, he didn't do well against top competition. Well, he's the only guy that they had to go up against. You know what? Well, he's slow. He can't be press covered. Well, he ran fast on the endgame GPS.

Starting point is 00:24:15 I mean, it's this back and forth that's like, you're right. Let's just see this guy, what he can do against. And these wide receivers are, they're not going to get any better competition than what they face every day in practice, are they? I mean, going up against that Denver secondary. you're going to find out real quick if this guy has chops in the NFL. And I think it's going to take time just like it does with every rookie receiver. But, man, you're going to see pretty quickly if his play speed is as legit as maybe the Broncos thought going into this draft. I think that's going to be an important thing too, right? How do you factor into the equation?

Starting point is 00:24:51 I'll say this, Sarah, it's crazy to think about this just a few years ago, the Los Angeles Rams. This was Sean Payton's first year in Denver. And I remember that joint training camp practice. I've never seen Sean Payton so pissed. We even got an article after it all happened where he had to go in and he had to or he had to light some candles, burn some incense to get negative energy around because they just, they got their butts kicked by the Rams in that joint practice. I remember it clear as day.

Starting point is 00:25:14 But I remember this is where we saw Pooka Nakua really emerge. I was sitting there because Cooper Cup was kind of banged up and wasn't really doing much in terms of team stuff. And I'm like, wait, who's this? Who's this guy over here that's running routes against Pats or Tamp? Well, this guy just made a great catch. Okay, who's this guy? like nobody knew who Pooka Nakuwa was at that point, Sarah.

Starting point is 00:25:32 And, you know, I'm hoping. And I'm not trying to say that Pat Bryant's going to be the next Pooka Nakua, but I'm hoping when we get in some of these practices, we start seeing this guy work. It's like, oh, who is this guy? Like, where did he come from? That's what happened last year with Devon Valey. Devon Vali was working.

Starting point is 00:25:45 He was one hand catching, you know, passes against PJ Locke and the Broncos secondary. And I was like, wait a minute. Who is, who's this Velae kid? This is what we want to see here from Pat Bryan. Like, what type of impact can he have right away? What, when he steps on the field against this elite level secondary that has Pat, that has now Jada Baron added it to the mix, Jekua, McMillan, Riley Moss, Tala Noah Hufanga and Brandon Jones's safety, Drake Greenland,

Starting point is 00:26:10 we're going to see him on the field probably till training camp. But it's like, how does this guy do when he gets on the field against these guys? That is what I think I'm going to be most looking forward to. And I think we'll have a little bit of an evaluation, maybe what he can do once that moment happens. But right now, really until then, it's a lot of, hey, what is this, look like on paper. Another thing, too, you know, that's mentioned here.

Starting point is 00:26:32 He doesn't have much special teams work. Obviously, being the top guy at Illinois, you're not going to be playing wide receiver as your top thing. And then you're going to be going and, you know, playing jammer or gunner on special teams. But here at the NFL level, because Denver has such a deep wide receiver room right now, he is going to have to acclimate himself a tiny bit here on special teams. I don't think if not as a core four, but we may see him as a gunner.

Starting point is 00:26:55 I think same thing with Devon Vele, these kinds of. might play some gunner here for the Broncos this upcoming season. They've got to. We didn't see either of those guys really play special teams last year, Velae or Franklin. And certainly Cortland Sutton doesn't play special teams. And so it's going to be fascinating to see. When we talk about some of these sleepers on the team at receiver,

Starting point is 00:27:16 I think Trent Sherfield, although he's not going to be playing a big role offensively, he's going to be a tough guy to beat for a roster spot because these guys are going to have to prove they can be better than him on special teams. Interesting quick little factoid on Sherfield. Cody, I looked up his contract. Two year six million dollar deal, only 1.5 million guaranteed. So the Broncos are kind of almost begging for somebody to come take his roster spot and play some special teams. I looked this up while you were talking because you mentioned the guys for the Rams. Get a load of this.

Starting point is 00:27:47 Okay. Get just get a load of this. Okay. Cooper Cup. Rass score of 5.0 and a 40 yard dash time of 4.7. two with a vertical jump of 31 inches, broad jump in the 34th, 35th percentile, terrible testing numbers for Cooper Cup. Puka Nakua, a rass of 5.17, 4.56 in the 40-yard dash, 33-inch vertical jump. I mean, and he tested below the 40th percentile in the shuttle, below the 20th percentile and three cone, and below the 40th percentile in 10-yard split. that's something that Pat Bryant has to his advantage is a 1.56 in the 10-yard split, which is up there amongst up in the 80th, I think, or 85th percentile overall in terms of

Starting point is 00:28:36 that position group. So when you talk about athletic traits and explosiveness, they come in many different forms, right? There's some guys that are, they say, quicker than fast. That's typically the smaller, slower slot receivers who are quicker than fast. They can get open in a short area. Pat Bryant has explosiveness. to him. He doesn't necessarily have, he ain't going to win you the 200 meter dash, right? But he can go out there and he can create after the catch. He can create with after contact, things like that.

Starting point is 00:29:06 So I found it interesting. You brought up those Rams guys and they both stunk in the pre-draft process in terms of athletic testing, but certainly they play fast. And that's helped them, I guess, become wide receiver ones in the NFL. I think, I think Pat Bryant had, I think had 3.7.5 inch vertical if I'm not mistaken, but here's something too, like, let's go back to Puka here, right? All those things, you know, when you look at like a 10-yard split, right, you think about a guys that go to move quickly in space or change transition directions. Look how much he's evolved in his career because this was in the wildcard round of the playoffs. He was Pook and Naku was targeted on 39.8% of his routes and average 3.7 yards per route

Starting point is 00:29:44 after returning from injury in week eight, both of which were the highest marks among wide receivers with 150 routes during that span. And among those receivers, C.D. Lamb had the next highest target rate during that span of 32.9, which was a mark 6.9% lower than Nakuas. So you're telling me, like, even though these guys run slow 40-yard dashes, but they can move well across the field where the game is actually played. The widespread portion of the game is played in the short to intermediate, and then you could do the rest. That's where Pat Bryant excels. And I'm not saying he's going to be the next Cooper Cup or the next Pooka Nakuwa by any means, but I'm saying he's got the athletic traits and he's got the physical tools that the Broncos have seen on tape that you're like,

Starting point is 00:30:27 wow, this guy might be a little bit of a gem. And we're going to take a chance on him here in the third round because our wide receiver room, we like that room. We've acknowledged that since the Super Bowl. This guy can come in and shake things up a little bit. I'm excited to see if that's going to be the case there. There's a lot to watch here for the Broncos. Obviously, his rookie minicamp comes up this week, mandatory minicamp, OTAs, training camp,

Starting point is 00:30:49 all that stuff. You can get coverage here, lockdown Broncos. those every step of the way as we highlight and look at all of these players. But with that said, Broncos Country, that will wrap up today's episode of the show of our rookie profile series. Tomorrow, we're going to be taking a look at Savion Jones. The Broncos might have a guy who's going to be a plug-in play fit behind Zach Allen, John Franklin Myers, alongside Jordan Jackson right away as a rookie. What did the tape tell us about him?

Starting point is 00:31:13 We'll highlight Strength, weaknesses, and more. On tomorrow's episode, Lockdown Broncos.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos' Pat Bryant Could SHAKE UP Wide Receiver Room

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