NFL Draft
2/20/25
6 min read
Pat Bryant 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Illinois Fighting Illini WR
Height: 6021 (verified)
Weight: 208lbs (verified)
Year: Senior
Pro Comparison: Marquez Callaway
Scouting Overview
Illinois Fighting Illini wide receiver Pat Bryant is a big-bodied pass catcher who has shined as a downfield target for the Illini. Bryant is physical on his route stems and showcases active hands to try to stack and stress corners on the outside.
His lack of consistency on the red line and missing second gear create challenges for his quarterback’s throwing windows, which puts Bryant’s effective contested-catch skills to work too often. He is a developmental target with the hands, body control, and physicality worthy of being invested in, but his pathway to playing time will be predicated on leaps in his route technique or growth in some of the position's ancillary elements.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Tough receiver in all phases and can prove to be a handful fighting for leverage on the boundary
- Physicality and concentration have bred an impressive resume in contested situations along the sideline
- Made a number of clutch plays in big situational moments for Illinois in 2024
Negatives
- Lacks the ideal long speed to consistently stack on the outside as a vertical plane receiver
- Possesses long strides that can eat up turf but limit his change of direction suddenness and agility
- Runs a fairly limited route tree primarily made up of go’s, fades, posts, and crosses
Background
Bryant is from Jacksonville, FL, and played high school football for Atlantic Coast HS. There, he was a consensus 3-star recruit at wide receiver who enjoyed a productive prep career. Bryant received offers from Florida State, Miami, Penn State, Nebraska, Iowa, and others before ultimately committing to Illinois as a member of their 2021 recruiting class.
As a true freshman in 2021, Bryant became the 14th wide receiver in program history with 3+ starts as a true freshman with the program. By his sophomore season in 2022, he was a full-time starter with 11 credited starts in 12 appearances. Bryant started nine of 12 games played as a junior in 2023 and tied for fourth in the Big Ten with seven touchdown receptions.
He saved his best for last — Bryant was named First Team All-Big Ten for his play as a senior and was also named Phil Steele Second Team All-American. Bryant scored three game-winning touchdowns in the final two minutes of regulation or overtime in 2024, making him the only player in the country with that many game-deciding scores in the final moments.
Bryant accepted an invitation to the 2025 Reese’s Senior Bowl.
Tale Of The Tape
Bryant developed a reputation as a big play threat in 2024, thanks to his vertical ball skills and ability to physically overwhelm cornerbacks at the catch point. He’s a likable player with intrinsic instincts with the ball in the air. They were directly responsible for some of the clutch situational plays he made in big spots and fueled his consistency in contested catch situations.
That said, any time the lead starts with contested catch ability, there are further questions to be asked. Bryant doesn’t run the most diverse route tree and is predominantly a vertical plane receiver who wins down the field. His 14.4-yard average depth of target in 2024 was a career-high, but even still, he boasts a career average of over 13 yards across four seasons and more than 200 career targets. He has won most often with big posts down the field, fades from the slot, go’s on the perimeter, and deep in-breakers and crosses.
Bryant is a capable and tough middle-of-the-field target who plucks the football out of the air with strong hands; his toughness at the catch point is one of his shining qualities. Still, he’s overly reliant as a route runner on his separation and lacks the kind of separation ability that suggests he’s ready to defeat man coverage consistently and get open for his quarterback on the perimeter.
You don’t get a great sense of explosiveness, and he is a bit of a long-strider on the outside. He offers build-up speed as a result, which manifests in his press off the line of scrimmage and again at the catch point as he tries to get back up to top gear and pull away from defenders in the open field. Working off the line of scrimmage, Bryant can show a head nod with his release, but his lack of explosiveness forces him to fight with his hands to create wins against press. This is not a fluid or short-area dynamic receiver with his stride length.
Bryant does not boast great success shaking tacklers and is not a particularly creative player with the ball in his hands. He does, however, showcase good field vision to feel grass to run to and good toughness to attack smaller defensive backs.
Away from the football, Bryant offers a large frame and promising physicality, but his run assignments were more often than not trending towards running secondary defenders out of the box, running tagged routes to occupy eyes, or serving intermittently as dummy eye candy in the backfield.
His crack blocks, split flow assignments, or stalk blocks out in space were less frequent. He appeared to be a latch-and-stick player who was content to box out with angles rather than claiming real estate and washing defenders out.
This, paired with a lack of special teams experience in college, leaves Bryant as a player who will need to mature quickly or grow swiftly in these complementary areas to see the field. Developmental talents must earn their keep with ancillary roles — Bryant averaged eight special teams reps per season at Illinois.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Bryant is a tough, gritty receiver with above-average size who would be best served as a developmental wide receiver for the pro game. He’s best developed to run routes on the vertical plane, but the explosiveness needed to consistently separate here may be a challenge and will require him to develop more nuance to his route tree.
Without much experience on special teams and limited opportunities as a run assignment contributor, he should be considered a multi-year developmental option.
Grade: 71.50/100.00, Fifth Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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