Former Saints scout sees Broncos’ Pat Bryant as versatile fit in Sean Payton’s offense: ‘He’s a dog’

His time in Champaign was long done yet Pat Bryant kept hanging around in the rain at Illinois this spring just wanting to watch specific 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 mentioned He s a dog Sean Payton historically covets dogs Grinders NFL com pinpointed Bryant pre-draft as a sixth-round talent a -foot- receiver who didn t exactly burn stopwatches with a -second -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 presser Bryant certainly doesn t view himself as a sixth-round talent I m pretty sure he explained 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 with the Saints and then again from - as New Orleans quarterbacks coach has spent plenty of time the past inadequate months developing down film of Bryant in an effort to dissect Illinois offense And beyond Bryant s playmaking instincts three of his touchdown grabs in were essentially game-winners his versatility pops on tape Neu announced He took a consistent share of snaps from the slot for Illinois in despite profiling as more of an outside weapon And he can play any of the three wideout spots in an -personnel formation Neu revealed of Bryant X Y or Z On draft night Payton tossed out former Saints Offensive Athlete of the Year Michael Thomas as a Bryant comparison The two are similar in size Thomas at -foot- and pounds Bryant at -foot- and and speed Thomas ran a -second Neu pointed to a similar New Orleans standout Marques Colston who wasn t a burner but identified 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 commented of Bryant And when you re playing in the NFL and you re only dressing four or five or maybe six wideouts that s vital Bryant s time too doesn t accurately tell the whole story He caught a standout of his deep targets in and ranked th in FBS min 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 majority of obvious path to reps come is to flash steadiness at a number of spots in -personnel He wants his number to be called Neu declared 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 setting