The first two days of the 2025 NFL Draft are in the books, and Illinois football already has someone selected.
Coming into the draft, I wasn’t sure where the Illini would get a pick. The top player we had, according to ESPN, was wide receiver Pat Bryant. He was projected to be just inside the top 150 players, and he was the No. 18 wide receiver on the board.
At that point, it was looking like Bryant was going to be picked somewhere in the late fourth or early fifth round. But, on Friday, everything changed.
In the third round with pick No. 74 overall, the Denver Broncos helped secure their future. They selected Bryant.
Welcome to the League, @duvalpat3! pic.twitter.com/LNKK6eEEkJ
— Illinois Football (@IlliniFootball) April 26, 2025
The Broncos saw how valuable Bryant could be to a team. He caught 54 passes for 984 yards and 10 touchdowns at Illinois last season. This kid was the backbone to the Illini offense.
Pat Bryant is going to be everything the Denver Broncos want and more
When you look at the Broncos' stats from last season, it looks like the wide receiver corps had a great year. But when you dive deeper into the numbers, this was a bit of a struggle at times.
Leading wide receiver Courtland Sutton had 81 receptions for 1,081 yards and eight touchdowns. Those are good numbers on the surface, but he had 132 targets. He was second in the NFL with 10 drops on the season. Sutton also had an 11% drop percentage, which was third among wide receivers who had at least 90 targets in 2024.
Bryant should help with the drop issue in Denver. This past season at Illinois, he was targeted 78 times and had 54 receptions. For the year, Bryant had one lone drop. He had a drop percentage of 1.8%. When the ball comes to him and is catchable, he is coming down with it.
The thing with Bryant is that he isn’t a one-trick pony either. He can catch the ball better than just about anyone, and he is willing to do the “other” things on the field, too.
Bryant registered the fifth-best run blocking grade among all Big Ten wide receivers. That is such a vital stat in the NFL. When Bryant isn’t in on a play, he is going to be blocking downfield for his teammates. That is invaluable.
This was a great selection that the Broncos will relish in for years to come. Bryant is a massive steal in the third round and a player who fans will love.