Bleacher Report’s Chris Roling named eight undrafted rookies likely to make an NFL team in 2020 and Lions tight end Hunter Bryant topped the list.
“Hunter Bryant’s fall out of the draft was one of the more perplexing elements of the event’s third day,” Roling said. “A 6’2″ target with an Evan Engram-like (a first-round pick in 2017) skill set, Bryant posted 825 yards and three scores over 12 games in his farewell college season. His per-catch average at Washington never dipped below 15 yards over three years, and that 825 yards led the team in receiving for an attack that hardly got past the 3,000-yard mark.”
Most of the NFL Draft community would stand in agreement with Roling, as Bryant was almost universally considered the best player to go undrafted in this cycle and was considered the 98th best player on Arif Hasan’s (The Athletic) consensus 2020 NFL Draft board — a compiled list of draft boards from more than 50 NFL draft analysts and outlets, including Lions Wire’s own Jeff Risdon.
Pro Football Focus tabbed Bryant as the best tight end after the catch in this draft class, saying he was “head-and-shoulders above the rest” of the draft class and noting that “he broke 18 tackles on only 85 career catches and turned into a hulked-up wide receiver with the ball in his hands”.
Hunter Bryant was an explosive play machine at Washington. There are issues for him to clean up (hand placement at the catchpoint, dipping his eyes into blocks), but he will change how teams choose to defend against an offense #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/AQc2vjk5UR
— Brad Kelly (@BradKelly17) February 11, 2020
The accolades for Bryant go on and on, and he offers the Lions a unique enough skill set that I also had him initially making the Lions roster in my Establishing the 53 series earlier this offseason.
But there are some obstacles in Bryant’s way that could hinder his ability to make the team. Will the team keep four tight ends? Can he pass Isaac Nauta on the depth chart? Will the influx of offensive skill players — including three drafted players and Jamal Agnew switching side of the ball — make his window of opportunity too small? And finally, Lions’ UDFA contract guarantees/bonuses point to others potentially being ahead of him on the Lions wish list.
Contractual guarantees and bonuses aren’t the final words in a player’s potential to make a roster, but they do point to how the team values them. Bryant was given $60,000 from the Lions to sign in Detroit, but defensive backs Jalen Elliot ($100,000) and Jeremiah Dinson ($80,000) each received more money.
At the same time, Bryant’s guarantees/bonuses are more than the Lions typically give out — with only Elliot, Dinson, Beau Benschawel ($80,000), and Ryan Pope ($165,000) receiving more money over the last three seasons — indicating he’s still someone the Lions believe in.
At the end of the day, how Bryant performs in training camp will be the ultimate deciding factor in whether he makes the Lions roster and as Roling concluded, “his game is just different enough — he can be used out of the backfield and not just as a big-catch artist — that he might create a niche the coaches want to keep in town… The booming potential sure doesn’t hurt either.”