8. Harrison Bryant, TE, Florida Atlantic
Height: 6’5″ Weight: 243
40-Yard Dash: 4.73 seconds
Bench Press: 13 reps
Vertical Jump: 32.5 inches
Broad Jump: 9 feet 2 inches
3-Cone Drill: 7.41
20-Yard Shuttle: 4.37 seconds
60-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Bio: Harrison Bryant was a three-sport athlete at John Milledge High School, starring in football, basketball and baseball. He was a two-way player on the gridiron, and caught 39 passes for 608 yards and 10 touchdowns while recording 100 combined tackles, including 14 for a loss, his senior season. Florida Atlantic was the only FBS program to give him a scholarship offer, so it was time to become an Owl.
Bryant was a focal point of the Owls’ offense the past few seasons, and his senior campaign was certainly an impressive effort. Last year he caught 65 passes on 94 targets, for 1,004 yards and seven touchdowns. Yes, I do believe that is the first time I needed the comma when writing out receiving yardage for any player in this group. That stellar senior campaign earned him an invitation to Mobile for the Senior Bowl.
Stat to Know: Bryant is impressive after the catch, as noted by the average of 6.0 yards post-reception as well as the 23 missed tackles forced since 2017.
Strengths: If you like Brycen Hopkins, you’ll like Bryant. He is also perhaps a tight end in name only, who is impressive off the line of scrimmage or when flexed outside. He can get separation on routes from all alignments and to all levels of the field, and makes some tough catches working over the middle and in traffic. As the numbers attest, he has some juice after the catch, both with some power as well as some burst and change-of-direction ability. Bryant also flashed some double-move ability, such as on a sluggo route against North Texas this past season.
As a blocker, the effort is certainly there. He is willing to work from both the inline alignment as well as in space. His blocking ability is best used out in the ope field, whether blocking in front of screens or moving to space from an H-Back alignment. There were rare occasions when Florida Atlantic asked him to handle pass protection responsibilities, and he could handle those tasks provided he had help from either a nearby tackle or a running back chipping his assignment.
He also checks the “competitive toughness” box. On the above-mentioned sluggo route against North Texas he took a shot to the knee that looked ugly and sent him limping off the field. But he was back on the next series giving it his all despite being clearly hampered by the hit.
Weaknesses: A lot of his production this season came on schemed designs. Now, that speaks to how the offense tried to run their passing game through him, which is a feat in itself given that he is a tight end, but you do wonder how he will be able to create on his own in the NFL. While the effort is there as a blocker, the execution often is not, especially when used inline. He also had a problem with drops this past season, and it showed up mainly in contested catch situations.
He also seemed to lose his footing a lot, which is something to watch for. There were times on film when he let his feet get outside of his frame, costing him chances at big plays when he was sent crashing to the turf.
Also, Bryant did not have the best combine. The testing was subpar for someone who projects to be a move TE, and the wingspan and arm length is also an area of concern.
Conclusion: There is a lot to like about Bryant, but given the fact he is likely a move tight end only, there are better options in this draft class. But what he does well will be helpful in an NFL offense, and with the way the game is trending there is certainly a way to use him and make him a viable threat in the passing game. He may never become a prototype TE, but if he can create mismatches at all levels of the field and generate some explosive plays, that can certainly help an NFL offense score points.
Comparison: Bryant reminds one of Jacob Hollister, who became a favorite target of Russell Wilson this past season. You can scheme him open down the field and look to him in the passing game, but you are not going to rely on him as a lead blocker anytime soon.