Broncos Coach Sean Payton Compares Former Illini Pat Bryant to ex-Saints Star

Denver's Payton sees a lot of one of his former players – New Orleans All-Pro receiver Mike Thomas – in Bryant

Dec 28, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton takes the field before a game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images | Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images

When former Illinois receiver Pat Bryant was selected in the third round of last weekend's NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos, the union seemed to be something close to perfect. But when Denver coach Sean Payton first got a chance to discuss the pick and Bryant publicly, he somehow took it a step further.

"We always talk about 'Who does he remind you of?' and we try to find comps," Payton said at a press conference Saturday, shortly after taking Bryant off the board. "There were so many things about his game that reminded me of Mike Thomas."

Just to be clear, the Mike Thomas in question isn't the current Cincinnati Bengals receiver but the two-time All-Pro who teamed with quarterback Drew Brees under Payton's old New Orleans Saints teams to bring death by a thousand speed cuts to opposing NFL secondaries.

Thomas, a 6-foot-3, 212-pound wideout who last played in the NFL in 2023, is indeed a strong comp for Bryant (6-foot-2, 204 pounds). The players' physical characteristics and styles – power, good separation off the line, crafty route-running, great hands – appear to be a pretty close match, too.

"There were so many parts of his game that reminded me of Michael Thomas"

Sean Payton on WR Pat Bryant pic.twitter.com/rMwbnUaPid

— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) April 26, 2025

"I mean, holy cow, you don't ever want to put pressure on a rookie like that," Payton said. "We're just talking about traits. But ... really explosive off the line of scrimmage, very competitive, very tough."

Aside from Bryant's measurables, Payton seemed at least equally impressed by the rest – including the sort of magic dust that some players have that simply can't be fully explained.

"I don't know how many you know critical plays. ... He was just that player that excelled at crunch time," Payton said. "I mean, he had a walk-off, a couple of those big plays."

It benefited Bryant – and perhaps, in turn, the Broncos – that Payton had more intel on the former Illini than he would have had for the average NFL prospect. Broncos assistant head coach and former NFL safety Jim Leonhard spent a year in Champaign working under Illini coach Bret Bielema as a senior football analyst, and had seen more than enough of Bryant even before his breakout 2024 (54 receptions for 984 yards and 10 touchdowns in 12 games).

"Periodically, you have more insight, maybe, on a certain player," Payton said. "Jim Leonhard worked at Illinois the year before we hired him, and so Jim had insight as to [Bryant's] makeup, toughness. I really think the body of work and all the additional film study ... his size and his hands are outstanding, his competes."

Only time will tell if Broncos quarterback Bo Nix can be Payton's Rocky Mountain Brees, but he seems to have found the latest version of one of Brees' favorite former targets.

"Obviously, he's physical," Payton said of Bryant, "but the player comp for me was – forget the jersey number – just a lot of traits that Mike had."

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