'No block, no rock' Illinois receiver Pat Bryant may have been made in a lab by Lions head coach Dan Campbell
Picture it with me if you would. It's a dark and stormy night and Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell is in his lab with beakers and Bunsen burners and he's almost finished his creation when he begins laughing maniacally and screams "It's alive man!" Then, after some rumbles and shakes, you see Illinois receiver […]
Picture it with me if you would. It's a dark and stormy night and Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell is in his lab with beakers and Bunsen burners and he's almost finished his creation when he begins laughing maniacally and screams "It's alive man!"
Then, after some rumbles and shakes, you see Illinois receiver Pat Bryant rise from the table. Campbell then explains to Igor that he had just made the perfect wide receiver for the Detroit Lions.
It's hard to believe that this didn't happen when you watch Bryant play, and it's harder to believe when you hear him talk. On the offensive side of the ball, he has everything the Lions want.
For starters, he has that "no block, no rock" mentality. Bryant is a lot like Amon-Ra St. Brown in that he wants to hit guys. He looks for the blocks, and he makes them even if the ball carrier is on the opposite side of the field.
"I love blocking. I love contact. I played safety in high school, so I’ve always enjoyed hitting. Sometimes they motioned me inside, kind of like a tight end look, and I had to block the C-gap or take on a safety coming down. It’s all about doing your job to help the team. Seeing my teammates succeed—whether it's a running back breaking a big run or another receiver scoring—makes it all worth it." Bryant said. "That's my motto too. No block, no rock."
While blocking is certainly a highlight of Bryant's game, it's not the only thing that he brings to the table. He has the size and vertical ability the Lions are looking for in an X receiver. He can also make the contested catch. He had nine contested catches out of 13 attempts for Illinois last year.
He also has good hands. He had one dropped ball in 2024 and 11 in the four years he was at Illinois. He also fumbled just one time in college and that was in his sophomore season in 2022.
On top of all that, he was a team captain for Illinois and that really lends itself to him being a real culture fit for the Lions. On Friday we made a guarantee that the Lions would draft Chris "Pooh" Paul Jr. Bryant isn't far behind him.
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