a proud torchbearer for Duval County<\/a>. Ten to 15 of Bryant\u2019s friends and family members had flown from back home to that December game, with the third-round rookie starting to carve out an integral role in Sean Payton\u2019s offense. The Abyssinia Missionary Baptist Church in Jacksonville, which Bryant grew up attending, held a fundraiser this year: the church member who brought in the most new visitors earned tickets to Broncos-Jaguars in the NFL\u2019s Week 16.<\/p>\n\u201cIt was a big moment,\u201d Bryant Sr. said, \u201cfor the people that knew him.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a big moment for Bryant, too, who\u2019d caught 12 passes across the last three weeks in establishing himself as a go-to target for Broncos quarterback Bo Nix. And in a final last-gasp drive with less than two minutes to play, Nix looked to Bryant for a short gain on a 2nd-and-10. And the next play, an 11-yard grab for a first down. And the next play, when Nix rolled right to escape pressure and saw Bryant working back over the middle.<\/p>\n
Bryant Sr.\u2019s first thought, watching his son leap and contort midair to grasp at Nix\u2019s missile, was that it reminded him of a catch Bryant had made in college at Illinois. Against Michigan State, maybe. Or against Rutgers. Interchangeable, because this is what Bryant did. In the Broncos\u2019 win over the Washington Commanders two weeks earlier, Bryant drew a third-quarter holding penalty, saw the yellow flag fly out right in front of him, and still went up and took a monster shot over the middle on a scramble-toss from Nix.<\/p>\n
The play was already dead. But he caught the ball.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knows,\u201d Bryant Sr. said, \u201cto expect that.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the main thing that he\u2019s always been taught, even when I coached him \u2013 if you go out there and play scared, you\u2019re gonna get hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n
On this Sunday against Jacksonville, though, Bryant couldn\u2019t hang on. Brown flew over, lowered his shoulder into Bryant\u2019s chest, and the receiver\u2019s head\u00a0snapped\u00a0backward.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet up,\u201d his father thought, rows above.<\/p>\n
He did not. Teammates bowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, young guy, rookie, at that point in the game \u2013 that\u2019s the last thing you want to see,\u201d receiver Marvin Mims Jr. said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy heart broke,\u201d said offensive lineman Palczewski, who played with Bryant for two years at Illinois.<\/p>\n
Still, Bryant was moving. His father was concerned. But there wasn\u2019t direct helmet-on-helmet violence, and Bryant Sr. still wasn\u2019t thinking the worst, even as his son was carted off in Denver. By the time the family slogged through postgame traffic to arrive at a nearby hospital, Bryant had already undergone a couple of neurological tests that came back negative. A Broncos team doctor explained to Bryant Sr. that the immobilization was just a precaution.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very appreciative to the doctors there, very impressed with the Broncos, their medical team and their staff reacting quickly,\u201d Bryant Sr. said. \u201cSo I was just grateful, the way that the organization kind of came together just to make sure that he was OK.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, as soon as they left Empower Field, a group of Bryant\u2019s teammates made their way to the hospital to see him: fellow receiver Marvin Mims Jr., and fellow rookies Jahdae Barron and RJ Harvey.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust to be there for him, know that we care about him, and just \u2013 goes past this team, this locker room, you know what I mean?\u201d Mims said.<\/p>\n
Bryant was plenty alert at that point, if tired, those in the room recall. And hungry. He asked if he could get something to eat. Nothing was amiss.<\/p>\n
After missing Week 17, Bryant looked none the worse for wear against the Chargers. In the fourth quarter, he caught an option route from Nix, dusted one defender, and spun away from another for an 11-yard gain. In Bryant\u2019s last five healthy games, he\u2019s put up 21 catches for 229 yards, becoming a favorite target for Nix when plays break down and a go-to option on slants and in-breakers.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll be vital to Denver\u2019s hopes on Saturday, as Buffalo\u2019s defense under head coach Sean McDermott is geared to keep opposing passing games in check underneath. And one hit will not change the way Bryant plays.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s football,\u201d Bryant says Thursday. \u201cI\u2019ve got hit hard plenty times. That one was just a little different.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Expletive) happens,\u201d he continues. \u201cYou just gotta move on for a minute and focus on \u2013 today, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"That hit,\u00a0Pat Bryant is asked, isn\u2019t in the back of your head? He turns his nose up on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2060],"tags":[3890,925,564,258,7,212,125,2401,213,1006,929,926,6,1011,1032,1813,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-681868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville-jaguars","8":"tag-alex-palczewski","9":"tag-bo-nix","10":"tag-colorado","11":"tag-denver-broncos","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-jacksonville","14":"tag-jacksonville-jaguars","15":"tag-jacksonvillejaguars","16":"tag-jaguars","17":"tag-jahdae-barron","18":"tag-latest-headlines","19":"tag-more-broncos-news","20":"tag-nfl","21":"tag-pat-bryant","22":"tag-rj-harvey","23":"tag-sean-payton","24":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115905104829269574","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Montaric](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TDP-L-BRONCOS-JAGUARSAO1_6240x.jpg\")
Montaric Brown (30) of the Jacksonville Jaguars blows up Pat Bryant (13) of the Denver Broncos during the fourth quarter of the Jaguars\u2019 34-20 win at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver on Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. Bryant would leave the field on a cart as a result of the play. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n