The Denver Broncos made one of the biggest moves of the 2026 NFL Offseason when the front office swung for the fences and added wide receiver Jaylen Waddle to the offense. Any trade involving a first-round pick is major, and the Broncos sent that and a third-round pick to the Miami Dolphins for Waddle, while also moving up in the fourth round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
At this point, the Broncos don't have a major roster weakness and could ride into the 2026 NFL Season with this current group. While that is a great sigh of relief, it's also a major sign of how much urgency is present and how much is at stake.
Not only will the top players need to perform well, but some of the lesser-known faces will also need to show up. Could the Broncos see this in the form of some breakout players in 2026?
Denver Broncos WR Pat Bryant dubbed as a breakout candidate for 2026
Eva Geitheim, for Sports Illustrated, tabbed wide receiver Pat Bryant as a breakout candidate for the Broncos in 2026:
"The Broncos’ receiver room is more crowded after trading for Jaylen Waddle this offseason, but that doesn’t mean Pat Bryant can’t step up and prove to be Denver’s WR3. The 2025 third-round pick caught 31 passes for 378 yards and a touchdown in 15 games as a rookie. He has recentlyreceived heavy praise from coach Sean Payton during OTAs, adding to the momentum heading into his sophomore campaign.
'He’s a quick study, he gets it real fast,' Payton said. 'One of his great skill sets is his run-after-the-catch, because his feet stay on the ground when he catches it. He’s got strong hands in traffic. He’s having a good stretch here. He’s healthy. He knows exactly what to do, and there’s a confidence about him. The maturity. You wouldn’t feel like he’s a second-year player if you didn’t know it.'"
There really is a lot to like with Bryant in terms of the type of receiver he is. He has a solid frame at 6-2 and 204lbs, so he is a bit bigger than most defensive backs. He immediately displayed a solid ability as a blocker, which is huge for his chances to get and stay on the field. Bryant also has good hands and progressed each year he was in college, increasing his receptions, yards, and touchdowns all four years.
Across the final eight games of his rookie season, Bryant hauled in 26 receptions for 332 yards and 1 touchdown, which was a 706-yard pace across a full 17-game season. During this eight-game stretch, Bryant had over 20 yards receiving in seven of those games, and had four instances of 40 yards or more.
This hidden production in 2025 definitely flew under the radar, and even before the Waddle trade went down, I am not sure many were mentioning Bryant's name much, as another young wide receiver, Troy Franklin, took a huge step forward in 2025.
Bryant's game is a rather complete one, and even with Franklin out-producing Bryant in 2025, the Illinois product is a more complete player at the position. There is a non-zero chance that Bryant can emerge as the team's de-facto WR3 in 2026, as Waddle and Courtland Sutton are pretty much Sharpie-d in as the top two players in that room.
And even if Bryant were to breakout, that doesn't mean Franklin couldn't enjoy an efficient year. It's also not always the best thing to get hung up on yardage totals, either. Sure, a lot of yards is nice to look at on paper, but Bryant might not rack up a ton of yards but still could become quite the target for Bo Nix.
There are still multiple months before the start of the regular season, so a lot can change, but Bryant is definitely a viable breakout candidate for the Broncos in 2026.
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