Pat Bryant Camp Update — August 31: The Reverse Test Waits Again
2026 NFL Season · Monday, Aug 31
Denver's cut-day receiver moves were all bottom-of-roster names, and Bryant is in none of them — nor in any reporting at all for a second straight week. The game meant to show where he lines up in a healthy room went to the backups, so the test moves to the season.
When Pat Bryant's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
The full episode, in writing
The roster Denver announced Sunday touched receivers only at the bottom: Cameron Ross, who muffed a punt in the finale, was waived, and Kolbe Katsis was waived and then gathered onto the practice squad, per the transaction reporting from Aric DiLalla on the team's website and Jon Heath at Broncos Wire. The practice-squad receivers are Michael Bandy, Katsis and Dane Key, per Heath, who notes the team had not yet confirmed those signings. None of the three is Pat Bryant, which is consistent with a spot on the 53 without being proof of one; no report names him either way.
That is the closest thing to Bryant news this week, because there was none: a second consecutive silent week, with his name absent from all four finale recaps we read. The game that was supposed to answer the question — where does Bryant line up when Courtland Sutton, Jaylen Waddle and Troy Franklin are all available — was never that game, because Payton shelved the extended-starters plan on Wednesday, per Will Petersen at Denver Sports. And the room has still never been whole: Marvin Mims Jr. finally played Friday and left on the first drive with a foot injury Payton later called a bruise, per Chad Jensen at Mile High Huddle and Josh Alper at Pro Football Talk.
For anyone hearing this fresh: the June read projected Bryant fourth or fifth for targets and said a rookie rotational share only grows if the depth chart cooperates. Early camp cooperated because the depth chart was hurt, and Bryant ran hot — the last documented rotation order, from Chad Jensen's August sixth reporting at Mile High Huddle, had him third, ahead of Mims and Franklin. That reading is now three and a half weeks old, and it was taken while Sutton, Waddle and Mims were variously unavailable — the opposite of the healthy room it was supposed to be tested against. The reverse test has been postponed once more, this time to games that count. We'll check back once the rotation finally shows itself.
_Data via nflverse._
Keep going