Broncos Lose Pat Bryant for a Few Weeks, and Denver's Passing Game Can't Afford It
The one part of Denver's passing game that worked Sunday is now the part that's missing.
Pat Bryant caught all three of his targets for 47 yards, including a 30-yard gain, in the Broncos' loss to the 49ers, then sprained his ankle. ESPN's Adam Schefter reports Bryant is expected to miss "a few weeks."
Three targets is not a starring role. It is, however, the most receiving yardage any Denver wideout managed in that game, and it arrived on a night when almost nothing else through the air did.
Bo Nix threw 42 passes and completed 25 for 214 yards, one touchdown and an 80.9 passer rating. That's 5.1 yards per attempt, which is less a passing offense than a series of extended handoffs. Courtland Sutton drew six targets and turned them into one catch for 4 yards. Marvin Mims Jr. caught one of three for 10 and lost a fumble. Evan Engram saw five targets and finished with 6 yards. Jaylen Waddle caught five for 35 and the score.
The reliable outlet was RJ Harvey, who caught all 10 of his targets out of the backfield for 68 yards.
So Denver's plan for the next few weeks is probably more of the same: backs and tight ends absorbing targets while the receiver room sorts itself out. That works against some opponents. It is not a sustainable answer for a team asking Nix to throw 42 times.
Here is the claim I'll own. Bryant's absence is not the crisis. Sutton's six targets for 4 yards is. A receiver group that can't win separation pushes Nix into exactly the dink-and-dunk distribution we just watched, and stacking more targets on Harvey doesn't fix anything on the outside. Bryant was the one Denver receiver converting his chances before he went down, which makes his few weeks out an unwelcome test of a group that was already failing it.
The Broncos have a short window to find someone who can win downfield. If Sutton doesn't start turning targets into catches, the offense will keep looking like Sunday.
