DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk K-9 Consensus Is Harrison Bryant a Contender or Pretender

For the future Number 2 Tight End on a team in the NFL. Specifically is Harrison Bryant going to take a step forward and improve on his performances from 2020, or kind of fall off and fade into the stories of history.
This would be a pivotal year in the development of a good player at that position if He is turning into a top player to stick around for a long career.

H. Bryant as a TE 2 single choice

He is going to take a step forward in 2021 (70%, 16 Votes)

It is going to be just another year pretty good like last year. (30%, 7 Votes)

Total Votes: 23 Voting on this poll ends: 08/22/21 09:00 AM

I saw nice things in his play. I would suspect we will see continued improvement given the opportunity.

I don't think he is a pretender.

I will add that much might depend on the definition of pretender and contender.

Pretender.

Does 1 Runningback, 3 tight ends, 13, though unusual
give the Browns enough matchup advantages
that we ought to see it, at least enough to remember seeing it.

Yes only 1 Wr. in that formation but, in limited usage, even if only 4 or 5 plays in a series, think of the 3 full minutes of time out it gives the remainder of the Wr core to sit with the sideline coaches get their wind back and return with fresh legs.

How come he can't be just a good player that comes up big in the clutch....Would that not be good enough?

And more than likely going to get better over time. But, some people have unrealistic expectations thinking is you aren't all-pro, you need to be replaced.

Looks like too light to play full time. Gives away our intentions on offense when he is on the field. Watching him attempt to block Cam Heyward made me question Stefanski early in the season.

Might be a nice option in spot duty but unless he adds 15 lbs he is a pretender.

I would agree, the improvement Njoku showed last year under Stefanski would be the goal for Bryant.

His arm length is in the 1st percentile for TEs. That's not good. He's basically got T-Rex arms. I don't expect them to suddenly get longer. That being the case, I don't see him ever really being that safety blanket type of TE. The windows in the NFL are small enough without adding his reduced catch radius to the mix.

His best bet might be as more of an H-back or full-back that we occasionally try to sneak out of the backfield. He seems like a willing blocker.

I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't make the team, though. Gonna be some tough cuts this year.

IMO that's such a miniscule splitting of hairs. His arms have been the same proportion his whole adult life so everytime he played football before, he played with his same length arms, so, he's either been able to play football or not,
it's not stretching measure contest, if you can play at the best level something like arm length is just people trying to find flaws. It should matter as little as whether or not he likes a big mac.

Now, if his height were 3 inches shorter, that could matter, I think someone can be too tall to play fullback, they have to get low.
Winning Super Bowls, not building video games.

If he'd constantly been playing with the big boys at power 5 schools, I might give him better chances. He was rather feasting on the UTSA's of college football for the most part.

He's unlikely to get wide open, where his QB can consistently put it right on him, as frequently as he did in college at this level.

He can still be successful, but his arm length is a noticeable disadvantage. It's not that they are less than ideal. They're basically the shortest of any TE to be drafted since they started keeping track of the measurements.

Maybe we'll use motion to help get him open and he'll excel at finding holes in zone coverage, but I don't see him as a guy who's manned up in coverage but we're throwing to him anyways.

It doesn't help my prognostication that he seemed to get passed on the depth chart. He had zero catches and only one target in the playoffs. It's hard for me to call someone I project to be largely on the bench a contender.

I like how the name of this thread is Contender or Pretender and the options essentially are:

- A good year like 2020 (OP's opinion)
- A better year than 2020

Answer: It is too early to know because it has been one year in a crowded TE room.

I guess It means I'm asking if people think he is going to get more playing time, and then drawing an assumption that the only way he is going to get more playing time and be more noticed during the season, or for a larger portion of the season, is if his abilities take a step forward.
So neither option is to say he's going to suck,

Just an 'ehh! he's just a guy, or
He's going to be more a part of the big picture plan than kind of worked out by the end of all of 2020.

edit: And I think I made that clear in the first 13 words.

This.

It's a tough crowd on here when it comes to Bryant.

What would be really cool is if the Browns draft and ...gasp...develop guys for a change. I know that's a dirty thought, but if we get some continuity in the FO and coaching ranks, hopefully we'll start seeing these 3rd round and later guys get a chance to get better.

Bryant flashed plenty last year. Now time for him to continue to get better.

That's all any of the fans or team can hope for. But in order for the players to develop and get better, they need to be put in an environment that supports that. Hopefully that's where this team is headed.

Bryant showed more natural feel for the game last year than Njoku had shown in his first three. I’ll take a guy that has a natural sense for finding soft spots in defensive zones, over a guy that can just run fast and has long arms. Now, Njoku showed A LOT of improvement last year. He still has less of that innate instinct which Bryant showed last year. If Bryant continues with an upward progression he’ll have a long career. Edelman or Welker didn’t have long arms. They had football instincts…. and an accurate QB.
Bryant has Baker…. He’ll be fine.

I think the opposite!
I think Njoku has had the innate instints of a top TE from the day he entered the league and Bryant needs to show more.
It's intangible how can this be shown.
How can this be proven?, it seems to just show in how well they make plays.

The all-american and Mackey trophy stuff doesn't matter. We got him at 115.. the NFL viewed him as no better than a 4th round talent. So that's what he is and where expectations should be set.

Njoku was taken almost 40 picks ahead of Travis Kelsey (not in the same draft).. let's talk about that for a minute.

That's quite horrifying.

It’s because he was all athlete and little TE. He’s gotten by on his athletic prowess up until hitting the NFL. He never had to develop other parts of his game until now. I hope the light comes on for him and he starts having a better feel for the innate parts of the game. Once again in disagreement with TL, Njoku has shown no natural instincts or feel for the subtle parts of the NFL game. Last year he showed improvement. I hope the trend continues.

I think Bryant was progressing quite nicely last year until he had that couple of fumbles around midseason. After those every time he caught the all after that he immediately put both arms around it even when no one was near him. Maybe it caused him to be a little too cautious but it was smart. And an easy fix assuming he gets more confident going forward.