NFL Draft 2018 Scouting Report: SAF Brandon Bryant, Mississippi State

FS/SS grades can and will change as more information comes in from Pro Day workouts, Wonderlic test results leaked, etc. We will update info as it becomes available.

To me, Brandon Bryant is a total hoax prospect…a classic ‘sucker’s bet’ prospect that I know some NFL head coach is going to twist the arm/force their GM to use a late round supplemental draft claim on. If I were an NFL GM, I’d never make this pick. 

There are two obvious problems here…

1) The pre-Pro Day measurables hype on Bryant was laughable. Bryant was made out to be some kind of small ‘g’ god of an athlete. Huge deadlift numbers reported in his past. A stellar 40” vertical ability was whispered. He had been listed as one of the freak athletes of college football coming into 2018. The problem with all that was…Bryant actually had a Pro Day and got measured – and none of it was true. 

40.0” vertical ability? Try 34.0” at the Pro Day. 

Superhuman speed and agility…try a very average/soild 4.45-4.52 range of 40-times, which means 4.5+ for sure. And then consider a minor disaster of a three-cone (7.26 and 7.5+ reported) and a 4.23 shuttle. Below-average speed-agility times. 

The big time weight lifter…skipped the bench press. He should have skipped the whole workout and let the NFL feed off the hype. 

Bryant is nowhere near the athlete billed ahead of time, per usual…I’ve never once seen college team reporting on speed or strength or whatever wind up surprising to an upside/better performance when tested at a Combine or Pro Day. Sycophant fans, college coaches and directors are hype men, and the players themselves…they all lie about these things, constantly. The football media is the only one who reports them as fact and never questions. 

2) You watch a highlight reel of 3-4-5-6 of Bryant’s cherrypicked best plays and you’ll think you have a monster hitting safety on your hands. He is a good tackler and strong hitter…when he actually gets to plays. 

Bryant has had five or fewer total tackles in a game in 14 of his last 16 games played. He’s nice-looking when he gets to a tackle…but too often he’s not in on the tackle. 

You’d think it would be an obvious problem…the tape is pretty weak and the tackle, pass defense numbers are flimsy and got worse every season for his three seasons – but I know NFL coaches. They are going to see the highlight reel tough guy hits and think they can fix what ailed him otherwise. During the regular NFL Draft there’s too many prospects for coaches to focus on. In the supplemental draft there’s plenty of time to obsess over a handful of prospects. 

Bryant ‘looks’ the part at a glance…and I bet that sucker’s a team in. 

I look at Bryant and I see mediocre/bad measurables, low/weak output statistically, and then leaving school for academic issues. What’s there to get excited about here? He’s a UDFA player all day long. 

Brandon Bryant, Through the Lens of Our SAF Scouting Algorithm:

Here’s what you need to know about the great hitter/tackler Brandon Bryant – 0 or 1 or 2 solo tackles in a game in 17 of his last 24 games (last two seasons of play). 

Had one total tackle in a game in six of 11 games in 2017. 

He’s registered just three PDs in his last 24 games. 

He has not forced a fumble in his last 31 games. He has one forced fumble in a 37 game career. 

Pro Day Measurables…

5’11”/207, 9.38” hands, 32.865” arms

4.47 40-time, 7.26 three-cone. 4.23 shuttle

34” vertical, 10’3” broad jump

The Historical SAF Prospects to Whom Brandon Bryant Most Compares Within Our System:

Honestly, I don’t remember any of these names the computer is pitching as ‘comps’ for Brandon Bryant, and that says a lot about what we should think of Bryant.

*The ratings are based on a 1–10 rating scale, but a prospect can score over 10.0+ and less than 0.0.

OVERALL RATING -- We merge the data from physical measurables, skill times/counts from the NFL Combine/Pro Days, with college performance data available on pass coverage/tackles, etc. and grade it compared to our database history of all college SS/FS prospects, with a focus on which SS/FS prospects went on to be good-great-elite in the NFL. We found characteristics/data points that the successful NFL SS/FS's had in common in college, that most other SS/FS prospects could not match/achieve.

Scoring with a rating over a 7.0+ in our system is where we start to take a SS/FS prospect more seriously. Most of the future NFL-successful college SS/FS prospects scored 8.0+ in our system, and most of the NFL-superior FS/SSs pushed ratings more in the 9–10.0+ levels overall. Future NFL busts will sneak into the 8.0+ rating range from time to time.

TACKLE/STRENGTH METRIC -- A combination of physical measurables and college performance, graded historically for future NFL profiling. In the simplest of terms, this is an attempt to classify the SS/FS as one more likely to be involved in a heavy amount of tackles, forced fumbles, and physical hits to separate a WR from the ball. It also gives some insight into the "toughness" of a player, if it is possible to quantify that (this is our attempt to).

SPEED/COVERAGE METRIC -- A combination of several speed, agility, size measurements as well as college performance. A unique measuring system to look for SS/FS prospects that profile for superior coverage skills and abilities.

2018 NFL Draft Outlook:

Should be undrafted in the supplemental draft, but I feel like there will be a sucker to pick him somewhere. Think of a terrible personnel department…he could be a Colt or a Jet very easily. Possible Dolphin. 

NFL Outlook:   

Based on all the info I see he’ll never make an NFL roster, not for long and be gone from the league within 2-3 years.

7/2/2018