Raiders free agency: Harrison Bryant has skillset to carve out productive role

Tight end has size, blocking, and receiving capability to complement and push Michael Mayer

First there was Austin Hooper. Now it’s Harrison Bryant. Sure seems the Las Vegas Raiders developed an affinity for former Cleveland Browns tight ends, does it?

All jest aside, the Silver & Black’s addition of Bryant in free agency — a one-year pact for $3.25 million — does add a veteran/experienced presence to the tight end position group that needs clear-cut defined role outside of promising 2023 second-round pick Michael Mayer. Beyond the rookie out of Notre Dame, the depth chart reads: Zach Gentry (27 years old), Cole Fotheringham (26), John Samuel Shenker (25), and Bryant (also 25).

Only Bryant and Gentry have substantial NFL experience of the group behind Mayer. Bryant, a fourth-round pick (115th overall) by the Browns in the 2020 NFL Draft, has 65 total games under his belt in four years, 30 of those starts. He’s caught 89 passes for 791 yards and 10 touchdowns in that span. Gentry, meanwhile, entered the league as a fifth-round pick (141st overall) in the 2019 draft with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has 41 career games on his resume, 26 of those starts with 39 receptions for 309 yards and zero touchdowns.

Fotheringham and Shenker are undrafted free agents with the latter appearing in two games for Las Vegas this past season with one catch for six yards.

Considering all that, landing a young player who has as many games and experience as Bryant does boosts a tight end room looking to carve out roles and depth this offseason.

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The previous Raiders coaching staff and regime valued combination tight ends — those that can be equally effective pass catchers and blockers — and it’s not 100 percent certain what the new coaching staff envisions from the position group. But the clues are there. New offensive coordinator Luke Getsy did have a tight end who could both catch and block in Cole Kmet when the coach ran the Chicago Bears offense. And Antonio Pierce seeks his offense to play bully ball by being able to pound the rock and attack through the air.

That portends to a combo tight end.

Like Mayer, the 6-foot-5 and 230-pound Bryant displayed the ability to do both with Cleveland.

Although he won’t be confused for other stout blocking tight ends, Bryant can hold up but it’s his receiving skills that brought him to the NFL. A very productive pass catcher at Florida Atlantic (148 catches for 2,137 yards and 16 touchdowns in four seasons), Bryant has flashed at times during his limited opportunities with the Browns. Playing over 50 percent of the offensive snaps just once in his career in Cleveland (his rookie year 591 snaps), his single-season high-water mark is 31 catches, 239 yards, and three touchdowns — all arriving in different years. He did have a trio of end zone visits in 2020, 2021 and 2023.

More importantly, all 10 of his touchdown catches are red zone receptions with none being over eight yards. That in itself can be a favorable for a Raiders team that’s traditionally struggled in the red zone — the team was ranked 24th last season with 47 red zone visits and only 23 touchdowns inside the opponent’s 20-yard line (48.9 percent).

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Bryant has the skillset to push Mayer to get better this offseason and Year 2 while carving out a complementary role as TE2. Mayer was coming into his own from Week 8 against the Detroit Lions to Week 14 against the Los Angeles Chargers playing 80 percent of the offensive snaps or more during that timeframe. He only played 41 snaps against the Bolts and caught four passes for 39 yards and a touchdown before being lost for the year with an undisclosed foot injury.

A fully healthy Mayer is the early favorite to start at tight end while Bryant can make a push with Gentry, Fotheringham, and Shenker duke it out for role/snaps, too. Free agency is ongoing and the 2024 NFL Draft arrives at the tail end of April, so the Raiders could add more talent to the tight end room. But Mayer, Bryant, Gentry gives Pierce and Getsy a tight end group something to start with.