SAN FRANCISCO, California — Mutually, like a divorce the whole neighborhood saw coming, Trent Sherfield said he and the Broncos simply grew apart. There are many reasons the veteran receiver’s two-year deal in Denver this past offseason didn’t work out. One: Sherfield never actually talked to special-teams coordinator Darren Rizzi before he signed, and didn’t feel the Broncos’ special-teams scheme “fit” him, he told The Denver Post Monday. Two: Sherfield played more than 30% of Denver’s offensive snaps in their first three games, and they went 1-2 in that stretch. The most important reason, however, is that rookie Pat Bryant simply took his job. “That’s when Pat started playing, and then we started winning,” Sherfield said, recalling the early part of the Broncos’ 2025 season. “So as a coach, you’re like – ‘I gotta roll with, we’re winning.’ So I think that kinda played a part in it.” Two months after the Broncos surprisingly cut bait with Sherfield midseason, though, the veteran receiver wishes no ill will. It’s hard to, in the position he’s in. New England snapped up Sherfield in January, and he’s now on the Patriots’ practice squad for this Super Bowl run. And Sherfield still considers himself a mentor to the 23-year-old Bryant, with whom he has stayed in touch since leaving Denver. A day after the Broncos cut Sherfield, Bryant broke out against the Chiefs, with five catches for 82 yards. The weeks that followed brought chaos. Bryant was strapped to a gurney and carted off after a brutal concussion late in a loss to the Jaguars in Week 16; a month later, he was knocked out with another concussion after three catches in the first quarter against the Bills. Sherfield said he spoke to Bryant after the second concussion, and that the rookie just exited the game for precautionary reasons. And the veteran said he doesn’t “really get worried” for Bryant, even after two concussions suffered in a month. Still, Sherfield has tried to drill into the rookie the importance of taking care of his body, after Bryant exited the Broncos’ AFC title-game loss to the Patriots early again with a hamstring injury. Sherfield has told Bryant to get a hyperbaric chamber. Bryant bought a hot tub for his house, and plans to install a sauna, Sherfield told The Post. “He’s a kid that listens,” Sherfield said. “He listens, and he loves the game. He’s going to be perfectly fine.” This is a delicate line. Bryant’s fearlessness is what enamored him to the Broncos in the first place, after all. Throughout the offseason, reserve offensive lineman Alex Palczewski — who played for two years with Bryant at Illinois — sung the wideout’s praises to the Broncos’ locker room before Sean Payton ever drafted him in 2024. “Listen, I don’t know (expletive) about wide receiver play,” Palczewski recalled telling his teammates. “But he blocks his ass off.” That enamored him to Sherfield, too, even as he lost employment because of it. In the offseason and training camp, Sherfield made a quick note of how quickly Bryant would hop into special-teams drills for any role under the sun: kickoff return, gunner, jammer. “You don’t see that as a young guy,” Sherfield said. “The blocking part — once I seen he was willing to be a blocker, that’s when I knew, I said, ‘He’s gonna be alright.’ Like, he’s gonna be OK. He wasn’t worried about catching the football; he wasn’t worried about none of that. He was worried about making the blocks, getting in on special teams. Related Articles Broncos’ Garett Bolles wins NFLPA’s Alan Page Community Award, reflects on how far he’s come Broncos push ahead with land acquisitions near Burnham Yard for new stadium Broncos’ Pro Bowlers embrace Davis Webb’s potential play-calling ascent: ‘It’d be awesome’ Among Broncos veterans Dre Greenlaw, Evan Engram, J.K. Dobbins, which player would you want back? Broncos promote quarterbacks coach Davis Webb to offensive coordinator “Like, he wasn’t too big for that, you know?” Sherfield has learned in 2025 to “write your plans in pencil,” as he said. He signed to the Cardinals’ practice squad a few days after the Broncos cut him in November, and then signed to the Patriots’ practice squad after Arizona’s season ended. New England cut Sherfield a day before the AFC Championship Game, and then signed him back last week. There has been no shred of stability since Bryant passed him up. No hard feelings. The student simply became the master. “Pat already had all the ability,” Sherfield said. “We just had conversations, right. And he took it and ran with it.” Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis. ...read more read less