INDIANAPOLIS—Bryson Nesbit was just a child at the time, old enough to know he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and play football, yet young enough not to meet his parent's threshold to do so. The dream was there, though, bubbling up and crafting a football mind.

Desperate for an outlet, Nesbit grabbed a notebook and started doodling.

"Ever since I was little, I have full notebooks of me just drawing up plays," Nesbit recalled Thursday. "Watching some of the stuff that other offensive coordinators are doing and trying to implement it into the playbooks I'm making as a kid or something like that. So I've always had a knack for it, and I always had a love for it."

It's not uncommon for kids at a young age to dream of being a football player one day. It's less common to have dreams of being an offensive coordinator. But the Charlotte native was told by his parents he couldn't play tackle football until his junior year of high school. It was the path his dad, former Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints offensive lineman Jamar Nesbit, had taken, and it was what he felt was best for his son as well.

"It saved him a lot of hits, so he had the same for me," Nesbit explained of the decision. "I was just kind of itching to be able to start playing."

From the time he was 11 years old, Nesbit began bugging and begging his parents to let him play. The compromise was 7-on-7, or backyard football, because "my parents definitely knew they weren't going to keep me away from it forever."

The whole time, though, he was preparing, whether it was drawing up plays in his notebook or leaning on his dad to learn tips and tricks. The Nesbit family knew with Bryson's frame, he'd likely be a tight end, which he eventually was at South Mecklenburg, but he also had a former NFL lineman at his disposal.

"My dad taught me a lot of blocking, a lot of offensive line tricks that a lot of tight ends may not know," Nesbit shared.

And while Nesbit was able to finally employ his notebook of plays while with the North Carolina Tar Heels—"(Tight ends coach) Freddie Kitchens, he definitely saw the love that I had for it…some things, he's like that's a pretty good idea and we would implement it"—the blocking tips were an arsenal Nesbit wasn't able to fully tap into it UNC. And he knows it is a mark against him during this pre-draft process when every little aspect of a prospect's game is nitpicked.

"I say the big thing I have to improve on is my inline blocking, point of attack blocking. If you go back and watch the film, I've always been a willing blocker, I definitely have it in me," said Nesbit, who one would think has some innate traits just by blood.

"At Carolina, I wasn't really asked to do that much point of attack, so I was doing a lot of perimeter blocking, a lot of swipes, a lot of stuff on the move…I think it's kind of; I definitely have a willingness in me, so learning more techniques and learning different things that help me gain the edge would be beneficial to me.

"The big thing about me is I'm always looking to learn and get better. So, I'm hoping to join a program that can really help accelerate my learning with that."

At the NFL level, he will be asked to block more, just by the nature of the job. Panthers head coach Dave Canales reiterated this point on Tuesday in Indianapolis, not even speaking about Nesbit but just evaluating the position in general.

"We're going to run the ball, so we certainly can't just take receiving tight ends who give you no value in the run game," Canales said. "At a minimum, this has to be a guy that's really tough. It doesn't mean that he's got to be the 260-pound bruiser that plays in line. Those guys are cool, too.

"But if he's going to be 235 pounds, he has to play with the level of violence because we are going to run the ball a lot, so the versatility is really important for me."

And for the kid who didn't start the sport until his junior year, the chance to become more of that physical player is tantalizing.

"I actually love to block," Nesbit admitted. "I wasn't allowed to play football for the longest, so I was always craving just to get contact."

Still, this is a 6-5 235-pound tight end who pulled in an average of 33 catches a year over the last three seasons (this while missing five games with a wrist injury in 2024) and 452 yards a year during that same time. He finished his time in Chapel Hill with 13 touchdowns and returned kickoffs a couple of times in 2022.

"I feel more comfortable as a tight end, but I think my big thing is I can move anywhere on the field. I can play out, slot, tight end, out of the back," Nesbit explained, "and also a matchup nightmare anywhere I go; corners are going to be too small, safeties are going to be too small, and linebackers aren't going to be able to run with me."

He'll show off that speed Friday evening when tight ends take the field at Lucas Oil Stadium for their combine workouts. Nesbit won't be doing the bench press, still nursing the wrist injury that sidelined him for the latter half of last season.

The tape is still available, though, as is the upcoming Pro Day and possible team visits. During this time, the Panthers have said they will keep an eye on tight-end prospects.

"You want continuity," Canales said of the pass-catching units. "At the same time, there's an excitement of, let's look at free agency, let's look at the draft.

"We're open to trying to make any moves at every position, trying to find impact players, whether that's through development through the guys we have or free agency, the draft trades, you never know. We're always going to be open to try to find somebody that can really help us."

Nesbit spent the early part of his childhood in New Orleans while his dad played for the Saints, including winning a Super Bowl for the 2009 season. After retirement, though, the family returned to Charlotte, and now for Nesbit, a chance to stay at home, play for the team he grew up watching, and the first team that signed his father is a chance that wouldn't be taken for granted.

"I remember going to games, watching Cam Newton, watching Greg Olsen, it was always fun, so we always made a point to go to those games," Nesbit recalled.

"Being around my parents, all my friends (the Panthers) are looking for a tight end that they can use more in the pass game, which is where I believe that I excel. And you know, just being back home with my parents, you know, I have a lot of people who can help me out there, so that would be awesome."