2020 NFL Draft Prospect – Brycen Hopkins, TE Purdue

Ryan Finley Posted On March 28, 2020

Our NFL rookie profile series continues with this analysis of 2020 NFL Draft Prospect Brycen Hopkins, TE from Purdue. We will continue to provide you with these in-depth rookie profiles and a ton of other fantasy football rookie analysis right up through the NFL Draft. Stay tuned, and stay ahead of your league!

There is a great mix of top-end studs as well as a great deal of depth in the upcoming 2020 NFL Draft. Dynasty owners are salivating over names like D’Andre Swift, Jonathan Taylor, Jerry Jeudy and CeeDee Lamb. But when it comes to this year’s draft, we have to be realistic about the tight end group – it’s thin, and that might be an understatement. Let’s take a look at one of the better-known names at the position, Brycen Hopkins out of Purdue.

THE STATS

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Statistics from sports-reference.com.

Hopkins was a three-star recruit out of Nashville, Tennessee. A multi-sport athlete, Hopkins also played both baseball and basketball. And no, I won’t regale you with any comparisons to other tight ends who once played basketball. He appeared in six games his redshirt freshman season but saw his usage climb each year following that.

Hopkins really began to blossom in his junior year, when he started four games and posted 583 yards receiving and 17.1 yards per reception. His touchdown number was a bit on the low side, but he started to show how he could become a weapon for the Boilermaker offense in 2019.

In 2019, Hopkins started 11 games, posting career highs in catches (61), yards (830) and touchdowns (seven). This led to quite a few awards, including Big Ten Tight End of the Year.

THE FILM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFE6ub8eUYU

The DLF Film crew has been hard at work all this off-season compiling video on all the major prospects in the 2020 draft. You can find a few games from Brycen Hopkins on his prospect page. The clip highlighted above is the 2019 game between Purdue and Maryland. I chose this clip as it’s a good illustration of the good and bad in Hopkins’ game.

If I had to pick out the best trait I see on film, it’s Hopkins’ route running. He’s not the best route runner I’ve seen, but he shows quite a few different routes and varying speeds. But more important than the pure selection of routes he runs, Hopkins seems to have a great feel for finding the soft spots in coverage, wherever they may be. He has a knack for timing his breaks to get maximum separation, sometimes even against multiple defenders. The Boilermakers also lined Hopkins up all over the formation. His versatility in that regard will serve him well at the next level.

At times, he shows great technique when it comes to catching the football, but overall he is very inconsistent. On one play he can make a tough catch by extending beautifully, catching and securing the ball away from his frame, while on the next play drop a relatively easy try. He is also not the best at adjusting to the football. If a ball is poorly thrown, his chances of making the play drop precipitously. Hopefully he can clean up some of his technique in the NFL.

His athleticism is good, but not world-class. He shows good speed for his size, and the ability to separate both due to athleticism and the aforementioned smarts. He is a capable blocker in many situations, but he is not an every-down blocking type. He can look overmatched against edge defenders due to a lack of strength, but can also be beaten with quickness at times. At the same time, when things go right, he can make strong blocks both in pass protection and the running game, his problem is consistency. He looks especially lost at times when asked to make blocks further upfield.

Overall, the film shows a tight end who can fulfill the role at the NFL level. If he can clean up some of his technique and add some strength, he may be one of those elusive every-down tight ends.

THE MEASURABLES

Hopkins shows a profile with a number of measurables in the “above average” area. He had a good 40-yard dash time and showed better than average in the vert and broad jump categories. He also showed well in the bench press and has good hand size. His arm length may be a contributing factor in his inconsistency as a catcher of the football, but sadly that isn’t something you can address. (At least not until we go full cybernetic implants!) He’s a little light for the position overall, but that’s something that perhaps can be addressed a bit at the next level. He certainly is not one of those athletic freaks that we love to draft, but he’s also not lacking in any one area that is alarming.

I think Hopkins measurables sum up pretty well how I feel about him as a prospect – he’s good in a lot of areas, but not really great in any one. I think he could become great as a route runner, but it’s not something that can be seen in the measurables.

DYNASTY VALUE

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Hopkins’ overall ADP has him sitting at 246, just above Adrian Peterson and former dynasty darling Tre’Quan Smith. It also puts him just a little behind Kyle Rudolph, the tight end closest to his current spot.

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From a rookie ADP perspective, he’s the 39th player off the board currently. You can see he sits behind fellow rookie tight ends Cole Kmet and Hunter Bryant. He’s currently the fourth rookie tight end off the board. (The current top prospect is Albert Okwuegbunam). I’m a fan of adding tight ends late in rookie drafts, as the position can be hard to get right. So picking up a talent like Hopkins in the fourth seems like a good spot to me.

CONCLUSION

To really get a sense of Hopkins’ longer-term value, we really have to wait to see where he lands. If he can find himself in a strong offense with an accurate quarterback (especially one that can give him time to develop), he could be a strong play at the position. But Hopkins is not the type I expect to come into year one and put up strong numbers.

His route running is strong, and I love his ability to find openings in coverage, but he still needs seasoning both as a catcher of the football and as a blocker. My favorite tight ends are those guys that can stay on the field as much as possible and to do that, you have to either act as a big wide receiver or learn how to block effectively. I don’t see Hopkins doing the former, but I can see the latter. In the right situation, I’ll be glad to pick him up late in drafts or perhaps even on the wire post-draft.