Carolina Panthers: 5 tight end draft prospects that could replace Olsen
By Dean Jones
Brycen Hopkins – (Purdue)
Brycen Hopkins is an extremely talented route runner that is one of the more enticing tight ends in the 2020 NFL Draft. He comes from a football family and although he was a late starter, the player has picked the intangibles of the game very well during his time in college.
Hopkins was a solid contributor at Purdue during his college career and took his game to another level in 2019. The prospect hauled in 61 catches for 830 yards and seven touchdowns in his final season and displayed the sort of moves that NFL scouts are sure to be salivating over.
He has great instincts and has a great nous of locating the ball under pressure. He is not afraid to mix it physically with opposing defenders in the passing game and uses his frame well to make plays.
The prospect does need some work in the blocking aspect of playing tight end. These deficiencies will be exposed more frequently in the NFL and it would be prudent for Hopkins to spend considerable time on his footwork and hand placement in this particular area of his game.
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If he can work out how to be effective from an every-down perspective, then someone is going to have a real player on their hands.
Hopkins has made fantastic strides with every passing year in college and there is no reason to suspect this is not going to continue when he gets to the NFL.