What do we have in Brycen Hopkins?

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CGI_Ram

CGI_Ram

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None of us really know. What do we have in Brycen Hopkins?

We are all guessing. But... the article below this post got me thinking on that.

I did (and do) not believe it’s good his snaps were so few in 2020. But, after watching a few of the videos at the bottom of this post I underestimated how green he was. Or maybe still is.

Can he get there?

He looks the part. Sounds like his head is good. Well spoken kid.

The TE position is notoriously SLOW to develop. Examples are littered all over the place. Tony Gonzales, Jason Witten, Travis Kelsey.... 700 combined yards as rookies.

Our own Tyler Higbee... 85 yards.

I am certainly not trying to compare Brycen, because hell, he had 0 yards... But being extra green, what really should I have expected out of this rookie? Answer; probably what we got.

So now... year two... what do we got?

ramblinfan.com

LA Rams have big plans for tight end Brycen Hopkins in 2021

After red-shirting him for his rookie season, the LA Rams have big plans for tight end Brycen Hopkins in 2021. Just in time to become Stafford's go-to guy.
ramblinfan.com ramblinfan.com


View: https://youtu.be/8ckZFBKLjOo



View: https://youtu.be/5u-MKVdMwyU
 
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den-the-coach said:
Dropped some passes too, but IMO, has the speed to split the seam and I believe will be able to get deep better then Everett.
Click to expand...
Yes far deeper IMO.....what I see in his future with Stafford & this is just from reviewing the video on his college career .......this large guy appears to have much more wideout in him than prototype NFL LOS TE.

I can also see Snead giving RFA TE Johnny Mundt a tender offer that will slow down most of the NFL team's interest in him. IMO Mundt was just more of a dependable target than Everett was & a much more consistent blocker but far less big-play abilities & talent. I believe that Stafford will use what Mundt has to offer much more than previously used in the past.

Then there is Kendall Blanton a very large long LOS blocking TE who has been a Ram post-2019 draft. When Blanton was playing in the 2019 East-West Shrine event he was over 6-6 265lbs/ 82-inch wingspan with 34-inch arms & a first baseball mitt sized hands way over 10 1/2 inches. This was 2 yrs ago, no telling how big he is now. We have no idea what he has learned from both WR coach Eric Yarber & TE coach Wes Phillips during this time span, but enough that Blanton just got a new Ram contract for 2021. If Blanton does get a clue.... Simply put: this dude is a size mismatch against any defender in the league. I am desiring to see ASAP where this young developing TE is at from when we last saw him in the preseason a year & a half ago.

Thus I am not thinking the TE is such a DRAFT NEED as most of ROD does. A four TE cadre of Higbee/ Mundt/ Blanton & Hopkins sure looks like a good blend & mixture to me.
 
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CGI_Ram said:
The TE position is notoriously SLOW to develop. Examples are littered all over the place. Tony Gonzales, Jason Witten, Travis Kelsey.... 700 combined yards as rookies
Click to expand...
Absolutely.
I never like to see TE drafted early. It is usually a slower position to develop. Many never do.

I was not happy when we took Everett in the 2nd round.
Guys like Higbee can be found later.
I think Kittle was taken in the same draft as Everett, but much later.
 
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My concern with Hopkins is why he wasn't pushing to get on the field when Mundt wasn't showing well last season. But he was an advanced passing game weapon for where they took him so there is reason to hope he might emerge. Man that would be nice.
 
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He's just going to fill a specific role - Everett's. Probably a little less snaps.

It means nothing that he didn't see the field much, except that he's not going to unseat Higbee, but I didn't expect him to.

SJD also had a "redshirt" year. IMO he will be relied upon to be a backup TE and he'll be well suited for that with his physical traits and a year to get acclimated.
 
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Be nice if Stafford could have brought TJ Hockenson with him. Hopefully Hopkins can develop into something similar, we’ll see.
 
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In short: Hopefully something :LOL:

Honestly though, I never heard of the guy before we drafted him and aside from watching highlights of his on YouTube post draft, still know nothing about they guy. He seems to have potential but then again so does everyone drafted. We can only trust the process and hope he develops.
 
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I don't want to divert into QBs here (let's stay on the TE side of things) but I will add that some QBs are more willing than others to put the ball up to the big guys and give them a chance to win. Good example of this was that final week of the season vs Arizona where the TEs had 24 targets.

24 that's not a typo dudes. 14 of those went to Everett who got exposed with that ball going his way. Half of them he looked shocked too because he was in that gameday rhythm where he wasn't used to the ball coming his way if it would be contested.

So there's a voice in the back of my head telling me our TEs might be a much bigger part of our offense than we're used to.
 
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Merlin said:
My concern with Hopkins is why he wasn't pushing to get on the field when Mundt wasn't showing well last season. But he was an advanced passing game weapon for where they took him so there is reason to hope he might emerge. Man that would be nice.
Click to expand...
If my memory is right, he was inactive most of the season. I think this would be because the coaching staff thought he wasn't ready.
 
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8to12 said:
If my memory is right, he was inactive most of the season. I think this would be because the coaching staff thought he wasn't ready.
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Yes which is my concern. I have to think that if he's standing out in practice catching the ball they would have found a way to get a look at him on gameday. Because we really could have used a matchup threat last season. So him not sniffing the field insinuates that he wasn't really standing out.

Best hope there is that it was the blocking. Which could explain it. Either way having a weapon emerge at TE would be incredible. I envy all these offenses that have that big target threat.
 
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Merlin said:
My concern with Hopkins is why he wasn't pushing to get on the field when Mundt wasn't showing well last season. But he was an advanced passing game weapon for where they took him so there is reason to hope he might emerge. Man that would be nice.
Click to expand...

Blocking, probably. That was Mundt's main role.
 
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Two established TEs in front of him and Mundt. TEs take longer to develop. He’s a middle draft pick. And had a limited training camp with no practice games. Maybe he’s a nothing. But I don’t think his lack of rookie season playing time means much
 
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