Los Angeles Rams land Brycen Hopkins. A possible stud at Tight End.

The LA Rams trade back to 136 to select Purdue tight end, Brycen Hopkins, adding to team’s offensive skill players

The LA Rams were slated to start their third day of the 2020 NFL Draft at pick 126. But, in a true Rams general manager Les Snead fashion, the team traded that pick to the Houston Texans,  In return, the Rams claimed three picks – fourth-round pick at 136 overall, and seventh-round picks at 248 and 250 overall. While it is a rather small haul in value, the exchange added two additional picks to the Rams in the seventh round. And given the position the Rams are in, depth and quantity are important today.

Now, in the 136th slot, the Rams went offense again, giving Jared Goff another toy to play around by selecting Purdue tight end Brycen Hopkins (No.2 TE in my positional rankings).

Standing at 6-foot-5 and weighing in at 245 lbs., he isn’t small, and his 4.66-second time for the 40-yard dash was good for the second-fastest TE time in the combine.

Brycen had his numbers improve in each of the four seasons he played for the Purdue Boilermakers, almost doubling his 2018 totals in 2019 with 61 catches, 830 yards, and 7 touchdowns.

Hopkins is one of the best overall players at the position entering the 2020 draft class. He has very exceptional speed for the position and has a few moves on the tank, he clearly can catch but in my opinion, needs to get better at it. He was one of the worst tight ends in this draft at dropping passes, which will be a huge area to improve upon as a Rams rookie. He won’t be an impact blocking TE, but I’m sure head coach Sean McVay can imagine some zone and moving schemes to use his speed and motor to his advantage.

Brycen comes into the NFL from a similar experience as Rams 2020 2nd round draft pick Van Jefferson, as his father Brad played for 13 seasons as well, all of them for the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans franchise as an offensive lineman.