After quiet rookie year, Brycen Hopkins has golden opportunity to help Rams in 2021

[dieterbrock]

Great !! How many training calls have you been to in California? How many have you missed.I’m not saying that
to be a smart Azz. It’s a fact that in 2020 there has been ZERO times The Rams didn’t have a training camp since what ? Sam Bradford?? Who know there might have even been preseason games back then.To me it doesn’t matter what if’s.
The I see it is totally different than Yourself & if you want to Doubt there is something WRONG with Hopkins not taking snaps in 2020 that’s far. In Do Get Pissed though at times of creating DRAMA on a player you know JACK about after seeing a Positive Video of a Player Working hard for 2021.
-Dude 2020 is PAST. I look at Hopkins right now as better than any TE coming out after the 5th Best prospect.I’m glad he didn’t play & is ready to step in.
—I’ll post back after the Draft about Hopkins & look at what The Rams roster looks like.I also know that I would hate for Bryce Hopkins to have gotten hurt playing special teams. I have followed The Rams for awhile.I know I pissed Demoff off about not drafting another TE. Higbee would miss every pass in his hands.Actually he made plays,but dropped the ball.Gerald Everett was hurt in Training Camp.
Whatever???? You win Hopkins SUCKS. Les Snead made a horrible 4thrd pick? Mcvay doesn’t like him & he has a bad skill set at 4.6. Phillips can’t coach him up,because of his bloodlines & lack of understanding of The NFL game. -Cheers - bottoms up

Just read one of my posts, any one of them. I cant keep repeating myself with you.

 

[oldnotdead]

False. Unequivocally FALSE
Why this stuff gets regurgitated is beyond me.

The rookies that have played have done so out of necessity. Guys like Rapp and Fuller are the exceptions, not the rule. This is especially true since they are not drafting guys in the first round. Mid and late round players are far less polished than their early-round counterparts. Akers was worked into the rotation and it increased after the injury to Henderson. But RB is traditionally the easiest position for a rookie to play. O-line, WR, TE, D-front 7, CB are all extremely technique-heavy in the NFL making the play of rookies problematic. Also, because most rookies aren't in NFL shape, they benefit from acclimating to the speed and the cultural differences, as well as the intense physical training of the NFL. Things slow down for them allowing them to play as they been coached and not thinking their way through plays.

IMO teams that play rookies at skill positions do so out of necessity. Just compare the play of the Rams o-line rookies from 2019 to2020. They played out of necessity in 2019 and their performance was inconsistent most of the year but began to improve towards the end of the year. Now contrast that with 2020 with the same personnel the o-line performance was night and day.

Hopkins was a 4th round pick for a reason. The reason being his game lacked the necessary polish to be successful in the NFL. A redshirt year allowed him to work on his route running, to be a more consistent receiver in terms of his physical strength and reception and blocking technique. With Everett ahead of him there was not the need to play him. He had 2 offensive snaps and 50 STs snaps (i.e. pretty normal). It was clear from the moment he was drafted that he was Gerald's replacement.

Personally, I think he will be fine. My only concern will be his drops.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Watching his highlights I was reminded that I really liked his quickness to start moving downfield once he made the catch. For a big man, he does have very good short-area quickness.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brq-GSMtbjA

Thats a good watch. You can see his athleticism.

Hands might be the watch out, but that highlight was loaded with tough catches, particularly early.

Exactly.
Most TEs are receivers first in college now.
Used to have to search for a TE with receiver speed/skills in a sea of blockers, now it’s the opposite.
Every TE the Rams have added in recent years has had to work on blocking and fundamental skills with the exception of Mundt.
In college it is just pure athleticism in the pros they need to learn the skills.
He has had a year to progress and certainly is athletic enough to learn the blocking game. Developing hands takes time.
I’m optimist about Hopkins mostly based on how the TEs that came before him developed.

That’s a good point on how things seem flipped.

The blocking and depth of assignments is behind the athleticism.

 

[Mojo Ram]

Every Rams TE played as a rookie, until Hopkins

This is true but when Higbee got here there was no one and when Everett arrived there was just Higs. Hopkins not getting PT over Higs & Everett last year isn't a knock on Hopkins IMO.

FWIW i don't think Hopkins will amount to much due to his hands. It's early but i'd rather have Everett as my TE2 all day every day but cap etc. I get it.

 

[So Ram]

This is true but when Higbee got here there was no one and when Everett arrived there was just Higs. Hopkins not getting PT over Higs & Everett last year isn't a knock on Hopkins IMO.

FWIW i don't think Hopkins will amount to much due to his hands. It's early but i'd rather have Everett as my TE2 all day every day but cap etc. I get it.

I think it was McVays first season that the TE targets were down?

Gerald Everett Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College | Pro-Football-Reference.com

Checkout the latest stats for Gerald Everett. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, college, draft, and more on Pro-football-reference.com.

www.pro-football-reference.com

 

[So Ram]

I’m not sure if stats make a point of view ? Mundt is a good stop gap or blocking TE. Gerald Everett was the HB
for The Rams a lot as well.This was a veteran group.Blanton was kept at least on the practice squad.He is a big body.

Johnny Mundt Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College | Pro-Football-Reference.com

Checkout the latest stats for Johnny Mundt. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, college, draft, and more on Pro-football-reference.com.

www.pro-football-reference.com

Tyler Higbee Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College | Pro-Football-Reference.com

Checkout the latest stats for Tyler Higbee. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, college, draft, and more on Pro-football-reference.com.

www.pro-football-reference.com

Kendall Blanton Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft, College | Pro-Football-Reference.com

Checkout the latest stats for Kendall Blanton. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, college, draft, and more on Pro-football-reference.com.

www.pro-football-reference.com

 

[Corbin]

This is where we disagree.

I don’t think it’s as simple as the best three TEs are the game-day actives. I think it’s the three TEs the coaching staff believes will provide the best chance to win.

The third TE only plays in case of injury or in short yardage situations. Mundt was the better blocker and a well-regarded special teams player, so he would get the nod over Hopkins.

Again, this is not a pro-Hopkins post. I have no idea if the guy can play. I have never seen him play.

Yes then we disagree to disagree.... because I want to agree.

As DieterBrock pointed out he has been activated on gameday and yet has seen 0 action. That would seem to rule out him being a meaningful contributor in the future as per history.

However, I hope he makes me eat my words and becomes and All-Pro but as odds go, he's light years away from that becoming a reality.

 

[dieterbrock]

The rookies that have played have done so out of necessity. Guys like Rapp and Fuller are the exceptions, not the rule. This is especially true since they are not drafting guys in the first round. Mid and late round players are far less polished than their early-round counterparts. Akers was worked into the rotation and it increased after the injury to Henderson. But RB is traditionally the easiest position for a rookie to play. O-line, WR, TE, D-front 7, CB are all extremely technique-heavy in the NFL making the play of rookies problematic. Also, because most rookies aren't in NFL shape, they benefit from acclimating to the speed and the cultural differences, as well as the intense physical training of the NFL. Things slow down for them allowing them to play as they been coached and not thinking their way through plays.

IMO teams that play rookies at skill positions do so out of necessity. Just compare the play of the Rams o-line rookies from 2019 to2020. They played out of necessity in 2019 and their performance was inconsistent most of the year but began to improve towards the end of the year. Now contrast that with 2020 with the same personnel the o-line performance was night and day.

Hopkins was a 4th round pick for a reason. The reason being his game lacked the necessary polish to be successful in the NFL. A redshirt year allowed him to work on his route running, to be a more consistent receiver in terms of his physical strength and reception and blocking technique. With Everett ahead of him there was not the need to play him. He had 2 offensive snaps and 50 STs snaps (i.e. pretty normal). It was clear from the moment he was drafted that he was Gerald's replacement.

Personally, I think he will be fine. My only concern will be his drops.

There's so much wrong here I dont know what to say.
McVay plays his rookies, especially on the offensive side. PERIOD.
Necessity? Hopkins skill set, what they liked about him, is exactly what the team needed this year, what McVay said was missing. His route running needed polish? Where do you come up with this stuff?
There's a couple of links, quotes from the Rams about him, his potential and how they planned on using him right away.
He had zero catches. ZERO.
Call it what it is, its a concern because it goes against everything McVay has done.
Lets face it, Rams knew Everett wasnt coming back by mid season, and they didnt nothing to get Hopkins some reps.

 

[Corbin]

There's so much wrong here I dont know what to say.
McVay plays his rookies, especially on the offensive side. PERIOD.
Necessity? Hopkins skill set, what they liked about him, is exactly what the team needed this year, what McVay said was missing. His route running needed polish? Where do you come up with this stuff?
There's a couple of links, quotes from the Rams about him, his potential and how they planned on using him right away.
He had zero catches. ZERO.
Call it what it is, its a concern because it goes against everything McVay has done.
Lets face it, Rams knew Everett wasnt coming back by mid season, and they didnt nothing to get Hopkins some reps.

Very, very true.

McVay has a habit of playing rookies on the offensive side. Everett was never meant to comeback outside of him having a All Pro type of season.

Anybody, even Rodrigo 'googles' Blankenship could see this!

 

[RamDino]

This Hopkins kid could still become a great pro. IMO.. he was not needed last year, and that's the main reason why he didn't play. I think the Rams were right to play Everett as much as possible..., he is a capable back-up, and the team got 4 productive years out of him. Let Hopkins spend a year getting stronger and learning how to block at this level. And notice how McVay never exposed him on the practice squad? He was not going to risk losing him. Have hope Ram fans.

 

[Allen2McVay]

Yes then we disagree to disagree.... because I want to agree.

As DieterBrock pointed out he has been activated on gameday and yet has seen 0 action.
That would seem to rule out him being a meaningful contributor in the future as per history.

So a TE is game-day-active for 4 games in his rookie season, with three healthy and experienced TEs in front of him, and does not see any action; and THAT is enough for you to conclude he will never be a meaningful contributor.

I also have concerns and wish Hopkins saw some meaningful playing-time last year. I am just not as certain as you are about his future.

That being said, I will agree that we disagree except where we are in agreement ... in which case I agree to agree ... unless, of course, you disagree.

Agreed?

 

[Merlin]

That said Brycen looks to have potential but his issues with drops are a concern.

I remember not liking his comments re: his drops. Can't recall exactly what he said but he minimized what was a real concern in the interview.

All that aside I am hopeful with him. It would be a nice windfall if he were to develop into a weapon.

 

[fearsomefour]

Roland Williams was a good fit with Ernie Conwell .Williams was a pure TE.

That Manaualu was another big body TE. Funny how long some of The Rams TE’s stayed in the league after leaving.
-Jared Cook was not drafted by the Rams,but I vision Gerald Everett being a smaller version
type player.

Conwell and Williams were both complete TEs with Jeff Robinson being just a blocker and long snapper.
That was a good TE group.

 

[fearsomefour]

Every Rams TE played as a rookie, until Hopkins

May or may not mean anything.
Heck, it might just mean our TE depth is much better than it used to be.

 

[So Ram]

I remember not liking his comments re: his drops. Can't recall exactly what he said but he minimized what was a real concern in the interview.

All that aside I am hopeful with him. It would be a nice windfall if he were to develop into a weapon.

I admire a stand up player that understood why he wasn’t drafted
as high as his talent level is. Plus he was a little light in the trunks.The NFL is a Man’s game.He looks like he beefed up the right way.

 

[So Ram]

Conwell and Williams were both complete TEs with Jeff Robinson being just a blocker and long snapper.
That was a good TE group.

Yeah that RB from Illinois St. Beefed up as a nice FB.The Rams are going to need a HB on certain plays. Johnny Mundt can do it,but then Cam Akers is the biggest RB with 3 Rb’s less than 205.

 

[8to12]

Every Rams TE played as a rookie, until Hopkins

Actually, Everett is the only TE to play as a rookie under McVay.

 

[Shuie3225]

This is true but when Higbee got here there was no one and when Everett arrived there was just Higs. Hopkins not getting PT over Higs & Everett last year isn't a knock on Hopkins IMO.

Bingo. If our depth chart was terrible and Hopkins couldn't break into the starting lineup that's one thing, but saying he's a bust because he didn't get playing time over Higbee and Everett is ludicrous. Our 3rd TE is a bloking TE which isn't what Hopkins will be asked to do, so didn't make sense for him to play over Mundt.

Also I dont think people understand how complicated the TE position is, especially in our offense. Its extremely complicated and with no off-season program and no rookie mini camp it's very safe to assume he takes a Huge jump in year 2. Not to mention how much Stafford likes throwing to TEs, so I see Hopkins as an impact player this season.

 

[Corbin]

So a TE is game-day-active for 4 games in his rookie season, with three healthy and experienced TEs in front of him, and does not see any action; and THAT is enough for you to conclude he will never be a meaningful contributor.

I also have concerns and wish Hopkins saw some meaningful playing-time last year. I am just not as certain as you are about his future.

That being said, I will agree that we disagree except where we are in agreement ... in which case I agree to agree ... unless, of course, you disagree.

Agreed?

Yes.

 

[dieterbrock]

May or may not mean anything.
Heck, it might just mean our TE depth is much better than it used to be.

Well, I guess its a different strokes for different folks thing. If Johnny Mundt defines quality depth, then Im not sure what "better than" is compared to.