2020 NFL Draft Recap
With the 2019 NFL, we saw Purdue and their streak of consecutive years with a player drafted to come to an end. Eyes turn to this year and the 2020 Draft in hopes that the streak could be restarted once more. Two players were seemingly the front runners to be drafted this year, those being TE Brycen Hopkins and LB Markus Bailey.
Brycen Hopkins
Hopkins finished his Purdue career as one of the best tight ends in recent Purdue history. He was the 2019 Big Ten Tight End of the Year, an All-B1G Selection, and a finalist for the John Mackey Award. The Nashville native finished his senior season in style, with 61 receptions for 830 yards and 7 touchdowns. It was the most receptions or yards by a Purdue tight end since 2007. In his 48 game career, he finished with 130 catches for 1,945 yards and 16 touchdowns. His 1,945 receiving yards are the most at Purdue since a player from 1998-2000 by the name of Tim Stratton had 2,088.
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Brycen heard his name called in the 4th round, officially going number 136 to the Los Angeles Rams. He is the highest selection for a Boilermaker since Kawann Short went number 44 in 2013. He joins a relatively young TE room in LA joining Ethan Wolf (Age: 24), Johnny Mundt (Age: 25), and Tyler Higbee (Age: 27). There was some surprise to see his name called to LA with the Rams already having so many young TE’s, but the Rams think that he was a steal at no. 136 and couldn’t pass up the young player.
Hopefully, Brycen gets the chance to prove himself at the next level and carve out a role into the future! Good Luck Brycen, show them what you got!
Markus Bailey
Markus Bailey leaves Purdue as a fan favorite as well as a very good linebacker in his own right. Bailey leaves Purdue having played in 43 career games with 40 starts finishing with 327 career tackles (229 solo), 28 tackles for loss, and 13.5 sacks. All of those statistics finish in the top 20 in the Purdue record books showing what a productive career Markus had in West Lafayette. There were high hopes for the Columbus native when he decided to return to Purdue for his senior season, but unfortunately, he tore his ACL and missed the last 10 games of the season.
Surely, his highlight game came in the 2018 season when the #2 Ohio State Buckeyes visited Ross-Ade stadium and the world saw Purdue stomp the Buckeyes in prime time. Bailey had, I’m sure, his career highlight play when he intercepted then OSU QB Dwayne Haskins and returned it 40 yards for a dagger pick-six to seal the victory for Purdue.
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Without being able to perform in any Combine activities outside of the bench press (injury), combined with the inability to have a Pro-Day at Purdue due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bailey was relying on film alone to prove to teams what he is capable of. It seemed to have worked as Markus heard his name called as the first pick of the 7th round officially going number 215 to the Cincinnati Bengals. The Ohio man doesn’t have to be that far away from home to try and live out his dream.
Bailey joins former LB Ja’Whaun Bentley as the only two linebackers drafted out of Purdue since 2004. He joins an LB room with Jordan Evens, Germaine Pratt, Brady Sheldon, and Josh Bynes. I believe that Markus will enter with a chip on his shoulder and eager to prove himself that he belongs at the next level. I believe he will be just fine!
Good Luck Markus, show them what you bring to the table!
