Packers Deep Dive – Third Round Pick Ty’Ron Hopper

In one of the more controversial moves of Green Bay’s draft, they selected Missouri linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper with the 91st overall pick.

This was considered by most to be a reach, with Hopper ranked 172nd on the consensus big board. There are certainly areas of concern on his tape, but also plenty of encouraging signs.

General Info and Background:

Hopper grew up in South Carolina, attending Gaffney High School and playing cornerback and safety, before transferring to Roswell High School in Georgia, moving in with his aunt and uncle to help his prospects of being recruited by colleges.

He immediately moved to linebacker and excelled, receiving college offers from Alabama, Florida, Miami, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Tennessee. The four-star recruit committed to Florida.

The linebacker spent three years with the Gators, tallying only 75 defensive snaps in the first two seasons (he redshirted in 2019 and the 2020 season was shortened due to the pandemic), before taking on a bigger role in 2021.

Dan Mullen, the coach who recruited him, was fired after the 2021 campaign, and Hopper subsequently transferred to Missouri, where he played two seasons, being named Second-team All-SEC in both.

Hopper ended his college career with 10 sacks, 46 quarterback hurries, 165 tackles and one interception. He attended the Senior Bowl but could not participate.

Measurements:

6’1 ⅔, 231 lbs. ARMS – 31.375”. HANDS – 8.875”. 40-YARD DASH – 4.68. 10-YARD SPLIT – 1.64. VERT – 36”. BROAD – 10’4”. SHUTTLE – 4.46. 3-CONE – 7.29.

Strengths:

In run defense, Hopper shows the ability to find the ball and get the person carrying it to the ground. He showed he can beat would-be blockers to the spot or fight them off, and manages to sift through bodies at the line of scrimmage to locate the football.

Hopper has the range to stay with running backs across the field on outside runs and chase them down for tackles. He is effective at reaching or diving for tackles, but also showed he can wrap up.

There are plenty of examples of Hopper meeting a running back in the hole, not letting his eyes get too big, arriving on balance and making a secure tackle. When he meets a back in the hole, the play usually ends right there.

He hits with power and can also disrupt at the line of scrimmage, either by crashing into it to plug gaps and muddy the picture for the ball carrier, or by knifing through off the snap into the backfield.

In coverage, Hopper is comfortable picking up a route, passing it off and picking up a new one. He also showed the ability to carry tight ends up the seam and stay in phase, using his physicality to keep them close.

Hopper has good, disciplined eyes in coverage. There are impressive reps where he keeps his eyes on the QB, shades over a route to discourage them from throwing there, then closes on the ball when they try to scramble. He is able to cut off routes and then drive to the ball when the time is right.

There is plenty of pure athleticism to Hopper’s game. He shows his speed in recovering to cut off a route which has gone behind him, or chasing down athletic quarterbacks like Jayden Daniels as they try to escape the pocket.

He has the juice and explosiveness to be effective as a blitzer, can beat chip blocks or squeeze between two offensive linemen.

The linebacker does a good job of being the clean up guy. If a ball-carrier gets to the second level, he is frequently the guy who arrives on the scene, even when it is not his responsibility, to stop the bleeding. He also communicates effectively with teammates pre-and-post-snap, directing traffic as necessary.

Weaknesses:

While there is plenty to like about Hopper’s game, there is a lot of inconsistency too.

He will struggle to get off blocks, despite trying, and pulling offensive linemen can completely wash him out of the play. He gets pushed back off the ball too easily at times.

Hopper is a ‘dive at the ball-carrier’s feet’ tackler by nature, and this has its natural drawbacks. His missed tackle rate was 16.7% in college. He lacks true stopping power and can struggle to finish as a result, allowing opponents to slip away.

While he often has the athleticism to make up for it, Hopper can take bad angles in run support, particularly on outside runs. He may not get away with this at the next level.

The lack of agility which was evident in his pre-draft testing also shows up on tape. He can over pursue in the run game, allowing cut back lanes and then not have the change of direction to adjust and avoid getting run by.

This stiffness also means he fails to finish opportunities to get athletic quarterbacks to the ground.

In coverage, Hopper can get grabby, and due to his limitations in terms of agility, shifty backs or slot receivers are going to be bad matchups for him in man coverage. He will let pass catchers slip behind him on routes and realize too late.

Hopper could also trigger faster on routes in front of him at times and give himself a better opportunity to break up the pass or limit yards after the catch.

Overall:

While selecting Hopper at 91st overall may still have been aggressive, there are plenty of elements to like in his game. If the Packers can get him attacking downhill consistently, which appears to be the plan in Jeff Hafley’s new defense, Hopper could be very effective.

He will likely not be relied upon in coverage too much, and still has some technique issues to clean up on the run defense side of things, specifically as a tackler, but Hopper should still be a solid contributor on defense and also for Rich Bissacia on special teams.