The Dallas Cowboys have a serious need at tight end. Therefore, it would make a lot of sense to draft Purdue Boilermakers' standout Brycen Hopkins.

Current starting tight end Jason Witten has said he will decide his future in the next few weeks, but even if he does come back, he is not a long term option. It's hard to imagine he is going to play more than one or two more years.

Witten's backup, Blake Jarwin, is a restricted free agent, and although the expectation is he will be back next season, there is a chance he could also be gone.

One of the Cowboys' biggest priority this offseason needs to be bringing in a tight end or two, and one of those should be through the draft.

During the 2019 season, Hopkins was catching the ball from many different quarterbacks, but his production didn't dip. He finished the season catching 61 passes for 830 yards and seven touchdowns. He was solid his first three years in West Lafayette but had his breakout season as a senior. That should pique the Cowboys' interest.

Brycen Hopkins will probably not be much of a blocker in the NFL, but his route tree is going to make him an instant impact player as a rookie. Benjamin Solak of The Draft Network gave the following review of his game:

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“A delightfully advanced route-runner for his position. Has the full route tree at his disposal and has worked from multiple alignments and stances, so he reads leverage and understands coverage shells nicely — good at sitting underneath and between zones. Manipulates steps and stride length well to snap into his breaks; can quickly uncover against man coverage from defensive backs and especially linebackers. A little bit contact-averse in the contact window and will belly out his stem too severely, sacrificing timing and spacing.”

One of the other knocks on Hopkins is his hands, and that is something that will need to be worked on. There are many times he juggles the ball or has to recatch a ball. Those are issues that can hopefully be worked out, and shouldn't scare the Cowboys off of him.

Right now, most mock drafts have Hopkins going somewhere between the second and fourth rounds, but that could change as the draft gets closer.

If Brycen Hopkins is there, especially when the Cowboys draft in the third round, they need to draft him. He will be an instant impact player for Dak Prescott and will make the Cowboys better.