Cooper Kupp established himself as an vital a part of the Rams’ offense from the day normal supervisor Les Snead chosen him within the third spherical of the 2017 NFL draft.
However the receiver who received NFL offensive participant of the yr and Tremendous Bowl most useful participant awards started the offseason on Monday along with his future with the Rams unsure.
When the Rams began the season 1-4, the group entertained commerce gives for Kupp. The Rams rotated their season, however the eighth-year professional’s manufacturing waned throughout their drive to the playoffs.
A day after the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Rams 28-22 in an NFC divisional-round recreation, Kupp was requested if he needed to return.
“Yeah,” Kupp instructed reporters within the locker room on the group’s facility in Woodland Hills. “Who knows what’s going to happen. A lot of stuff is out of my control. We’ll see what it’s going to be.
“There was obviously stuff that was going on early on in the season and we’ll see. I don’t have any clarity on what that’s going to look like or anything like that. Obviously, I would love to be in L.A. But I don’t know what that’s going to look like.”
Kupp’s state of affairs is one in all a number of that Snead, coach Sean McVay and the Rams should handle, together with whether or not quarterback Matthew Stafford might be again.
Earlier than this previous season, the Rams bent to Stafford’s demand to regulate his contract. The 16-year veteran, who might be 37 in just a few weeks, stated after the loss to the Eagles that he would take a while to contemplate his future.
Kupp, who might be 32 subsequent season, has two years left on the extension he signed in 2022, which included $75 million in ensures. The Rams rewarded Kupp after he achieved the so-called triple crown by main the NFL in catches, yards receiving and landing catches. Kupp capped that season by catching two landing passes within the Rams’ Tremendous Bowl LVI victory over the Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium.
Rams large receiver Cooper Kupp runs with the soccer throughout a recreation towards the Philadelphia Eagles in October 2023.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Instances)
However Kupp suffered a number of accidents that sidelined him for a lot of the previous three seasons, together with an ankle damage this season stored him out of 4 video games.
In 12 regular-season video games, Kupp caught 67 passes for 710 yards and 6 touchdowns. He caught just one cross within the Rams’ wild-card victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
“Like any great leader, I think he was just glad to be a part of winning for our team,” McVay stated earlier than the Rams performed the Eagles, “but he’ll always be a guy that we want to try to be able to get involved.”
Kupp caught 5 passes for 61 yards within the defeat on Sunday.
Kupp is because of earn $12.5 million subsequent season on a salary-cap variety of $29.8 million, based on Overthecap.com. Solely $5 million of his wage is assured, based on the web site.
The Rams might ask Kupp to restructure his contract. Or they may commerce him.
Kupp stated there was “no doubt in my mind” that he needs to play subsequent season.
“I feel like I have a lot of good football left in me,” he stated, “so I definitely will be playing. I will be playing football next year, so that much I know.”
Kupp has been an vital a part of McVay’s offense in a number of iterations.
As a rookie, he mixed with receivers Robert Woods and Sammy Watkins to provide former quarterback Jared Goff a number of choices.
In 2018, Kupp, Woods and Brandin Cooks had been a dynamic trio earlier than Kupp suffered a season-ending knee damage that pressured him to overlook the second half of the season and the run to Tremendous Bowl LIII.
In 2021, Stafford arrived through a commerce for Goff and he instantly linked with Kupp. Woods suffered a late-season knee damage, and the Rams signed Odell Beckham Jr., who helped the Rams win the Tremendous Bowl.
Final season, with Kupp sidelined early due to a hamstring damage, rookie receiver Puka Nacua emerged as a star. Nacua now seems on monitor to earn an enormous extension earlier than the 2026 season, which additionally makes Kupp’s state of affairs tenuous.
On Monday, Kupp stated he would take time to mirror on this season.
“Even though it wasn’t pretty a lot of the times, offensively, we got it done,” he stated. “So there is frustration there. And obviously I want to be able to feel like I’m impacting games and that’s done on a much more discreet level, I feel like, for a lot of these games….I can look back on this season and be happy with what I put on tape and things that I was being asked to do, I feel like I was executing my job, and that’s all you can do.”
Kupp stated he didn’t have any points that may require surgical procedure and that he “should be able to have a full offseason to be able to train and do what I need to do.”
Whether or not that work might be evidenced in a ninth season with the Rams — or maybe one other group — stays to be seen.
