Cooper Kupp, a wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams, said on Monday that he is certain he wants to play football next season. While he would love to stay in L.A., he understands that the decisions made this offseason are out of his control.
Kupp shared in the Rams’ final locker room meeting of the season, “I feel like I’ve got a lot of good football left in me. I’ll be playing football next year. That much I know.”
He addressed the trade rumors that came up during the season, noting, “Who knows what’s going to happen? That’s out of my control. And we will see what it’s going to be. … I don’t have any clarity on what that’s going to look like or anything like that. So yeah, obviously would love to be in L.A., but I don’t know what that’s going to look like.”
Kupp has two years left on the contract extension he signed in 2022, which includes $5 million guaranteed for 2025. If the Rams decide to cut him this offseason, they could save $15 million in cash and $7.52 million on their salary cap.
However, if they release him without the post-June 1 option, the team would take on $22.2 million in dead money because of the remaining prorated portion of his signing bonus and $5 million of his roster bonus.
Kupp’s best season came in 2021, when he won the receiving triple crown and was named the Super Bowl LVI MVP. This season, Kupp recorded 67 catches for 710 yards and six touchdowns in 12 regular-season games. He missed four games after injuring his ankle in Week 2 and did not play in the final game of the regular season after the Rams had already secured the NFC West title.
It was frustrating
Kupp said the season was “frustrating” for both him personally and the offense as a whole. Even though the Rams won 10 out of their final 14 games after starting with a 1-4 record, the offense still struggled to be consistent.
He explained, “There’s all these things you’re weathering through offensively, things that I feel like, man, we should be better than the product we’re putting out there in terms of the production and the points that are being scored.
And then just for me personally feeling like, man, there’s things, I’m watching film, feeling good about football and playing, but productionwise it’s not showing up. And a lot of stuff’s outside of my control. And it is frustrating.”
In the Rams’ season-ending loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Kupp had five catches for 61 yards. Before that game, in the five previous games, he had only 10 targets, five catches, 82 receiving yards, and no touchdowns. In the first nine games of the season, Kupp had five or more targets in each game, finishing with 63 catches, 657 yards, and six touchdowns.
Kupp said, “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. And that is what it is, but I can look back on the season and be happy with what I put on tape and things that I was being asked to do, feel like I was executing my job. And that’s all you can do.”
