The Los Angeles Rams announced that wide receiver Cooper Kupp as the team’s nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award. It is the NFL’s most prestigious honor and goes to the player who excels both on and off the field with their work in the community.
Earlier this year, Kupp partnered with some renowned chefs in the Los Angeles region, as well as the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank for the Eighth Annual Taste of the Rams event to combat food insecurity in Los Angeles which raised nearly $200,000. It was the fourth straight year Kupp partnered with the LA Regional Food Bank and served as the honorary chair for the event.
That money helped provide assistance to a number of families and individuals struggling to eat across LA County while also helping to fund the LA Regional Food Bank distributing hundreds of thousands of nutritious meals across LA County. Kupp has also made donations to to purchase more than 84,000 meals for food banks in his home state of Washington as well as Food Share Ventura County.
Additionally, Kupp also “adopted” the Royal High School football team in Simi Valley. With this initiative Kupp mentors the players and coaches to inspire and help instill a winning culture for a team that’s struggled to build a winning program over the last several years.
The Rams star met with the team and led them through an extensive film study of one of their games. Kupp also invited them to the Rams practice facility and served as a coach while they practiced on the Rams practice fields. He also invited players and coaches to the Rams’ game against the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium and gifted brand new uniforms to the entire team.
Kupp has also supported efforts to combat chronic absenteeism in partnership with Nike by rewarding academic achievements for students at local schools. The Rams star has purchased clothes to reward Inglewood Unified School District students who maintain strong attendance, participation, and engagement in school and to this point has provided 23 student-families with clothes for the year.
Given his desire to help the community during his time in the NFL, Kupp is appreciative of this honor.
“My family and I are honored to be nominated alongside just a few of the many players in the NFL family that are doing great work in their respective communities,” said Kupp. “Lending a helping hand, recognizing where there are needs, and finding ways to bridge the gap. While I am thankful for the NFL giving us a platform to shine a light on a few of the causes that are important to us, we all have the ability to give of ourselves in one way or another that can change the lives of the people around us.”
This year, he represented the Gary Sinese Foundation during My Cause, My Cleats and is selling custom merchandise on Cooperkupp.com to benefit the Gary Sinese Foundation. Additionally he and his wife Anna have sold personalized merchandise and donated proceeds to Team Rubicon to benefit vets looking for work and provide aide for disaster relief.
Kupp would become the second member of the Rams to win this award, joining retired offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth, who took home this honor in 2021.
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