Have the Rams relegated Cooper Kupp to a smaller role in the offense?

Has Cooper Kupp taken a smaller role in the Rams offense?

One of the more interesting developments over the last month and a half of the season for the Los Angeles Rams has been the fall of wide receiver Cooper Kupp. Since having five receptions for 92 yards and a touchdown against the Buffalo Bills, Kupp has five receptions since. He has just one reception in two of those games and was held without a catch against the San Francisco 49ers.

For a player that was once such a big part of the offense, he has mostly disappeared down the stretch. That’s not to say that he can’t make big plays or make important catches in the offense. He did it last week with his 29-yard catch down the sideline. On the incomplete pass that was almost a fumble, quarterback Matthew Stafford would have had Kupp wide open down the sideline with time.

Still, it’s also hard to ignore the lack of Kupp’s usage in the offense and how much it has dramatically fallen in recent weeks. What was most alarming was Kupp’s snap count. Kupp played just 55 percent of the team’s offensive snaps on Monday Night against the Vikings. That was his lowest since Week 8 which was his first game back from injury. That’s going to happen with how much 12 personnel that the Rams ran.

However, in that first meeting against the Vikings, Kupp still had the second-most snaps for a wide receiver in the offense and was nearly even with Puka Nacua. In the wild card matchup, Kupp was on the field for 55 percent of the team’s snaps, which was behind Demarcus Robinson’s 72 percent and Puka Nacua’s 85 percent. Kupp was the third wide receiver in the pecking order.

It’s not just that Kupp’s snaps have gone down, but his overall usage as well. Kupp had a target share of 25.3 percent from Weeks 8-14 which was second behind Nacua. Since Week 15 and not counting Week 18, his target share has been 9.5 percent. His targets have continuously gone down late in the season from 15.8 percent in Week 16 to 9.4 percent in Week 17 and then 3.7 percent against the Vikings.

Kupp’s designed targets have become non-existent. Using Week 1 and then Weeks 8-12 Kupp had a designed target rate of 5.8 percent to Nacua’s 5.7 percent. These are targets that come off of a designed read and those were Kupp and Nacua’s first six games together this season. Since Week 13, but excluding Week 18, Nacua has a 35 percent designed target rate to Kupp’s zero.

The Rams wide receiver has almost become an afterthought in the offense. That seems crazy to say after how Kupp performed in 2021 and 2022. Even last year, the targets were much more evenly dispersed, with Kupp holding a 23.3 percent target share compared to Nacua’s 25.6 percent when both were on the field.

Kupp’s utilization has also undergone a significant shift. Known for excelling in shallow areas of the field, he has always been quick and twitchy, with precise route-running skills. His ability to dominate along the sideline and underneath routes made him a tough matchup from the slot.

Down the stretch, the Rams have used Kupp a lot more on a vertical plane. He has essentially become the Rams vertical, downfield threat. Early in the season, Kupp was used much more in the shallower areas of the field. Since Week 13, he’s been used on that vertical plane.

From Weeks 8-12, 25.1 percent of Kupp’s routes were considered “vertically breaking”. Since Week 13, 32.1 percent of Kupp’s routes have been vertically breaking. That’s a seven percent difference which is significant. His overall routes have also gone down during that time frame going from 85.3 percent to 67.3 percent. Again, that’s a 20 percent difference which is very significant.

Again, this isn’t to say that Kupp still can’t be effective. However, it may be a sign that the Rams are starting to see what many others have down the stretch. That is the fact that Kupp has taken a step back and his level has slightly fallen off.

The Rams still need to find that second option behind Puka Nacua. It’s hard to see the Rams making a deep playoff run if their passing offense is Nacua and not much else. However, based on the last five weeks and emphasized in the wild card round, the Rams are no longer forcing that to be Kupp.