LOS ANGELES — After a frustrating season that ended in a disappointing divisional round playoff exit at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles, Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp said he was uncertain about his future with the franchise during Monday’s locker room cleanout.
Prior to the October trade deadline, the Super Bowl LVI MVP’s name was part of trade rumors, though those were eventually shot down publicly by head coach Sean McVay. But it creates some ambiguity for Kupp entering the offseason. Only $5 million of his $20 million salary for next season is guaranteed, and the Rams could save $15 million against the 2025 salary cap with a post-June 1 release, per Spotrac.
“Who knows what’s going to happen,” said Kupp, who turns 32 in June. “A lot of that stuff’s 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 would love to be in L.A. but I don’t know what that’s going to look like.”
Kupp played in 12 games this season, his eighth after being drafted by the Rams in 2017. He missed four after suffering a high ankle sprain in Week 2, his third straight season impacted by injury since his Triple Crown campaign in 2021.
In the season opener, Kupp looked like his old self with 14 catches on 21 targets for 110 yards and a touchdown. But after the high ankle sprain, the veteran struggled to find a consistent footing in the offense. He only had two more 100-yard performances and finished the year with 710 receiving yards, his lowest total since 2018.
In his final three games of the regular season, he totaled just four catches on nine targets. Kupp, quarterback Matthew Stafford and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur said last week that some of that was the result of bad luck, such as Stafford getting pressured on plays when Kupp created separation downfield.
“It’s been frustrating,” Kupp said Monday. “Obviously I want 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. It it 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, I feel like I was executing my job and that’s all I can do.”
Kupp said that, no matter what happens with the Rams, he will be playing next year. He thinks he has a lot of good football left in him. And he’s entering the offseason healthy, with no medical procedures required so he can focus on getting ready for OTAs and training camp.
But as he navigates whatever this offseason holds in store for him, Kupp will ground himself with family time, spending it with his wife and their three sons.
“I know whatever happens, they’re going to be with me, they’re going to be right there beside me and we’re going to go through it together,” Kupp said. “Hopefully there’s a lot of peace that comes with knowing whatever it’s going to be, we’re going to handle it just fine. And I’m very thankful for that, for that perspective that they’ve given me just because of how strong they are in their support of me in a very volatile industry. I know we’ll be fine.”