Inside Cooper Kupp's departure from LA and his rise in Seattle

LOS ANGELES -- In early February, Cooper Kupp sent a text in the Los Angeles Rams wide receivers' group chat.

Puka Nacua remembers seeing the text from Kupp that said he and the Rams were having a conversation about his future with the franchise.

"It wasn't very specific, but it was like, 'I love you boys. Just trying to figure out what I'm about to do,'" Nacua recalled.

But later, Nacua was "aimlessly scrolling on Twitter," when a post from Kupp stopped him in his tracks.

"I was informed that the team will be seeking a trade immediately and will be working with me and my family to find the right place to continue competing for championships," Kupp wrote. "I don't agree with the decision and always believed it was going to begin and end in LA."

"I'm just going line by line," Nacua said. "I'm slowly scrolling, and I'm like, 'Ooh, this is getting worse and worse by the second.'"

The parting of ways became official in March, when the Rams released Kupp, who had two seasons remaining on the contract extension he signed in 2022. A few days after he was released, he signed a three-year, $45 million deal with the Seattle Seahawks.

In his introductory press conference in March, Kupp said the process of being told he was not a part of the Rams' future plans was "difficult."

"Without a doubt, it has been difficult," Kupp said. "We're humans. We're real people."

This week, Kupp will return to SoFi Stadium -- where he played his home games for five seasons and was named Super Bowl LVI MVP -- as a member of the opposing team. The game on Sunday (4:05 p.m. ET, Fox) will also break a tie for first place in the NFC West.

"It will be different seeing those guys, saying hi to the guys and whatnot before the game, but I think it's a balance of embracing the fact that it is the reality, but it is going to be another football game," Kupp said this week. "... When the ball is snapped, go out there and you're playing the same game you've been playing this whole year and you've got to handle business that same way."

Rams head coach Sean McVay said when he looks over at the opposing sideline on Sunday and sees Kupp, he'll think about the "love" and "appreciation for the amount of time that [they] spent and the relationship" the pair built.

"This game has brought me so much," McVay said. "The most important thing it's brought me is a lot of special people in my life that I've come across that have changed my life and made me a better person. Cooper Kupp is one of those guys. He's changed my life for all the better because he was in it.

"Obviously, that was one of the most challenging situations that you have to navigate as a head coach, but the personal love, appreciation and the respect I have for his body of work as a competitor, as a player is... I could never sit here and give you enough words to truly reflect the love that I have for that human being and the time that we spent together with our player-coach relationship."

KUPP SPENT EIGHT years in Los Angeles, but his best season by far came in 2021, when he led the league with 145 catches, 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns. That season he was named Super Bowl LVI MVP.

That offseason, he signed a three-year, $80 million contract extension that included $75 million guaranteed. At the time, it was the highest amount of guaranteed money ever given to an NFL wide receiver.

But in his next three seasons with the Rams, injuries limited Kupp to 33 games. He averaged 753 yards and just under six touchdowns per season in that span.

In 2023, the Rams drafted Nacua in the fifth round. That same year, Kupp started the season on injured reserve due to a lingering hamstring injury. Nacua, who had an increased role because of Kupp's injury, broke the record for most receptions and receiving yards by a rookie in NFL history.

When the Rams released Kupp, he had two seasons left on his contract and was scheduled to have cap hits of $29.8 million in 2025 and $27.3 million in 2026. After deciding to part ways with Kupp, the Rams signed veteran wide receiver Davante Adams to a two year, $44 million contract.

In March, Kupp said, "I'm sure they have their reasons for why they wanted to do things, whatever it is."

"Not a ton of clarity in that regard, but at the end of the day, I'm thankful to be able to walk away from that organization and be able to look back on all those memories, all those experiences, all those things that we were able to go through together, the relationships that we had with so many people there, and look at it in a positive light and be very thankful for my time in Los Angeles," Kupp said. "It's something that we will always cherish."

Kupp equated the five weeks between his social media post and the waiting period to the NFL draft, but he said the difference was that he and his family had been established in Los Angeles.

"This time was like, you're now getting kicked out of your house," Kupp told ESPN. "It's like you're getting kicked out of your home and you've got to go somewhere else, and you're waiting to hear where that is going to be at. So that was definitely a weird time and you don't have a lot of control over it. It all ends up working out and we end up here and be able to go through the process of setting up our lives here."

Kupp said he and McVay "got very close" over their eight seasons in Los Angeles. But although it was "a challenge to separate the personal and the business side of things," Kupp said, his relationship with the Rams head coach is "good."

"But it's tough," Kupp said. "When everything went down, it's a challenge to separate the personal and the business side of things. But we've been able to talk privately about stuff ... and I'm always going to love Sean. I have so much appreciation for him. It's challenging but it's been good."

In early March, McVay said, "There hasn't been a more challenging decision since I've been here."

"It doesn't mean that you don't still see a lot of amazing things that he can contribute," McVay said. "It's about the big picture, but it was hard. It was really hard. ... The first thing we always talk about is one of our responsibilities is to make sure that we're making decisions that we think are best for everybody, even if it doesn't benefit some people that have been incredibly instrumental in a lot of good things that have gone on here [like] setting the culture," McVay said. "He has checked the box and is doing everything that's right."

ON THE OPENING DRIVE of the Seahawks' win over the Cardinals last week, Kupp did what he has done for eight-plus years in the NFL: find a void in Arizona's zone defense for a 7-yard, chain-moving reception. Later in the first half, Sam Darnold found him on a scramble for a 67-yard catch-and-run. Those were Kupp's only two targets of the game, but both came on third downs and extended drives that would end in touchdowns.

Kupp returned against Arizona after missing the Seahawks' win over the Washington Commanders a week earlier. During the third quarter of that Sunday night game, the NBC broadcast showed a pair of clips of Kupp on the sideline. He wasn't playing because of a hamstring injury he suffered in practice three days earlier, but he was engaged -- jotting down notes while listening to the offensive playcalls via an earpiece, coaching up Seattle's younger receivers with tablet in hand.

Kupp has been exactly what the Seahawks thought he'd be -- a skilled technician on the field, a peerless worker off of it and a brilliant football mind who will share his knowledge and input with players and coaches.

"He's got real value in the things that he sees and hears," offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak said. "In the game the other night, he's standing with me on the sideline, giving me great insight. He's got a Hall of Fame NFL mind. He helps us in all facets of our game."

The Seahawks knew when they signed Kupp as part of the overhaul to their receiver corps that his age and injury history meant there was a strong chance he wouldn't be available for every game. Until Week 9, he hadn't shown up on Seattle's injury report all season, nor did he miss any practice time over the summer.

"Coop's an animal," coach Mike Macdonald said last week as Kupp was set to return against Arizona. "He's great. It's impressive to see what he's willing to do to get ready to go play a game. It means a lot to him."

Kupp has shown that he still has enough juice at age 32 to be a complementary piece of a high-powered passing attack, as well as a willing and able run blocker. In eight games, he has 26 catches on 35 targets for 367 yards and one touchdown as Seattle's No. 2 receiver behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

It remains to be seen how the distribution of targets -- as limited as they already are in Seattle's run-heavy offense -- will shake out now that the Seahawks have added Rashid Shaheed to their receiver corps via a trade with the New Orleans Saints. But at his current pace, Kupp would finish with around 693 receiving yards, which would be just shy of what he produced in 12 games last year with the Rams. That comes amid what may be a historic season for Smith-Njigba, who leads the NFL with 1,041 yards, as well as a 39.3% target share.

Then again, Kupp's value goes beyond bottom-line production.

"The biggest thing is, I think, that success leaves clues," second-year tight end AJ Barner said. "Cooper's in here at 5 a.m. in the morning. First car you see in the parking lot. I know he's up in the film room watching film. [He's] been in the league for a long time now and has seen a bunch of things and is a really smart player. It's nice for us young guys to be able to pick his brain and ask questions ... The proof's in the pudding with Cooper, and he's a pro."

In a typical week, Kupp gets to the Virginia Mason Athletic Center around 5 a.m. on Wednesday and 6 a.m. on Thursday and Friday -- well before team meetings begin around 8:30. The earlier arrival on Wednesday allows him to be caught up with Darnold and the other quarterbacks, who usually get together during the off day on Tuesday (Kupp reserves that day for family and recovery). He wants to be on the same page with the QBs when he sits in on their Wednesday morning film session.

"It's another example that you can show like, 'Look, this is how you do it," Macdonald said Wednesday. "As a team, as a player, as a person. I can't say enough great things about Coop. We love him. I'm so happy he's here. I'm happy he's a Seahawk. He's a force multiplier. I think he's made a tremendous impact on his receiving room, the offense and the team in general just in terms of our attitude, and how you just approach our business every day."

Having never been the most physically gifted player, as Kupp has described it, he's had to find his edge on the mental side.

"Just as much as we talk about Jax every single week, I feel like we talk about Coop being a really smart player that just understands the game at a different level and it's part of his experience," Darnold said, "but it's also a huge part of the work that he puts in behind the scenes. ... I feel like that's really where it starts, is just how great of a teammate he is and what he's willing to share with the group in terms of how much football knowledge that he has."

Kupp said in March that signing with a team in the NFC West -- guaranteeing two matchups against his former team -- "didn't play into the decision to come here, but it's a nice little thing on the side to be able to go against those guys."

But when Kupp runs out onto SoFi Stadium as a member of the opposing team for the first time, Nacua said he hopes Kupp hears appreciation from the home fans.

"I hope we get a big 'Coooooop' when he gets to go out there," Nacua said. "And I know the first down for them I'll be a little upset, but if it goes to No. 10, I'll be excited."