Kupp says he will be traded

Cooper Kupp says the Rams told the star receiver they are going to trade him

Jourdan Rodrigue

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6111146/2025/02/03/cooper-kupp-trade-rams-exploring-nfl/?source=emp_shared_article

The Los Angeles Rams have informed Cooper Kupp that they are seeking a trade for the star receiver, he said in a post on X on Monday, after he ended the season uncertain about his future with the team he helped lead to a Super Bowl victory.

“I don’t agree with the decision and always believed it was going to begin and end in LA,” Kupp wrote.

“Still, if there’s one thing that I have learned over the years: there are so many things that are out of your control, but it is how you respond to these things that you will look back on and remember.”

Kupp said one day after the Rams’ divisional-round loss in Philadelphia in January that he planned to play football in 2025, though allowed that the location was uncertain. The Rams had trade conversations about Kupp with other teams ahead of this year’s deadline, of which he was aware.

“Do I want to play next year? Oh yeah,” he said, laughing. “There’s no doubt in my mind I want to play football. I feel like I’ve got a lot of good football left in me. I definitely will be playing — I will be playing football next year. That much I know.”

A multiyear team captain, Kupp was the NFL’s triple crown winner and Super Bowl MVP in 2021, and had spent his entire career in L.A. after he was drafted in the third round in 2017. The 2021 Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year said he is expecting to have a full and healthy offseason.

Kupp, 31, finished the regular season with 67 catches for 710 yards and six touchdowns in 12 games. His targets dwindled during the back stretch of the regular season and into the playoffs. He had four catches on nine targets over the last three regular-season games, was targeted once for one catch against Minnesota in the wild-card round and caught five passes on seven targets against the Eagles in the divisional-round loss. In his 14 games (including the postseason) this season, Kupp had 10 or more targets just four times and eight or more targets six times.

Injuries have been partially to blame as Kupp has dealt with ailments in each of the last three seasons. He played in just nine regular-season games in 2022, and 12 games apiece in 2023 and 2024 — with a high ankle sprain costing him time this season.

That dip in production did not meet his current salary in the Rams’ eyes. In 2022, Kupp signed a three-year, $80 million contract extension with the Rams. His salary-cap numbers in 2025 and 2026 are $29.7 million and $27.3 million, respectively, with $5 million in guarantees in 2025 and none in 2026, according to Over the Cap. He also is owed roster bonuses of $12.5 million combined over the next two seasons per OTC. The $7.5 million roster bonus owed to Kupp in 2025 triggers on March 19.

A league source said that the Rams did not directly ask Kupp to restructure his existing contract in order to stay in L.A., although to make a trade more appealing to prospective teams an adjusted contract is likely still a possibility.

In separate news conferences in late January, neither coach Sean McVay (who has spent his entire tenure with Kupp) nor general manager Les Snead would commit to Kupp’s future with the Rams.

Instead, Snead seemed to speak carefully about Kupp, almost as if his tenure were in the past tense, though without using language that direct.

“I can say that if you’re speaking about Cooper or Matthew (Stafford), I don’t even know if I could put into words what they’ve meant to this organization. I think I probably have a picture behind me somewhere where it’s Cooper Kupp catching a ball at SoFi on the last weekend of the NFL season,” Snead said. “A ball thrown by Matthew Stafford (changed) the course of this franchise. There is a banner hanging in that stadium that only one team gets a year. What can I say about that? Those moments, a lot of memories, and a lot of pictures, that’s what they mean to us.”

The future of quarterback Matthew Stafford, who does expect to continue playing (as he said in the locker room in Philadelphia), is also a topic in question for the Rams. Stafford adjusted his contract to move most of its remaining guarantees to the 2024 season, effectively rendering it a one-year deal.

The Rams must decide whether to adjust the contract again, or part ways with Stafford. Neither Snead nor McVay expressly committed to the veteran quarterback in their end-of-season news conferences, though allowed that figuring out his situation is a top priority.

@speed_kills@speedk1lls
the 3rd year in a row to suffer a high ankle sprain, the emergence of Puka as the primary. dude has pride. Kupp is a great players maybe even greater person but his injury history has prevented him from being an all time great

and that is too bad

Gary Klein@LATimesklein
Hopkins on Kupp: “From how he tweeted and how he made it seem, they’re going to work with him on finding him a home– and I think that’s a blessing. A lot of players don’t get the opportunity to choose where they want to go, like myself when I went from Houston to Arizona.

from https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2025/02/05/rams-cooper-kupp-trade-matthew-stafford-comment-quote/?taid=67a44ff2da918500016a243d&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=twitter

Stafford commented on the trade for the first time in an interview with CBS Sports HQ, and here’s what he said.

“It’s tough. I’ve been around long enough to know anything is possible, but Cooper’s been a pillar of this organization and this community for a long time, since he got drafted here,” he said. “His ability to impact the guys in our locker room, obviously his play on the field and the people in the community he’s been able to impact, it’s incredible. Super Bowl MVP, the guy’s as good as it gets when it comes to making plays on the grass, but he’s probably even better in our locker room, meeting rooms and obviously as a family man. Lucky to get to spend the time that I got to spend with him. Probably spent more time with Cooper Kupp than any other teammate I’ve ever had as far as in the building and talking football and being about football, so I’ll miss him not being on the same team.”

Gary Klein@LATimesklein
Kupp is scheduled to receive a $7.5 million roster bonus next week. Snead: “If there is a deadline in this situation, that roster date does weigh a good bit in the algorithm formula that we’re working through.”

Sarah Barshop@sarahbarshop
Les Snead said the Rams are looking to find a trade partner for Cooper Kupp and while he didn’t rule out the receiver staying, he said that’s the “least likely” option. Sean McVay said on Monday that the Rams had not had conversations with Kupp about restructuring his deal.

nittany ram wrote:

Zooey wrote:

zn wrote:

Les Snead said the Rams are looking to find a trade partner for Cooper Kupp and while he didn’t rule out the receiver staying, he said that’s the “least likely” option.

Since one of the options is giving him his unconditional release, this just underscores the fact that Kupp’s career with the Rams is over.

When asked if the Rams approached him to redo his contract to make it cap friendly, McVay said “no”.

If you look at their cap, it make sense. The Stafford numbers here, btw, are the old ones–they don’t have contract details for the new signing yet. Anyway, the point being, Kupp is costing them but not producing at that level. It’s a kind of Gurley situation.