LOS ANGELES — Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp said Monday there’s “no question” he wants to play football again next season. “I want to be in Los Angeles,” but he can’t control what happens. he said. Off season.
“I feel like I have a lot of good football left in me,” Kupp said during the Rams’ final locker room open session of the season. “I’m going to play soccer next year. That’s all I know.”
Kupp acknowledged the rumors that circulated at the trade deadline and addressed them during the season.
“You never know what’s going to happen,” Kupp said. “That’s out of my control. And we’ll see how it goes. … I’m not at all clear on what it’s going to be like or anything like that. So, yeah, of course L.A. I’d like to go there, but I don’t know what that will look like.”
Kupp has two years left on his 2022 contract extension, with $5 million guaranteed in 2025. If the Rams waive Kupp this offseason, they would save $15 million in cash and $7.52 million against the salary cap. If the Rams were to release him without a designation after June 1, they would absorb $22.2 million in dead money between the prorated signing bonus and the remaining $5 million in roster bonuses.
Kupp’s best season was 2021, when he finished the regular season with a receiving triple and was named Super Bowl LVI MVP.
This season, Kupp had 67 catches for 710 yards and six touchdowns in 12 regular season games. He missed four games with an ankle injury in Week 2, and missed the final regular-season game after the Rams won the NFC West.
The receiver said this season has been “frustrating” at times, with ups and downs both on an individual level and for the offense as a whole. After starting 1-4, the Rams have won 10 of their last 14 games, but the offense has struggled to find consistency.
“We have everything we’re going through offensively, and I feel like we should be better than the product we’re putting out right now in terms of production and scoring,” Kupp said. “And personally, I feel like, oh, there’s a lot of things, you’re watching the film and you’re feeling good about football and you’re feeling good about playing, but it just doesn’t show in the production. Things are out of my control. And that’s frustrating.”
Kupp had five catches for 61 yards in the Rams’ season-ending loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. In his previous five games prior to that game, he had just 10 targets, five receptions, 82 receiving yards and zero touchdowns, according to ESPN Research. He had five or more targets in each of the first nine games of the season, totaling 63 catches for 657 yards and six touchdowns.
“Obviously I want to feel like I’m having an impact on the game, and I feel like that’s happening on a more subdued level in a lot of these games.” said Kupp. “That being said, when I look back on the season, I feel like I was happy with what I put on tape and what was asked of me and I was able to do my job. It’s all we can do.”
