Cooper Kupp is expecting to return to the form that earned him Pro Bowl, First-Team All-Pro, and Offensive Player of the Year honors during the 2021 season. The wide receiver has been plagued by injuries the past two seasons, but he says he’s feeling healthy and ready to go for the 2023 season.
Kupp is currently engaging in voluntary offseason workouts and said he wouldn’t be working as hard as he is if he didn’t feel he could still produce at a high level. ‘I don’t know if I would be still playing if I didn’t think that was still who I was,’ Kupp stated. ‘That is who I believe myself to be. I’m counting on myself to get there for my teammates; that’s the player they’re counting on to be there on Sundays, and I believe the work that I do, how I prepare, all that stuff’s going to be there to be the productive player that I know that I am.’
Ankle and hamstring injuries robbed Kupp of the past two seasons and critical offseason training. However, he sounds primed to duplicate his gaudy numbers from 2021, when he caught 145 passes for 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns.
Assuming NFL players can produce career stats season after season fails to take into account their humanity along with the brutal physical toll of the game. Besides injuries, Kupp also missed team workouts in the 2022 offseason while awaiting the birth of his third child. Put it all together, and you have some understandable reasons for his two-year dip.
Rams general manager Les Snead’s is that Kupp will overtrain to compensate, saying during last month’s owners’ meetings that ‘those types of competitors almost feel guilty for not being 100%.’ Kupp has even invited the Rams’ newest superstar wideout, Puka Nacua, to his home to train. And the youngster actually got sick trying to keep up.
“I think I threw up every day of the week,’ Nacua said. ‘He wasn’t a fan of that because it was on his lawn and stuff. He was like, ‘You’re throwing up in my bushes, Puka, thanks.'(…) I feel like I’m still trying to reach Coop’s expectations. Because he set the standard for us in the wide receiver room and for a lot of receivers in the NFL. I mean, to be the triple-crown winner. The standard is still set very high, and I don’t think I’m close to reaching it.’
Nacua certainly did his best Kupp impersonation as a rookie this past season, catching 105 passes for 1,486 yards with six touchdowns. Vomit aside, Kupp’s excited about his progress and itching to prove himself all over again:
‘I wasn’t a huge fan of that,’ Kupp said. ‘The landscaping bill goes up a little bit, but we’ll put up with that. Efficiency is a big thing for me. The more efficient you can play saves more down the line for you. Don’t do more than you have to so that you can do more when you need to. That’s kind of the mantra I live by with that. I look forward to being able to go out there this year and play some good football.’
If both wide receivers and can stay healthy, fantasy owners should expect the Rams to put up video game numbers on offense in 2024.
