LOS ANGELES — Star wide receiver Cooper Kupp is certain he will play football in 2025, but also indicated Monday while cleaning out the Los Angeles Rams’ lockers that the “where” isn’t necessarily up to him.
“Who knows what will happen? he said. “A lot of things are beyond my control. We’ll see (what) it’s going to be. Obviously things were happening at the start of the season and we’ll see. I have no clear idea of what this will look like. I would obviously love to be in Los Angeles but I don’t know what it’s going to be like.
Kupp was referring to the Rams’ conversations about him with other teams before this season’s trade deadline. The 31-year-old receiver and former three-time Crown winner has been with the franchise his entire career after drafting him in the third round in 2017.
“Do I want to play next year? Oh yeah,” he added with a laugh. “There’s no doubt in my mind that I want to play football. I feel like I still have a lot of good football left in me. I will definitely play – I will play football next year. That’s what I know.
Kupp finished the regular season with 67 catches for 710 yards and six touchdowns in 12 games. His goals declined over the latter part of the regular season and into the playoffs. He had four catches on nine targets in the final three regular-season games, was targeted once for a catch against Minnesota in the wild-card round and caught five passes on seven targets against the Eagles on Sunday. In his 14 games (including the playoffs), Kupp had 10 or more targets just four times and eight or more targets six times.
“For me personally, I feel like ‘man, there are things I watch (on) film and I feel good about the football I’m playing,’ but in terms of production, that doesn’t happen. don’t see,” he said.
“A lot of things are out of my control and it’s frustrating. But at the same time, we find ways to win games. Finding ways to come out of those games with Ws. Even though it wasn’t often the case offensively, we managed to do it. So yes, there is frustration. Obviously you want – I want – to be able to feel like you’re making an impact on games. This is done on a much more discreet level for many of these games. That’s what it is. But I can look back on the season and be happy with what I recorded and the things I was asked to do, I feel like I did my job. That’s all you can do.
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 receives bonuses of $12.5 million combined over the next two seasons per OTC. The $7.5 million bonus owed to Kupp in 2025 kicks in on March 19.
Kupp also said he expects a full and healthy offseason. He’s dealt with injuries in each of the last three years, including a sprained ankle that kept him sidelined for four games this year. He played nine games in 2022 and 12 games in 2023.
“I always try to take some time, stay still, stay still and think about what it was like and what the season was like,” he said. “But I’m still excited. There’s always a part of you that, every time it’s taken away from you (referring to the Rams’ divisional round loss in Philadelphia), you wake up in the morning like you’re champing at the bit. “Hey, we want to do it again.”
“You just have to fight through that, because you have to give yourself a chance to look back on what this season has been and appreciate the work that has been done.”
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(Photo: Éric Hartline / Imagn Images)
