Rams Release Former NFL Offensive Player of the Year
The Los Angels Rams are officially releasing former NFL Offensive Player of the Year Cooper Kupp on Wednesday.
After spending over a month on the trade block, the Los Angeles Rams have officially released star wide receiver Cooper Kupp, per NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero.
It doesn’t come as a surprise after the Rams signed star wide receiver Davante Adams on Sunday. That signaled Los Angeles was going to part ways with Kupp at some point and interested teams knew they wouldn’t have to give up anything to acquire him if they just stayed patient.
“The most likely option for Cooper Kupp has been a release,” NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport said. “That really has been the indication ever since Cooper Kupp took to the Twitter machine Super Bowl week and basically said, ‘The Rams are going to try to trade me, but either way, I am headed out of there.’ Once a player announces that, knowing that Cooper Kupp had $20 million coming, it was most likely that he was going to be released.”
Kupp had two years remaining on his contract. He was owed $20 million in 2025 and $19.85 million in 2026. Only $5 million of that money was guaranteed, but teams wanted to sign him on their own terms.
The only thing those teams must worry about now is bidding against each other.
“The contract was a problem, not his play,” Rapoport said. “Yes, he’s a little older, maybe not quite what he was, but this is a guy that can still play. Teams really do believe that. This was just about his contract. So a trade is not expected to materialize, likely to be released and then really have a strong market.”
The soon-to-be 32-year-old does come at a bit of a risk. He has missed significant playing time in each of the past three seasons due to injury. He played nine games in 2022 and 12 each in 2023 and 2024 while dealing with multiple ankle injuries and a hamstring issue.
However, Kupp can still prove to be a serviceable wide receiver for another team. His best football is behind him, but he still had 67 catches for 710 yards and six touchdowns in 12 games in 2024.
The Pittsburgh Steelers already traded for wide receiver DK Metcalf, but they have had previous interest in the 2021 NFL Offensive Player of the Year.
If that remains true, the Steelers may just look to make another splash at wide receiver for Kupp. That would also give Pittsburgh the ability to move on from highly-criticized wide receiver George Pickens, if it so chooses.