Rams’ Cooper Kupp: ‘I will be playing football next year, that much I know’

LOS ANGELES — Star receiver Cooper Kupp is certain he will be playing football in 2025, but also indicated Monday during the Los Angeles Rams’ locker clean-out that the “where” is not necessarily up to him.

“Who knows what is going to happen?” he said. “A lot of stuff is out of my control. We’ll see (what) it’s going to be. There was obviously stuff that was going on early in the season and we’ll see. I don’t have any clarity on what that’s gonna look like. Obviously would love to be in L.A. but I don’t know what that is gonna look like.”

Kupp was referring to the Rams’ conversations about him with other teams ahead of this season’s trade deadline. The 31-year-old receiver and former triple crown winner has been with the franchise his entire career after they drafted him in the third round in 2017.

“Do I want to play next year? Oh yeah,” he added, 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.”

Kupp 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 on Sunday. In his 14 games (including the postseason), Kupp had 10 or more targets just four times and eight or more targets six times.

“For me personally, feeling like ‘man, there’s things I’m watching (on) film and feeling good about the football I’m playing,’ but production-wise it’s not showing up,” he said.

“A lot of stuff is outside of my control and it is frustrating. But at the same time, we’re finding ways along that stretch to win games. Finding ways to come out of those games with W’s. Even though it was not pretty a lot of the time offensively, we got it done. So yeah, there’s frustration there. Obviously you want — I want — to be able to feel like I’m impacting games. That’s done on a much more discreet level for a lot of these games. That is what it is. But I can look back on the season and be happy with what I put on tape and the things that I was being asked to do, I feel like I was executing 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 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.

Kupp also said that he is expecting to have a full and healthy offseason. He has dealt with injuries in each of the last three years, including a high ankle sprain that sidelined him for four games this year. He played in nine games in 2022, and 12 games in 2023.

“I always try to take some time, just be quiet, be still and reflect on what it was and what the season has been,” he said. “But I’m always excited. There’s always a piece of you that whenever it’s taken away (referring to the Rams’ divisional-round loss in Philadelphia), you wake up in the morning like champing at the bit. ‘Hey, we want to get back going again.’

“You just gotta fight that, because you’ve got to give yourself a chance to look back at what this season was and appreciate the work that was put in.”

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(Photo: Eric Hartline / Imagn Images)