Cooper Kupp plans to play next season, unsure of Rams future

LOS ANGELES – Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp said Monday that there is “no question” in his mind that he will play football next season and that while he “would love to be in LA,” he has no control over what that will happen this offseason.

“I feel like I’ve got a lot of good football left in me,” Kupp said in the Rams’ final open locker room of the season. “I’m going to play soccer next year. That much I know.”

Kupp acknowledged the rumors circulating at the trade deadline, which he also addressed during the season.

“Who knows what’s going to happen,” Kupp said. “It’s out of my control. And we’ll see what it turns out to be… I have no clarity on what it’s going to look like or anything like that. So yeah, of course would love to be in LA, but I don’t know what it’s going to look like.”

Kupp has two years remaining on the contract extension he signed in 2022, with $5 million guaranteed in 2025. If the Rams cut Kupp in the offseason, they will save $15 million in cash and $7.52 million against the salary cap. If the Rams release him without a designation after June 1, they will absorb $22.2 million in dead money due to the remaining prorated portions of his signing bonus and $5 million of his roster bonus.

Kupp’s best season came in 2021 when he finished the regular season with the receiving triple crown and was named the 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 after injuring his ankle in Week 2 and sat out the regular season finale after the Rams won the NFC West.

The receiver said the season was “frustrating” at times on a personal level and with the ups and downs the offense had as a whole. While the Rams won 10 of their last 14 games after a 1-4 start, the offense struggled to find consistency.

“There’s all these things that you weather offensively, things that I feel like, man, we should be better than the product that we’re putting out in terms of the production and the points being scored,” Kupp said. “And then just for me personally to feel, man, there’s things I watch film, feel good about football and playing, but production-wise it doesn’t show up. And a lot of things are out of my control. And it’s frustrating. “

Kupp had five catches for 61 yards in the Rams’ season-ending loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. Prior to that game, he had just 10 targets, 5 receptions, 82 receiving yards and no touchdowns in his previous five games, according to ESPN Research. He had five or more targets in each of the first nine games of the season, during which he had 63 catches for 657 yards and six touchdowns.

“Obviously, I want to be able to feel like I’m impacting games, and it’s done on a much more subtle level, I feel like, for a lot of these games,” Kupp said. “And it is what it is, but I can look back on the season and be happy with what I put on tape and things that I was asked to do, feel like I did my job. And that’s all, what you can do.”