The Minnesota Vikings are a championship-caliber football team.
Maybe that’s wishful thinking, considering the Vikings just went 14-2 and then faceplanted in the final two games, sending them to Cancun earlier than they had planned. Still, they have enough talent to compete in a wide-open NFC.
Therefore, Minnesota must exercise caution this spring. The Vikings have $58 million in cap space but only four picks in the 2025 draft. While the temptation is to go “Full Rams,” they also must consider their championship window, which hopefully extends into J.J. McCarthy’s prime.
That means Kevin O’Connell must unlock Minnesota’s offense, and he may call an old friend to help him do it.
O’Connell’s former employer, the Los Angeles Rams, announced Monday night that they intend to trade Cooper Kupp this offseason. The 31-year-old believes he still has enough in the tank but will begrudgingly work with the Rams to find a trade partner next offseason.
Each team would be interested in adding a former All-Pro to their lineup. However, O’Connell may have extra incentive to bring him to Minnesota.
The Rams took Kupp 69th-overall out of Eastern Washington in 2017, and he turned into a superstar. He caught 62 passes for 869 yards and five touchdowns in his rookie season and 40 passes for 566 yards with six touchdowns before tearing his ACL in 2018.
Kupp returned to form the following season, catching 94 passes for 1,161 yards and 10 touchdowns. However, while he was already a top target in Sean McVay’s offense, he took off when O’Connell became the Rams’ offensive coordinator in 2020.
Under O’Connell, Kupp caught 92 passes for 974 yards and three touchdowns. While those numbers aren’t disappointing, they could have been better if not for Jared Goff’s struggles. Los Angeles traded for Matthew Stafford one year later, and Kupp took off with 145 catches for 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns.
Kupp became the first receiver to win the NFL’s Triple Crown since Steve Smith in 2005. He also helped the Rams win the Super Bowl, paving the way for O’Connell to become the Vikings’ head coach ahead of the 2022 season.
O’Connell has taken off with the Vikings. He’s had one of the most successful stretches in franchise history since Bud Grant was head coach. However, Kupp hasn’t been the same player for various reasons.
One is that Kupp has missed 18 games over the past three seasons. The other has been Puka Nacua‘s emergence. The 2023 fifth-round draft pick has proven to be another Day 3 steal by L.A.’s front office. Then there’s Father Time, who has started to bear down on Kupp as he enters his 30s.
In many ways, Kupp’s career has played out the same way as Adam Thielen’s did in Minnesota. A top target for the Vikings, Thielen broke out in 2017, catching 91 passes for 1,276 yards and four touchdowns. He followed that up a year later by catching 113 passes for 1,373 yards and nine touchdowns.
While Thielen played four more seasons in Minnesota, he wasn’t the same player. After 2018, he failed to eclipse 1,000 yards and missed 11 games. The Vikings still signed Thielen to a three-year, $44.6 million extension before the 2022 season. However, they asked him to take a pay cut the following year. The Vikings could have traded Thielen but couldn’t find a suitor and released him to clear cap space.
The Rams could encounter a similar situation with Kupp. With two years left on a three-year, $80.1 million extension, teams will likely see the writing on the wall and refuse to offer anything meaningful in a trade. That could lead to Kupp’s release and an advantageous situation for the Vikings.
The Vikings are stacked at wide receiver but top-heavy at the position. While Justin Jefferson isn’t going anywhere, Jordan Addison could face a suspension at the beginning of next year after a DUI arrest last July. Jalen Nailor stepped up as the third receiver last season but is a significant drop-off from Addison when promoted to the No. 2 spot.
That puts the Vikings in the market for depth this offseason, but they have bigger needs. With only four picks in the draft, they can’t make a luxury pick or trade one to make that happen. While they have the cap space, it would be more beneficial if they could pick Kupp up at a discounted price.
Still, a Kupp-O’Connell reunion could work for both sides. O’Connell gets a receiver that can soften the blow for Addison’s absence and be another weapon for McCarthy when Addison returns. There’s also Kupp’s advantage of knowing the principles of O’Connell’s offense, which he could see as an opportunity to return to form.
Nobody should expect Kupp to return to the Triple Crown form he showed in 2021. Still, he could complement Minnesota’s core. A reunion between Kupp and O’Connell makes sense, and it could get the best out of the Vikings’ offense.
