Since he signed a three-year, $80 million contract in 2022 that the L.A. Rams were under no obligation to give him, Cooper Kupp has made $50 million over 2.25 seasons with the following numbers: 23 of a possible 38 games, 152 catches on 220 targets, 1,696 yards, 12 touchdowns, 11.2 yards per catch, and a 69% catch rate, plus two fumbles, seven drops, and seven passes intended for Kupp that were intercepted./cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73628182/2175488908.0.jpg)
From 2022 to 2023, Kupp averaged 11 games, 67 catches, 775 yards, and six touchdowns. He has already missed two games this season and is expected to miss a third on Sunday.
Kupp has made roughly $2 million per game that he was active in (he probably wasn’t “healthy” for many, or any, of them) and a little less than $5 million for every touchdown.
Though you could say that the Rams were simply rewarding Kupp for his Offensive Player of the Year, Super Bowl MVP, and triple crown season, giving Kupp what he “deserved” has amounted int L.A. having the cheapest and worst defense in the NFL...and no Cooper Kupp!
If the Rams were rewarding Kupp, it was a grave business error that hurt the future of the roster when it wasn’t necessary to do so.
But it would be even worse if the Rams extended Kupp to one of the NFL’s richest contracts going into his age-29 season because they believed he would be worth it. The warning signs and the red flags about over-30 receivers were impossible to ignore, but somehow NFL general managers, owners, and coaches continue to make the same contractual mistakes over and over and over again.
The Rams should have never extended Cooper Kupp coming off of his best career season and they have no excuses for saying “We had no way of knowing that he had peaked!”
I wrote about it in December of 2021. If Les Snead doesn’t read Turf Show Times, maybe he should start.
“Turning 29 hasn’t been kind”
Flashback to December 24, 2021 and I wrote an article with that title.
A little less than three years ago, Davante Adams was 29, Keenan Allen was 29, Stefon Diggs and Kupp were 28, Tyreek Hill was 27. There was also Tyler Lockett, 29, Mike Evans, 28, and Brandin Cooks, 28. As I wrote then, there were no star receivers in the NFL over 29 and there hadn’t really been one since Julian Edelman and Brandon Marshall, if you can even call them “stars”.
Should we check on those receivers today?
Davante Adams still had 103 catches for 1,144 yards in 2023, but his YPC was his lowest since 2015 and he missed the Pro Bowl for the first time since 2016. Generally, all of Adams numbers were trending down in 2023 and while that is partly attributable to the Raiders offensive situation, where is Adams now? On the trade block and there isn’t a team likely to give up a first round pick for him or the $90 million left on his contract through 2026.
Adams also has a hamstring injury. Not a fake one. A real one. He’s a 32-year-old receiver, there’s no reason to fool yourself into believing that Adams is faking a hamstring injury to get off of the Raiders. I mean, there’s always a reason to fake an injury to get off of the Raiders, but Davante Adams is legitimately hurt and teams are skeptical if he’s going to be a WR1 again.
Keenan Allen has missed two games with a heel injury and he’s been completely ineffective with the Bears, catching seven passes for 48 yards.
Stefon Diggs was traded to the Texans for a second round pick, which looks like a huge overpay for Houston. Diggs is averaging 9.3 yards per catch.
Tyreek Hill should in theory still be very effective, but he’s gone missing since Tua Tagovailoa’s latest injury. Hill has caught 10 passes for 87 yards in the past three games and there’s already talk about whether the Dolphins should tank and trade Tyreek.
Tyler Lockett is now WR3 on the Seahawks. He’s not as fast as he used to be and he has the worst receiving EPA on the team in 2024, catching 18 passes for 199 yards and no touchdowns. By the way, Adams, Kupp, Lockett, and Hill are four of the seven most-expensive receivers in 2025. However, I’d expect at least three to be traded or released by next year, if not all four.
Brandin Cooks can’t play football in the NFL anymore and that’s unfortunate. He has nine catches for 91 yards on 19 targets, but there’s no reason for Dak to throw him anymore passes.
Mike Evans has caught as many passes as Lockett. He has 18 catches for 214 yards and three touchdowns. Evans is on pace for his first career season with less than 1,000 yards.
So, does anyone STILL think that over-30 wide receivers are valuable or that the past 10-15 years was just some anomaly?
Here are your BEST receivers over 29 years old in the league in 2024:
31-year-old Stefon Diggs, 233 yards, 2 TD (22nd in receiving yards)
30-year-old Tyreek Hill, 217 yards, 1 TD
31-year-old Mike Evans, 214 yards, 3 TD
32-year-old Davante Adams, 209 yards, 1 TD
32-year-old Tyler Lockett, 199 yards, 0 TD
30-year-old Demarcus Robinson, 161 yards, 0 TD (58th in receiving yards)
There isn’t a 30-year-old in the top-20 of receiving yards. There isn’t one 30-year-old receiver in the NFL on pace for 1,000 yards. There isn’t a 29-YEAR-OLD on pace for 1,000 yards either. The oldest wide receiver in the top-20 of receiving yards is 28-year-old Chris Godwin, who is seventh in receiving yards.
Was this predictable?
IT WAS PREDICTED!
Will this stop teams from extending 29-year-old receivers in the future or fans thinking that their teams should extend their star 29-year-old receivers? NOPE!
Cooper Kupp continues to mend. The Rams continue to pay.
