Cooper Kupp knew it was coming, but it didn’t make things any easier. He was no longer in the plans of the Los Angeles Rams, the team that drafted him in the third round eight years ago. Despite his wishes to remain with the organization, the Rams informed Kupp of their intention to part ways in the days leading up to Super Bowl 59.
The move was made official shortly into NFL free agency — only it didn’t play out as general manager Les Snead would’ve liked.
Rams Release Cooper Kupp After Failing To Find Trade Partner
Like any team hoping to unload talent, Los Angeles would much rather have received something in return. But as NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported, the Rams’ attempts to trade Kupp were rejected.
“No one [was] willing to give up compensation and take on $20 million Kupp was due on his contract,” Pelissero said, which includes cap hits of $29.8 million this year and $27.3 million in 2026.
The #Rams tried to trade Cooper Kupp, who announced he was on the way out of L.A. during Super Bowl week. But with no one willing to give up compensation and take on the $20 million Kupp was due on his contract, the team will let him officially hit free agency. https://t.co/mn1LB7nVOT
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 12, 2025
The Rams designated Kupp as a post-June 1 cut, meaning they will carry his $29.78 million cap hit until then. While Kupp’s release will save the Rams $15 million in cap space next season, the club will take dead cap hits of $14.78 million in 2025 and $7.48 million in 2026. The release came five weeks after Kupp revealed the Rams’ plans to trade him via his X account.
“I was informed that the team will be seeking a trade immediately and will be working with me and my family to find the right place to continue competing for championships,” Kupp wrote on Feb. 3. “I don’t agree with the decision and always believed it was going to begin and end in LA.
“Still, if there’s one thing that I have learned over the years: there are so many things that are out of your control, but it is how you respond to these things that you will look back on and remember.”
New addition Davante Adams and third-year player Puka Nacua will lead the Rams receiving corps in 2025.
Remembering Kupp’s Career Season with the Rams
The 2021 season was one hell of a campaign for Kupp and, subsequently, the Rams. During the offseason, the club swapped Jared Goff for Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, who immediately clicked with Kupp.
In the QB-WR duo’s seminal season, Kupp won the elusive receiving triple crown and was named the Offensive Player of the Year thanks to his 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns on 145 receptions.
He averaged a whopping 119.5 receiving yards across Los Angeles’ four playoff games (his 478 yards was the second most in a postseason run ever behind Larry Fitzgerald) while adding six more scores, including two more en route to a Super Bowl 56 Most Valuable Player winto help power the Rams to a championship victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
All good things must come to an end, though, and injuries plagued Kupp since that incredible year, sidelining him for 17 games across the last three seasons. His combined stat line from 2022-24 eclipses his triple-crown triumph by only 56 catches, 312 yards, and one TD catch.
After 634 receptions, 57 receiving touchdowns (both third-most), and 7,776 receiving yards (fourth-most) in Rams history, Kupp can leave Los Angeles with his head held high. Not too shabby for a kid out of Eastern Washington.
It won’t be long before Kupp finds a new home, even if he does turn 32 one month before training camp. Some team, whether a perennial contender like the Buffalo Bills or one with a young group that needs mentorship, will quickly snap up the veteran. Doing so is all the more enticing now that his future team won’t have to surrender something in return.