It’s been another great year for the Los Angeles Rams and they have one of the top records in the NFL right now along with being on their way to clinching the NFC West for the second consecutive season. That all sounds great, right? It really is and I know they got the win yesterday against the Seattle Seahawks to improve to 9-1. Although they clinched a winning season, they lost a very important piece of their offense for the rest of the season with a torn ACL and I’m talking about Cooper Kupp.
When I watch him move, I’m reminded of a basketball player when they move without the ball to get open and he has the exceptional footwork to free himself to make a catch no matter where he is on the field. He was selected by the Los Angeles Rams in the 2017 NFL Draft in the third round with the 69th overall pick out of Eastern Washington and boy did he have an impact on an offense that was the best in the league averaging 32 points a game which was a huge turnaround from the year before and he has an immediate impact and easily became Jared Goff’s go-to guy. He’s 6’1, about 204 pounds and he can stretch the field. He runs his routes so smoothly and he isn’t necessarily the quickest guy, but he does more than enough to get away from the defenders in open space. I’ve seen him do it all just about from catching wide receiver screens, making the catch and moving well with the ball in his hands and he plays the position with a reckless abandon meaning he lays all out to make the catch. When I watch him play, I’m reminded of a bigger Wes Welker because just like Wes did, Cooper does a lot of his damage on the inside in the slot.
Throughout the year, I was saying that people needed to recognize the Rams receiving core of Kupp, Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods. This is a big loss for the Rams and it’ll be tough to replace a guy who averaged five catches and 75 yards a game. It’ll be important that Cooks, Woods and Tyler Higbee all step it up to replace that production.
