The irony of Cooper Kupp being the one to score the final touchdown that lifted the Seattle Seahawks past the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship wasn’t lost on anyone on Sunday night. And according to the Athletic’s Michael Silver, it was likely more of a gut punch than some may have realized.
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After he had managed to win both the triple crown receiving title and the Super Bowl MVP award in 2021, Kupp began to see a steady yet noticeable decline in his production.
From 2021 to 2024, he averaged just 753 receiving yards per season, and with the emergence of Puka Nacua well underway, that type of drop-off proved to be more than enough for the Rams to justify moving on from him.
The #Rams urged Cooper Kupp to retire after last season, and Kupp believed they cautioned potential suitors against paying him more than the veteran minimum, per @MikeSilver
Kupp signed with the Seahawks for 3 years, $45M, scored a TD in the NFC Championship to beat the Rams,… https://t.co/OVBE6270kQ pic.twitter.com/OShIs74AP5
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 27, 2026
What fans potentially missed, however, was how Los Angeles‘ front office handled things from behind the scenes. “When it ended with the Rams, we weren’t in a good place,” Kupp informed Silver.
According to the man himself, none of the organization’s higher-ups called him to tell him “thank you” or to even wish him well in his future endeavors. And to make matters even worse, his inner circle was given good reason to believe that they cautioned potential suitors against paying him more than the veteran minimum, actively sabotaging his chances at finding employment elsewhere.
“According to sources familiar with his search for a new team,” Silver writes. “Some potential suitors expressed doubts about signing him because of what they’d heard in league circles — which his camp believed came from the Rams… The Seahawks tuned out that noise.”
In some ways, one could still argue that the Rams ultimately made the right decision. After all, Kupp is a 32-year-old who just finished the 2025 regular season with 47 catches on 70 targets for a total of 593 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Nevertheless, he’s proven that he can still make plays even while being listed as nothing more than a depth piece, and that’s exactly what the Rams didn’t anticipate. This may have been Kupp’s first touchdown of the postseason, but it couldn’t have come at a more fitting time.
His sights are now most certainly set on his upcoming match-up with the New England Patriots at Super Bowl LX, but regardless of what the final result may be, Kupp will now be able to head into the offseason and possibly retirement, knowing that he was able to exact his revenge on the very franchise that he once sought to retire with.
