Will the Cooper Kupp Signing Work for Seattle?
The Seattle Seahawks have completely rebooted this offense this offseason. First, they traded away Geno Smith to the Raiders and acquired Sam Darnold from free agency to address their quarterback position. Secondly, they cut Tyler Lockett, and traded D.K. Metcalf to the Steelers, leaving only Jaxon Smith-Njigba as the lone stand-out receiver in this offense. With the departures of Metcalf and Lockett, the Seahawks went over to their division rival, the Los Angeles Rams, and scooped up Cooper Kupp, signing him to a massive three-year deal with the team. With all this change in the Seahawks’ offense, will this work out well or terribly for the Seahawks moving forward?
Firstly, let’s look at Cooper Kupp over the past few years. Back in 2021, Cooper Kupp was considered one of the most dominant receivers in the NFL as he went on to win the “triple crown” for a receiver, leading the league in yards, receptions, and touchdowns. However, since then, Kupp has been consistently injured and hasn’t even come close to having a 1000-yard season with the Rams. This has enabled the young superstar, Puka Nucua, to explode in this offense, which made the Rams feel comfortable moving off of Kupp. The Rams didn’t want to re-sign Kupp, and they even opted to sign a different veteran receiver, Davante Adams, instead of working out a deal with Kupp.
Now, this doesn’t mean that Kupp can’t still be an effective receiver in Seattle. With Sam Darnold being used to having Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison in Minnesota, I believe the Seahawks are attempting to replicate this with Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp. However, I don’t believe that Smith-Njigba is ready to be a wide receiver one yet, and therefore, they will be asking Kupp to step up and lead this receiving core. With Cooper Kupp turning 32 years old this summer, I don’t think that he can be the premier receiver in an offense anymore, which in turn will put a lot of pressure on Sam Darnold to play at an elite level in order for this team to win games. Overall, I think signing Kupp for $15 million a year can work well for the Seahawks if they can understand that Kupp will likely get injured at some point this season, and they will need other receivers to step up to help Sam Darnold succeed in Seattle.
