All the talk surrounding the Los Angeles Rams lately has pertained to their struggles on defense, Jared Goff’s apparent regression, Todd Gurley’s limited workload and the offensive line’s inability to block anyone. All of those factors have contributed to the Rams’ consecutive losses as their record has slipped to 3-2 after a 3-0 start.
What’s gotten overlooked slightly is Cooper Kupp’s emergence as one of the top receivers in the NFL.
It’s hard to put him in the class of Julio Jones, Odell Beckham Jr. and DeAndre Hopkins talent-wise, but his numbers this season rival all three of those stars – and every other receiver in the NFL, for that matter.
After Thursday night’s nine-catch, 117-yard performance, Kupp has pulled ahead of everyone at his position.
In five games this season, Kupp has caught 41 passes for 505 yards and four touchdowns. He leads the league in receptions and yards, and is tied for first in touchdown catches. Of course, he’s played at least one more game than everyone else besides Seattle’s receivers, but Kupp’s per-game stats are still up there with the best.
He’s currently averaging 8.2 catches, 101 yards and 0.8 touchdowns per game in 2019. Only three players (Keenan Allen, Michael Thomas and Darren Waller) average more catches per game than Kupp. Allen is also the only player with at least three starts who’s ahead of Kupp in yards per game.
It’s largely thanks to his huge numbers in the last four games. He’s posted four straight games of at least 100 yards receiving, racking up 459 yards in that span. He’s just the fourth Rams receiver with at least four games of 100 yards receiving, joining Bob Boyd, Elroy Hirsch and Isaac Bruce (who did it twice).
It’ll take continually solid play like this for Kupp to truly be considered one of the three or four best receivers in the NFL, but he’s approaching the top 10 with this eye-popping stretch of four games.
Never the fastest guy on the field, nor the most physically gifted, Kupp simply finds ways to get open and make plays after the catch. It’s even more impressive what he’s done after tearing his ACL last season, looking more explosive and quicker than he was before the injury.
As long as Jared Goff continues to feed him, Kupp will have 1,000 yards receiving in no time.
