Cooper Kupp was on his way to having a tremendous second NFL season in 2018 before it was sadly derailed by a knee injury. He was limited to just eight games after tweaking his knee in Week 6 and then tearing his ACL in Week 10 against the Seahawks. In his first six games, he had 30 catches for 438 yards and five touchdowns, catching 73.2 percent of the passes that came his way.
He’s expected to be ready for the start of the season and assuming he’s healthy, he should be among the top candidates to win Comeback Player of the Year. That’s the way Pro Football Focus sees it, ranking him among the top 10 players vying for that very award in 2019.
Cooper Kupp wasn’t just off to a solid start to the 2018 season; he was in the midst of a career year as a receiver. He had already bettered his receiving grade, his catch rate, his yards per reception average and his yards after the catch per reception average from his rookie year. And among the 99 wide receivers with at least 150 receiving snaps from Week 1 to Week 10, Kupp’s 2.27 yards per route run ranked 12th, and his near-perfect WR rating of 145.9 ranked third.
An ill-timed ACL tear cost him a chance at playing in the Super Bowl last year, a game in which the Rams badly missed him, but as a member of one of the most creative offensive units in football, Kupp should find his way back to the top in 2019.
Kupp will have some stiff competition for the hardware. Travis Frederick is one of the best centers in the NFL but missed the entire 2018 season due to an autoimmune disorder. Earl Thomas had his season cut short by a broken leg after just four games and should bounce back with a great season in Baltimore.
Jimmy Garoppolo is a relative unknown in the NFL still, but he has the makings of a Pro Bowl quarterback and could break out in 2019. Deion Jones, Jason Verrett and Hunter Henry are among the other names on PFF’s list.
The Rams are deep at WR and there are a lot of mouths to feed on offense, but Kupp will get his share and should continue to have success in L.A.
