For the past two years, organized team activities for Cooper Kupp have been about building a rapport and working on his craft as a receiver. This offseason has been different as he continues to recover from a torn ACL suffered in November.
Kupp has been doing some on-field work, but only in jog-through sessions and individual settings. He hasn’t gone full speed with his teammates yet, which can understandably frustrate a motivated player like Kupp.
He knows the Rams are being smart with his rehab by taking it slow – the season is still three months away – but at the same time, he wishes he could do more right now.
“It’s frustrating because you feel like you can go more, but you trust that there’s a process to this [from those who have] been through this stuff a lot more times than you have, thankfully,” Kupp said. “And I’m very thankful to have that – to have guys that know what they’re doing and are going to be that wisdom that I need to make sure that I’m going to be in the right place at the right time.”
The Rams’ top priority is having Kupp ready for Week 1 against the Panthers. They’re not going to rush him back, even as badly as he wants to get back to full speed. He’ll likely have to take it relatively slow in training camp and almost certainly won’t play in the preseason as the team tries to protect him from any setbacks.
It might be a slow process, but Kupp is trying to stack good days on good days right now in hopes of being ready for Carolina in September.
“A good day is being able to get in here early, get some great work in and then feel good about leaving here about what kind of work I’ve put in and being able to go home and spend time with the family and get ready for another day,” Kupp said.
