Gary Davenport@@IDPSharksFeatured Columnist IVFebruary 4, 2025

1. 
3. Cooper KuppJevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
4. Life comes at you fast in the NFL.
5. Just ask Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp.
6. Back in the ancient days of 2021, Kupp caught 145 passes for 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns, winning the receiving “Triple Crown” and Offensive Player of the Year honors.
7. Now, after dealing with injuries, moving into his thirties and Puka Nacua emerging as the Rams’ No. 1 receiver, Los Angeles is looking to unload Kupp and some of his $29.8 million cap hit for 2025.
8. It was a move that didn’t sit well with the player, who said in a statement that he fully intends to continue playing—albeit apparently on a different team.
9. “2024 began with one of the best training camps of my career,” Kupp said. “Preparations start now for 2025. Highly motivated, as healthy as ever, and looking forward to playing elite football for years to come.”
10. Kupp may not be the player he once was—that 2021 season was the last time Kupp topped 1,000 receiving yards. And the Rams reportedly tried to move Kupp at last year’s deadline and couldn’t find any takers.
11. But provided Rams general manager Les Snead is willing to be realistic about what an aging wideout with a hefty salary and injury concerns is worth in a trade, there should be no shortage of interest in the MVP of Super Bowl LVI.
12. Including from these teams.
13. 
15. Kara Durrette/Getty Images
16. Rams Get: 2025 fourth-round pick, 2026 sixth-round pick
17. Chargers Get: WR Cooper Kupp
18. This writer actually mentioned this trade just last week. Now if only I could do this with Powerball numbers.
19. A pair of Day 3 picks might not seem a great return for a former Offensive Player of the Year. But look past Kupp’s past accomplishments and you have a wideout the wrong side of 30 who has struggled with injuries of late. Now that teams know the Rams want rid of him, the team has that much less leverage. Many squads will simply try to wait the Rams out and wait for Kupp to be released.
20. But something in what Kupp said in his statement after learning he was on the block could inspire the Chargers to make a run at him.
21. “I was informed that the team will be seeking a trade immediately and will be working with me and my family to find the right place to continue competing for championships,” Kupp’s statement read. “I don’t agree with the decision and always believed it was going to begin and end in LA.”
22. The Chargers could use a reliable second wide receiver to pair with rookie standout Ladd McConkey. After making the postseason in 2024, the Bolts are in “win-now” mode. With $63.4 million in cap space, the Chargers can afford to absorb Kupp’s salary.
23. And the kicker? Kupp doesn’t have to move. Doesn’t have to uproot his family. He gets to keep playing for a contender in the same stadium.
24. That could soften some of the hard feelings.
25. 
27. Cooper Neill/Getty Images
28. Rams Get: 2025 fourth-round pick
29. Bengals Get: WR Cooper Kupp, 2025 seventh-round pick
30. The Cincinnati Bengals aren’t exactly known as a franchise that does a lot of wheeling and dealing. And while the Bengals have over $46 million in cap space, the team is also about to hit one of their trickier offseasons in recent memory.
31. 2024 sack king Trey Hendrickson is about to hit free agency. So is wide receiver Tee Higgins. Superstar wideout Ja’Marr Chase is eligible for an extension that will likely make him the highest-paid player at his position in the NFL.
32. While at the Pro Bowl, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow said he remains confident that the Bengals can keep the band together.
33. “We can make it happen,” Burrow told reporters. “We can make it happen. And it just has to be right for everybody involved. I know the players want to make it work. We all want to be together. So, I don’t see it not working out, but we’ll see.”
34. There’s a thin line between optimism and delusion though—and Burrow may have crossed it. Unless he’s willing to take a pay cut or Higgins is willing to sign a below-market deal, the five-year veteran is going to be hard to keep. He could easily land $30 million a season on the open market.
35. The Rams may be balking at paying Kupp over the next two seasons, but L.A.’s opponent in Super Bowl LVI would actually be saving money by swapping out Higgins for Kupp–and that’s without restructuring Kupp’s deal. The compensatory pick the Bengals get for Higgins’ departure would be higher than what they are giving up here.
36. Last season’s failures aside, the Bengals fashion themselves a contender.
37. Replacing Higgins with Kupp could help keep them one.
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40. Nic Antaya/Getty Images
41. Rams Get: 2025 third-round pick, 2026 sixth-round pick
42. Lions Get: WR Cooper Kupp
43. You aren’t going to see a lot of NFC teams in this article. The last thing that Les Snead wants is to watch a ticked-off Kupp torch the Rams secondary multiple times over the next few years.
44. But Snead and Lions general manager Brad Holmes have already shown that they are more than willing to make a splash deal—the trade that sent Jared Goff to Detroit and Matthew Stafford to Los Angeles may be the most impactful trade of the past decade in the NFC.
45. It’s no secret that the Lions are in “win-now” mode. Or that the team is seething after the best regular season in team history was followed by an embarrassing Divisional Round loss to the Washington Commanders. Holmes also admitted a year ago that the Lions have reached a point where trading picks for veterans (as Snead did many times in building the Rams championship team) is a viable strategy.
46. “As you kind of build the roster, and get stronger in certain areas, your process alters a little bit because you can be a little bit more, we’ve always been strategic and selective, but you can even be more selective than you have in the past,” Holmes said, via Mike Payton of A to Z Sports. “So, we’re not quite there yet, where Les and the Rams are, you know, where he really started to be very, very, very selective there. But me and Ray were just talking about that and we are getting there, we’re getting closer.”
47. Pairing Kupp with wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown would make Detroit’s defense that much more lethal. The third-rounder is found money—a compensatory pick awarded after Aaron Glenn left for New York.
48. Deal for Kupp, go flip a couple firsts for Cleveland Browns edge-rusher Myles Garrett and win the damn Super Bowl.
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51. Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
52. Rams Get: 2025 fifth-round pick, 2026 fourth-round pick
53. Steelers Get: WR Cooper Kupp
54. Before anyone starts chucking tomatoes at my Twitter feed over the compensation for the Rams in this trade, let’s get real for a second. The Rams have two choices—get what they can for a 31-year-old who vanished from the Rams offense late last year, or just release Kupp.
55. The latter is what will probably happen. But if the Rams truly want to reward Kupp for his service, they will make a reasonable deal with a playoff contender—preferably in the AFC.
56. Enter the Pittsburgh Steelers.
57. The Steelers won 10 games last year and made the playoffs, but five straight losses to close the season showed that Pittsburgh is a flawed team. Quarterback may be the biggest flaw, but it didn’t help Russell Wilson last season that the team’s wide receiver corps consisted of George Pickens and a who’s who of “who?”
58. Pittsburgh had one wideout in 2024 who surpassed 550 receiving yards—Pickens. Simply put, the Steelers don’t have the firepower to hang with any of the AFC’s powerhouses—including their rivals in Baltimore. Per Sirius XM’s Kirk Morrison, Pittsburgh needs a go-to target in the passing game.
59. “Is there a No. 1 wide receiver that they truly need to help the quarterback situation that you can trust? George Pickens seems to be a No. 2, not necessarily a No. 1,” he said. “So, the Steelers, like I said, they have their work cut out for them this offseason,”
60. Whether Kupp can still be an alpha wideout is a legitimate question. But with $40.7 million in cap space and no quarterback, he’s the best option Pittsburgh can reasonably afford.
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63. Harry How/Getty Images
64. Rams Get: 2025 fourth-round pick, 2025 sixth-round pick
65. Bills Get: WR Cooper Kupp
66. This one starts with a disclaimer. For the Bills to land Kupp, it would take some financial machinations—with Buffalo in the red to the tune of $12.6 million, there would need to be some contracts restructured. Kupp’s could be among them. And moving from La-La Land to Western New York is quite the upheaval.
67. But Kupp could certainly do worse than playing with Josh Allen, and the Bills could use the help at wide receiver after yet another devastating loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs.
68. The Bills tried upgrading the wide receiver room in-season this year by acquiring Amari Cooper from Cleveland, but Cooper was invisible in Buffalo. The team needs help at wideout—and Jarrett Bailey of the Sporting News sees Kupp as a nearly ideal fit.
69. “This feels like a marriage made in heaven for the Super Bowl LVI MVP and Buffalo,” he said. “Kupp has aged gracefully into a No. 2 option with the Rams as Puka Nacua has emerged as one of the top pass-catchers in the league, but he himself is still a reliable target who can get open on any down. A player like Kupp is exactly what the Bills need. The Bills have three fourth-round picks and three sixth-round picks. A pair of those sixth-round selections should be able to get the job done for the 32 year-old. If the Rams ask for just a fourth, Buffalo should comply. Either way, this is a deal that can get done.”
70. We’ll go a fourth and a sixth—just to get the deal done.
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73. Kevin Reece/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
74. Rams Get: 2025 third-round pick, Conditional 2026 pick
75. Cowboys Get: WR Cooper Kupp, 2025 seventh-round pick
76. We know a few things about the Dallas Cowboys. We know that owner Jerry Jones has never been shy about making splash moves. We know that Dallas enters every season with Super Bowl aspirations. We know that the team didn’t come anywhere close to fulfilling those aspirations in 2024.
77. And we know that outside CeeDee Lamb, the Cowboys have problems at wide receiver—especially with Brandin Cooks set to hit free agency.
78. Jones caught more than a little flak for allowing Mike McCarthy to depart and replacing him as head coach with Brian Schottenheimer. It was an unexpected move, but Schottenheimer told reporters that he’s taking the reins with Texas-sized expectations.
79. “We’re going to win. And we’re going to win a championship,” Schottenheimer said. “Otherwise, why are we doing it?”
80. If Dallas is going to challenge the NFC champion Eagles and rising Commanders in the NFC East, the team has to plug that hole opposite Lamb at wide receiver. But with the Cowboys upside-down against the salary cap, making improvements won’t be easy.
81. Not easy doesn’t mean impossible, though. Kupp doesn’t have any money guaranteed on his deal for 2026, so getting him to restructure probably won’t be that difficult. That gets Dallas some short-term relief. The best offer among these six gets Dallas Kupp.
82. And if a motivated Kupp has anything left in the tank, he could get the Cowboys back into the mix.
83. Unless otherwise noted, salary cap information courtesy of Over the Cap.