When Cooper Kupp finished playing his senior season of high school football, it didn't look like he was going to take football to the next level—at least not on a scholarship.
According to ESPN, Kupp had no scholarship offer until three weeks after his senior season. Despite the fact that his father Craig Kupp and grandfather Jake Kupp both played in the NFL, none of the coaches responded to tapes sent to them.
Nine years later, Kupp is one of the NFL's best receivers. The 6-2 playmaker works out the slot for the Rams and has a great start to the 2021 NFL season. He has established a strong rapport with Matthew Stafford and ranks as the No. 1 fantasy football receiver in most formats.
How did Kupp reach this height? It was a long journey for him that started in FCS. Here's a look at how the Kupp rose through the ranks to become the Rams' top pass-catcher.
Kupp moved to eastern Washington during his college career. FCS School is most famous for its area, which includes red turf and is affectionately known as "The Inferno". Per NCAA.com, Kupp opted to move to eastern Washington over an offer from the state of Idaho.
Kupp blossomed while playing for the Eagles. He helped lead Eastern Washington to a 41–11 record during his time with the team and set several NCAA records. This includes the NCAA's all-time received yards record (6,464 yards), and below are the FCS records that pertain to it:
Kupp's strong game put him on the map ahead of the 2017 NFL Draft. He was considered one of the top receiver prospects in a strong draft class that also included Mike Williams, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Curtis Samuels.
"He didn't waste a minute," then-Eastern Washington coach Beau Baldwin said of Kupp in 2017, according to ESPN. "I know a lot of people say it, but he wasn't really letting anyone get ahead of him."
Why the Rams drafted Cooper Kupp
The Rams eventually drafted Kupp in the third round of the 2017 NFL Draft. He was the seventh receiver chosen and was the 69th overall pick at the beginning of the third round.
Rams coach Sean McVay was "excited" to land Kupp at that point in the draft. He raved about Kupp's intelligence and said that he was one of the most pro-ready receivers he had evaluated.
"I think he's wired the right way," McVay said of Kupp in a post-draft press conference. "You can see he's always got a plan at the line of scrimmage with how he's going to work versus different coverages and where the holes are in that coverage. He's got great hands.
"You see a guy that understands the game," McVay added. "You watch him play, you see he's got those pre-snap plans that, a lot of times, you don't see. He is one of the more polished college receivers that I've evaluated coming out in a while."
McVay's assessment ended up being right on, as Kupp progressed quickly with the Rams.
Cooper Kupp's first four years with Rams
Kupp burst onto the scene and recorded 869 receiving yards and five touchdowns. This came to the surprise of nobody, least of all, Sean McVay.
"I think one of the things that really impressed us about Cooper, just watching him in college is that one of those receivers that sees the game through the quarterback's eyes," McVay said in a press conference in August of 2017. “He always has a plan at the line of scrimmage, understands coverages and route concepts and I think that's what enables him to be such a productive player and very advanced for a rookie.
“He’s one of the more mature rookies that I’ve ever been around and we’re expecting some good things from him moving forward.”
The Rams were hopeful that Kupp would parlay that into a bigger role in 2018. He played well to start the season and totaled 50 catches for 566 yards and six touchdowns in eight games. Unfortunately, he suffered a torn ACL and missed the latter half of the season.
Kupp made a full recovery ahead of the 2019 season. He put together his best season to date, racking up 94 catches, 1,161 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns. That included a game in which he recorded a career-high 220 receiving yards.
In 2020, Kupp came just shy of back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons while posting 92 catches, 974 yards and three TDs. His profile continued to rise, and he drew praise from another of the NFL's elite receivers, Davante Adams.
Cooper Kupp is the most underrated receiver in the league.
— Davante Adams (@tae15adams) November 24, 2020
And a year later, Kupp has ascended to another level, thanks, in part, to his new quarterback.
Cooper Kupp's connection with Matthew Stafford, Ocho route
After two weeks with Matthew Stafford, Kupp had two 100-yard receiving games, and it became clear that he and Stafford were becoming a dynamic duo. All you had to do was talk Stafford about Kupp in the wake of the Rams' 24-21 win over the Colts in Week 2.
"He's one of those guys who gets overlooked as anyone in the league," Stafford said about Kupp in his press conference. "He's extremely talented, he does everything we ask him to do, whether it's blocking for his other guys on the team. Whether it's a receiver or running backwards, running down the field, big Make big plays, catch the ball behind the line of the scuffle and go for big plays. He's a really talented player, and I'm glad I got to work with him.
Stafford is certainly making this known. He has already targeted Kupp 46 times in four matches. Kupp has 431 yards and five NFL-high touchdowns in the season and is proving that he is one of the NFL's best receivers.
Not only is Kupp on pace for a career year, but he is making moves he has never done on the football field. This involved running the "ocho" route, a move he made. Essentially, he pretends to run a pivot on the play and breaks back outside, stopping the defensive back in his tracks.
No WR has been more impressive through Week 3 than Cooper Kupp — currently leads the NFL in yards per route run (3.86), per @PFF. pic.twitter.com/OJhqIorqHe
— Austin Gayle (@PFF_AustinGayle) September 28, 2021
In fact, Kupp has been so lethal as a root runner that teams are focusing on him third down to tarnish the Rams' offense. Cardinals' Byron Murphy admitted that Arizona's 37–20 win over Los Angeles was a big part of his game plan.
"We know what kind of player he is," Murphy said. "The emphasis was on [him] this week because we know that on the third down, he is a favorite target."
Kupp will continue to attract a lot of attention throughout the rest of the season. He was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Month for September, and graded out as a top-10 NFL receiver, according to Pro Football Focus.
Not bad for a kid who didn't have a college offer until three weeks after his senior session ended.