LA Rams Cooper Kupp was 2021 NFC OPOY and SB MVP. What’s next?

The LA Rams certainly hit the jackpot in 2021, didn’t they?  I mean, who would have guessed that veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford would set the Rams’ All-Time Single Season record? Okay, we did, and that was a rather cheap way to get that little factoid in there. But, to be fair, the feedback in the comments section for that article was pretty harsh. So we get our mandatory last laugh. Now, for the good stuff.  Stafford’s chemistry with wide receiver Cooper Kupp was sensational all season long, but never on full display like in the second half of Super Bowl LVI.

And we expect that to continue.

The 2021 resurgence of WR Cooper Kupp certainly was a pleasant surprise, wasn’t it? Well, more like availability through the entire playoffs. That’s always been a bit of a concern for Rams fans. The team appeared in the 2018 NFL playoffs without Kupp and lost in Super Bowl LIII due to a struggling offense. Would Kupp have made a difference? It would have been nice to know.

Where’s Cooper?

His absence in the 2020 NFL Playoffs, when the LA Rams traveled to face the Green Bay Packers in the Divisional Round, was one more occasion where the Rams offense could have used Kupp.  Would Kupp have made a difference? It would have been nice to know there too.

And that was all the background leading up to the 2021 NFL season. For years in the NFL, a player who flirted with 1,000 yards each year. He improved each season: In precise route running, blocking, and most of all, catching the football.  Kupp, alongside teammate Robert Woods, had formed a solid bond and were impressive complements to one another in the Rams’ pass-centric offense.

In 2019, both Kupp and Woods put up over 1,000-yard seasons.  In 2020, both were oh-so-close to achieving the 1,000-yard plateau but fell short.  Then, 2021 happened. Woods fell to injury, and Kupp had the type of season that was simply unbelievably effective.