Without Cooper Kupp, how much longer will Matthew Stafford play for the Rams?

The end of an LA Rams chapter, the start of a new one. Some have turned the latest Rams rumors about trading veteran wide receiver Cooper Kupp into a perpetrator-victim narrative. That is the furtherest thing from the truth. Cooper Kupp is a professional athlete, a true competitor in every sense of the word. But competition brings winners and losers. Winners is epitomized in the climatic euphoria of a Super Bowl winning team celebrating with fans.

Losing is not about the team that lost the Super Bowl. The deepest emotional toll comes when a professional sports team decides that a player who has been a principal contributor for years no longer fits the team's plans for the future. That cuts more deeply than any loss on the football field.

And right now, that is the message being sent to All-Pro veteran wide receiver Cooper Kupp.

Stafford sees everything

When the LA Rams traded for veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford, the transition for Stafford was not a seamless one. As he learned the Rams offensive playbook, the offense was run by other quaterbacks. It was not until he had command of the playbook that Stafford was allowed to drive the offense in drills.

It was clear from those early offensive drills that he had chemistry with WR Cooper Kupp. Whatever the defense did, Stafford was able to see, diagnose, and react to the plays by putting the ball exactly where it needed to be. And surprisingly, Kupp made the same adjustments. The two read the defenses the same way, and Kupp ensured that he was where he needed to be when the football arrived.

Instant chemistry between a quarterback and a wide receiver is not easy to come by. But the type of unspoken communication between Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp was one for the NFL record books. Now 31 years old, a veteran Cooper Kupp has been told that the Rams want to trade him instantly. He has missed 18 games in the past three seasons while suiting up for 33 games. He has averaged 753 receiving yards and six touchdowns over the past three seasons.

If healthy, Cooper Kupp is easily a 1000+ receiving yards, 8+ receiving touchdowns player. And yet, he is on the trading block, and Matthew Stafford sees how quickly the Rams leader of the receiving room is shed from the future plans of the team. Stafford also sees that he is five years older than Cooper Kupp.

Money matters, and so much more

The Los Angeles Rams have veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford under contract through 2026. But the team anticipates a difficult negotiation to get Stafford in training camp. The reason is pretty simple. Money matters. That's right. To ensure that Matthew Stafford would play in 2024, the team agreed to accelerate practically all of the guaranteed salary in Stafford's contract to fall in the 2024 NFL season.

Now in 2025, the guaranteed salary is depleted, save for a $4 million roster bonus that comes due on March 14, 2025. Stafford will insist on a sizeable portion of his 2025 salary to be guaranteed. That could pose a problem, as the team has seen a steady degradation of Matthew Stafford's performance since 2021. Just as a reminder, that is the same time frame for Cooper Kupp's decline as well:

And so, the contract negotiation to compel Stafford to training camp could become very involved, even if the money matters seem relatively benign at first glance.

The Rams roster benefits from strong bonds of friendship. Cooper Kupp wants to play for the Rams. He disagrees with the decision to trade him. And Matthew Stafford is his very close friend. The line between just business and loyalty are awfully blurred right now. As is the case quite often in the NFL, the matter of right or wrong can be as fickle as which day of the week we find ourselves.

The thing is, with the team actively seeking to trade Cooper Kupp just days after many NFL analysts and Insider were convinced that he would be back in 2025 shows how the NFL got its other nickname: "Not For Long." And so, Matthew Stafford is not just viewing the next contract negotiation as guaranteed salary dollars. Rather, this now takes the shape at redefining what is most likely the last contract of his NFL career.

If negotiations go awry, Stafford and the Rams may paint themselves into a stalemate that could force the two sides to part ways in 2023. Unlikely? Perhaps. But it's not unheard of.

I made the mistake of discounting Rams rumors about Cooper Kupp when the season ended. Until 2025, Kupp had always seemed like a player who was willing to sit down at a negotiating table with the team. In 2025, that option never seemed to occur. So I won't discount rumors or scenarios like that so easily the next time.

It's unlikely that veteran QB Matthew Stafford does not return in 2025. But we have to give that scenerio more than a passing thought right now.

The team has QB Stetson Bennett on the roster. I expect that if the Rams made a legitimate effort to re-sign veteran Jimmy Garoppolo, he would give serious consideration to coming back. Like Cooper Kupp, the Rams front office understands that there are never good reasons to part ways with a trusted player. There are only sound business reasons to do so.

As always, thanks for reading.

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