Dylan Hernández: Is this the end for Cooper Kupp with Rams? And what about Matthew Stafford?

Dylan Hernández, Los Angeles Times on Jan 19, 2025

Published in Football

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LOS ANGELES — Cooper Kupp walked to the middle of an empty Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday morning.

He looked around, as if he was taking in the scene.

Hours later, Kupp trudged through the snow-covered field with his teammates, retreating to the stadium's visiting locker room in the wake of the Rams' 28-22 defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC divisional round of the playoffs.

The Rams' season was over.

Kupp's time with the team could be too.

Once the most dominant receiver in football, the 31-year-old Kupp could soon be a salary-cap casualty.

The Rams have major decisions to make in the coming winter, starting with what they do with Kupp and quarterback Matthew Stafford.

Do they take another shot at a Super Bowl with the two most important offensive players on their most recent championship team?

Or do they move on?

"I'm not really interested in talking about anything as it relates to next year," coach Sean McVay said. "I'm just appreciative of this team."

Stafford appears to be the more likely of the two to return next season. He will be 37 next month, but he still looks like Stafford and still plays like Stafford.

In the middle of a snowstorm, Stafford completed 26 of 44 passes for 324 yards and two touchdowns against the Eagles. He was for the Rams what Justin Herbert couldn't be for the Chargers.

Stafford nearly erased a 13-point deficit in the final four minutes 36 seconds, first leading the Rams on a 10-play, 70-yard scoring drive that culminated with a four-yard pass to tight end Colby Parkinson.

The Rams got the ball again with 2:32 remaining and Stafford led them into the red zone, only for the drive to be halted by a penalty and a sack.

With the ball in Stafford's hands, McVay said, "29-28 is all that I saw. There was nothing you could tell me that [it wasn't] going to go down like that."

McVay continued, "He put us in a position to be able to win that football game. That's who he is and I'm not at all surprised. We all had the expectation that with him leading the way, we were going to win that game."

That doesn't necessarily mean he'll be back.

Stafford was basically on a one-year deal after the Rams adjusted his contract right before the start of training camp, but the team couldn't have been pleased with how the process played out.

Aware that backup Jimmy Garoppolo was suspended for the first two games of the season for violating the league's performance-enhancing drugs policy, Stafford exercised his leverage to convince the Rams to pay him more this season in exchange for forfeiting money that was guaranteed to him next season.

"Obviously, proud to be associated with this group, coaching staff, front office, group of players, training staff, equipment guys, everybody," Stafford said. "As far as my future goes, I mean, it's 30 minutes after the last game, so I'll take some time to think about it. But I feel like I was playing some pretty good ball."

So he still has football left in him?

"Sure feels like it," Stafford replied.

Kupp, who caught five passes for 61 yards against the Eagles, is in a more tenuous position.

A former third-round pick out of Eastern Washington, Kupp developed into the league's best receiver and was named the league's offensive player of the year in the season the Rams won Super Bowl LVI.

However, injuries limited him since, and he hadn't looked like the same athlete he was at the height of his powers, prompting the Rams to explore trading him this season.

His decline in production was particularly noticeable in the last couple of months. He caught just four passes in the last three regular-season games and was limited to a single reception in the Rams' 27-9 victory over the Minnesota Vikings in the wild-card round.

This isn't the level of production the Rams would expect from a player who carries a cap hit of almost $30 million next season, meaning they would very likely elect to part ways with him unless he agrees to restructure his deal.

Kupp declined to speak after the Rams' elimination, saying in the middle of the somber locker room that he would address reporters the next day in Los Angeles. There will be changes for Kupp next year, if not in how much the Rams pay him, then in the uniform he is wearing.

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