Rams to release former Super Bowl MVP

This will make Kupp a first-time free agent, and although no trade materialized, Kupp will generate FA interest, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo adds. At least three teams have known interest, Fox Sports’ Peter Schrager notes. 

The Packers should be a team to watch here, KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson tweets, mentioning the Seahawks and Titans as potential fits as well. The Raiders would also be interested, per The Athletic’s Tashan Reed, though they do not appear willing to make this move without a notable discount.

Kupp will join a host of accomplished early 30-something WRs in free agency. Stefon Diggs, Keenan Allen, Amari Cooper and Tyler Lockett are also available. None put together a season quite like what Kupp did in 2021, though his injuries since will limit his market. 

Kupp’s availability also stands to affect the above-referenced wideouts’ markets, as it is becoming crowded at receiver in free agency. Diontae Johnson joins this cast, but the veteran starter’s complicated 2024 has tanked his stock.

The Rams will be on the hook for a $5M Kupp salary guarantee this year and prorated signing bonus money in 2025 and 2026. They will, however, avoid a $7.5M roster bonus by moving on now. The Rams can split the $22.26M dead money bill over two offseasons with a post-June 1 designation. That expected move will create $15M in 2025 cap savings.

Kupp, 31, said HC Sean McVay told him he would be traded shortly after the season. The former triple-crown winner made the Rams’ intentions public, indicating he was out after eight seasons. GM Les Snead said Kupp’s $7.5M bonus, which was due in a few days, served as the deadline for a decision and never made it sound like a ninth season together was in the cards.

Between the time the Rams informed Kupp he would be out of the picture soon and the actual release transpiring, the team agreed to a deal with Davante Adams. The three-time All-Pro will step in alongside Puka Nacua. 

The Rams’ Adams contract only brings 2025 guarantees, as a 2026 cut with a bit of dead money attached would be in play if that does not prove it. Adams, however, has stayed much healthier than Kupp and has shown more consistency as a high-end receiver — even if Kupp has produced this decade’s best WR season.

The former third-round pick out of Division I-FCS Eastern Washington, Kupp made the closest push to Calvin Johnson‘s single-season receiving record. He paired 145 receptions and 16 touchdowns with 1,947 receiving yards. 

Kupp also trails only 2008 Larry Fitzgerald for yards in a single playoffs, having totaled 478 and six TDs — including a Super Bowl LVI game-winner — to help the Rams to a title. Significant injury trouble intervened in the years that followed, as ankle and hamstring maladies kept him off the field for 18 games over the past three seasons.

The Rams had given Kupp two extensions, with the second coming less than two years after the first. Kupp agreed to a three-year, $47.25M extension in 2020 — after he had bounced back from a 2018 ACL tear with a 1,000-yard 2019 — and he inked a three-year, $80.1M deal months after Super Bowl LVI. Kupp ultimately could not deliver on the second payday, though he still showed he has starter-level form in his tank.