Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp runs against Arizona Cardinals cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting. Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Seahawks vet Cooper Kupp breaks down how NFL defenses are getting smarter

Originally posted on Seattle Seahawks on SI
By Jon Alfano | Last updated Jun 10, 2025 8:00 AM ET

Football is as much of a mental game as it is a physical one, if not more so. Often times, offenses and defenses are in a metaphorical chess match to gain the upper hand, so when one side adapts, the other is sure to counter.

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Cooper Kupp - who is not only an eight-year NFL veteran, but worked with one of the league's leading offensive minds in Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay - knows how intricate that chess match can be.

Speaking on Seattle Sports radio, Kupp gave an insightful breakdown on how defenses have evolved over the past few years to counter the high-octane offenses around the league.

#Seahawks WR Cooper Kupp with an insightful, detailed answer to @StacyRost’s question about defenses getting smarter & more complex in recent years. Cooper was on Rams teams that influenced how offense looks today & how defenses have had to adjust.

( @SeattleSports) pic.twitter.com/Dv0h4HJTiB
— Dugar, Michael-Shawn (@MikeDugar) June 8, 2025

"In 2017, 2018, Sean McVay's offense was ahead of the game," Kupp said. "There were times where we'd run plays and I was like 'they have no idea what is going on,' and we were just manipulating, moving them to where we want, it was stupid. In 2019, defenses start catching on, there's a little bit of this Vic Fangio thing that comes on. Late in 2018, there was some stuff that showed that they could kind of stop this offense a little bit. In 2019, we start seeing more of this Cover 4, some of the 6-1 stuff, you see safeties now playing things from depth and being able to cancel things across.

"Then 2020 comes, and Brandon Staley gets hired to L.A., Brandon Staley was with Vic Fangio in Chicago. Staley, in one year, puts together the No. 1 defense in the league. Now Staley's thing, he's all about concept recognition, concept match, being able to cancel routes and move on to new things. Now you've got a defense that's not just dropping into spots, but now they're playing the offense. ... The complexity of the defenses have gotten so much more because the offenses have also started doing so much more that you have to be able to have answers for it defensively."

With a new offensive coordinator in Klint Kubiak, Kupp and the Seahawks offense will look to overcome several of those complex defenses throughout the season.

This article first appeared on Seattle Seahawks on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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