Cooper Kupp came out of nowhere to become arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL last season. He certainly had the best numbers of any wideout, catching 145 passes for 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns, which led the NFL in all three categories.
DeSean Jackson was his teammate for the first part of the season with the Rams and he got a firsthand look at what makes Kupp so great. It’s not that Kupp is the biggest, fastest or quickest receiver in the NFL. He just works incredibly hard to master things like route running, leverage and reading defensive backs so he can find ways to get open.
On the “I Am Athlete” podcast, Jackson raved about Kupp’s game, recognizing that while the Rams’ system is favorable, Kupp puts in a ton of work to be great.
“The dude works hard. The dude is in the weight room. The dude is out at the field after practice. He blocks. Everything about him is top tier, and I saw his work,” Jackson said. “For me as a receiver, and I’m seeing him – now, the system plays a big part. I ain’t gonna take that away. Everything in that playbook, 85% is Cooper Kupp. And then if everything else don’t work out, Matt Stafford gotta figure out the 15%. But a lot of stuff is planned for him to do his thing. But he’s a dog. He’s a beast. I ain’t gonna take that away from him.”
Kupp was mostly viewed as a slot receiver but he showed the ability to win from just about any alignment last season. Out wide, in the slot, in the backfield, attached as a tight end. You name it, he lined up there.
But his bread and butter is beating cornerbacks one-on-one when matched up in man coverage and he has a two-way go out of the slot.
“The way he gets in and out of breaks, the way he sticks,” Jackson continued. “The option route, that’s the hardest route. If you’re a DB, the option route – the Edelmans, the Wes Welkers – that route, it’s the hardest thing in football to guard. You got three options to go when the dude’s playing you man. You’re gonna win.”
Jackson says Kupp is deceptively fast, too, in part because he’s always moving around and doing different things on offense, to the point where defenders don’t expect him to go deep on them.
“Now, going deep and all that other stuff is just people ain’t thinking he’s gonna do it,” he said. “But his deceiving speed is fast. His deceiving speed is like, he’s up on you and going by you. When they played the Bucs in Tampa, everybody’s saying, ‘How you get beat by Cooper Kupp down the field 50 yards?’ It’s (expletive) like that because he’s in and out of motions, going here. It’s just so much stuff in that playbook.”
Jackson wouldn’t go as far as saying Kupp is one of the three best receivers right now, but he did say he’s on the fringe of the top five. Jackson put Davante Adams, Mike Evans, Stefon Diggs and Tyreek Hill as his top four, followed by a tie with Kupp, Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase.
