Early in his career, Cooper Kupp was categorized as not much more than a slot receiver. But since he put together a dominant season in 2021, he’s shed that label. He’s now just viewed as one of the best wide receivers in football.
While he still does most of his damage out of the slot, Kupp can win from anywhere on the field.
Next Gen Stats recently rated the top 10 slot receivers in the NFL based on their performance from Week 1-7, and Kupp unsurprisingly topped the list. He has a slot receiving score of 94, which is the best of anyone in the NFL. Tyler Boyd is second with a score of 92, but no other receiver is above 87.
Here’s part of what the Next Gen Stats team wrote about Kupp’s ranking at the top of the list.
Sean McVay funnels the offense through Kupp, who has a league-high 32.6 percent target share, almost 10 percentage points higher than any other slot receiver (Christian Kirk is second at 22.7 percent). One of the most impressive features of Kupp’s performance is how he has been able to maintain hyper efficiency on such a high volume of opportunities. Kupp leads all wide receivers in slot receptions (26) and yards per slot route (2.8, min. 100 routes) this season. And no slot receiver moves the chains more often than Kupp — he has gained a first down on 13.9 percent of his slot routes going back to last season, making him the only WR with a rate above 11 percent.
Prior to Week 7 when the Rams had their bye, Kupp was leading the NFL in receptions with 56. He now ranks second behind Tyreek Hill, who has 57 catches in seven games. Kupp leads all wide receivers with 317 yards after the catch, 28 more than any other wideout; Austin Ekeler leads the NFL with 435 yards after the catch.
With the way he’s started the season, Kupp could contend for the triple crown again in 2022.
