Cooper Kupp and the Los Angeles Rams have been synonymous since he enjoyed a breakout 869-yard, five-touchdown rookie season performance in 2017. The third-round pick was never expected to become a household name, but that’s exactly what the All-Pro receiver did in Sean McVay’s offense.
But now the Rams are below .500, and Kupp is 31 years old. If the Rams don’t get this season turned around quickly, it wouldn’t be too shocking if the Super Bowl LVI MVP became a popular name ahead of the Nov. 5 NFL trade deadline.
Recently, NFL.com highlighted seven players who could be traded soon. One of the names on the list included Kupp, largely because he’s good and because the Rams simply haven’t been competitive this season.
Even though no one wants to entertain the idea of trading one of the Rams’ best players, we pushed our pain aside and took a look at four potential Kupp trade scenarios anyway.
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Los Angeles Rams trade Cooper Kupp to Atlanta Falcons
- Los Angeles Rams trade Cooper Kupp to Falcons for 2025 fourth-round pick and 2026 fifth-round pick
Star receivers are getting traded for roughly the equivalent of a conditional third-round pick. At least, that’s what Davante Adams and Amari Cooper got traded for. Yet, Adams has had four consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and is a three-time All-Pro. Cooper has two consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and had a base salary of just $806,667.
Kupp has a base salary of $15 million this season, but he’s recovering from an injury and hasn’t recorded a 1,000-yard season since 2021. Naturally, those factors will play a role in his trade value. Sending him to Atlanta allows him to reunite with former Rams coach Zac Robinson, who’s now calling plays on offense for the Falcons. But is this enough compensation to get the Rams to bite?
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Rams trade Kupp to Chiefs
- Los Angeles Rams trade Cooper Kupp to Chiefs for conditional 2025 third-round pick
If the Rams want to avoid giving their star receiver to a fellow NFC contender, perhaps listening to trade calls from the Chiefs could make more sense. Kansas City has lost rising star Rashee Rice to a lengthy injury, and adding another reliable target could be just what’s needed to help Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid threepeat.
The Chiefs have two third-round selections, their own and Tennessee’s, stemming from the L’Jarius Sneed trade, so they may be more willing to part what they expect to be one of the final picks in the third round. Meanwhile, even if the pick comes late in the round, it may be the highest selection the Rams can feasibly get in return for Kupp.
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Rams ship Kupp to Ravens
- Los Angeles Rams trade Cooper Kupp to Ravens for 2025 fourth-round pick and OLB David Ojabo
Another potential scenario sees Kupp traded for a draft pick and a player. Obviously, we don’t have access to the Rams’ player evaluations, so there’s no way to know which players Les Snead secretly covets. However, we’d be willing to bet there’s at least one player on every team that the Rams would happily add to their roster.
In this Kupp trade, we see the Rams get a decent draft pick in exchange while also taking a flier on the 45th overall pick from 2022. Ojabo slipped in the draft because it was known that he’d miss most of his rookie season with a torn Achilles. He’s played in just 11 games since, but the 6-foot-4, 252-pound edge rusher could still have a high ceiling.
Steelers add Kupp via trade
- Los Angeles Rams trade Cooper Kupp to Steelers for 2025 fifth-round pick and WR Calvin Austin
We gave some thought to placing the Chargers on this list, but we don’t see GM Joe Hortiz splurging on an expensive, aging receiver. He just got rid of two of those this past offseason by cutting bait on Keenan Allen and Mike Williams.
However, the Steelers have been linked to just about every wide receiver that becomes available. However, they may already have their WR1 in George Pickens, so adding a veteran who can help the youngster reach his full potential may be their best move.
Meanwhile, this trade sees the Rams get another young receiver back in exchange for Kupp. Calvin Austin was a fourth-round pick in 2022 who’s among the top receivers in Pittsburgh. Yet, he’s not the alpha, and Roman Wilson was just added via the third round back in April. We figure, with Pickens as the WR1 and Kupp as the WR2, that leaves former Ram Van Jefferson and Wilson fighting for WR3 duties in Pittsburgh.
This trade still gets the Rams a future draft pick while allowing Coach McVay to see if he can work some magic with another shifty receiver in Austin, who clocked a 4.32 40-yard dash during the pre-draft process.
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