Cooper Kupp’s Super Bowl MVP performance caps one of the greatest seasons for a receiver
.JPG "Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp waves after the Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)")
En route to one of the greatest individual seasons for a wide receiver in NFL history, the Los Angeles Rams’ Cooper Kupp generated buzz for league Most Valuable Player honors.
Kupp got one vote for the award and was named Offensive Player of the Year after a regular season in which he won the receiving triple crown, leading the league in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns.
Kupp validated the recognition in the Rams’ 23-20 Super Bowl win over the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday night with a two-touchdown performance, including the game-winning catch, that earned him MVP honors.
In the history of the NFL, Jerry Rice is the only wide receiver to win the receiving triple crown, Offensive Player of the Year and Super Bowl MVP in an entire career. Kupp did it all in the 2021 season.
His record-setting season came three years after he missed the Rams’ 2019 trip to the Super Bowl, a 13-3 loss to the New England Patriots, which Kupp said sparked a vision of the future.
“I was not able to be a part of that thing,” Kupp, 28, said after the game, “but I do not know what it was but there was this vision that God revealed to me that we were going to come back and we were going to be a part of a Super Bowl, we were going to win it, and somehow I was going to walk off the field as the MVP of the game. I shared that with my wife because I obviously could not tell anyone what that was. From the moment this postseason started, there was a belief that every game that it was written already, and I just got to play free knowing that. I got to play from victory, not for victory. I got to a place where I was validated not because of anything that happened on the field but because of my worth in God and in my father and I am just so incredibly thankful.”
Kupp’s final season stat line, including the playoffs: 178 catches, 2,425 yards and 22 touchdowns. His 33 catches in the playoffs are an NFL record for a single postseason.
The unanimous All-Pro selection was at his best when the Rams needed it most. Kept quiet for much of the night, four of his eight catches came on the game-winning drive and he evaded Bengals defenders on a 7-yard run on fourth-and-1 from the Rams’ 30-yard line.
Even with fellow wideout Odell Beckham Jr. missing all of the second half with a knee injury, the Rams found ways to get the ball in Kupp’s hands in the biggest moment.
On the game-winner, Kupp and quarterback Matthew Stafford recognized the Bengals were playing zero-coverage, leaving Kupp 1-on-1 with cornerback Eli Apple. Kupp released inside and cut back out to gain leverage before leaping to corral the fade pass.
“He deserved it all. He deserved it all,” said wide receiver Robert Woods, whose torn ACL in November sidelined him for the rest of the season. “And it’s not just this year. A lot of people just look at it and say it’s an amazing year by Cooper. It’s been an amazing years. It’s been a grind. He tore his ACL 3 years ago. Being able to sit and witness this second-hand and being able to come back, recover and help lead this team and dominate, triple crown receiver. Lead us all the way to this point and he won this thing and he’s the most deserving player. Not just this year but with all the years he put in with us.”
Kupp’s journey is one that maybe reaffirms the NFL’s status as the greatest meritocracy. A lightly-recruited prospect from Yakima, Washington, Kupp was a two-time Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year recipient at FCS program Eastern Washington before the Rams selected him in the third round of the 2017 Draft.
He had just one 1,000-yard receiving season before his breakout year in 2021 but kept building off it, going from being regarded as a savvy slot receiver to one of the league’s preeminent pass-catchers with a season that rivals any.
“I just feel so undeserving of all these awards and accolades,” Kupp said, “because I feel like I have played from a place of freedom and I have just allowed myself to be in the moment every single time there is going to be guys alongside me to make this thing come to life. I am just so thankful for them and all of these things are team awards. You don’t have a successful receiver without all the other guys doing their job so each of those guys who has stepped on the field, I am so incredibly thankful for them.”
This story was originally published February 14, 2022 at 12:37 PM.
