By Jourdan Rodrigue, Dianna Russini and Jake Ciely
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay confirmed on Friday that star receiver Cooper Kupp will play against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
The Athletic initially reported the expectation that Kupp would play on Friday morning.
“It feels great, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” said Kupp after Friday’s practice, in his first interview since the Rams placed him on injured reserve at the start of the season. “Really excited to be back playing football again.”
The hope and expectation, said Kupp, is that the extra recovery time while on injured reserve will prevent future issues or a need to manage an injury.
“The way we went into this was to plan on not having this be something we have to deal with,” said Kupp. “That was, I think, part of the plan. Going in and having me go on IR (meant) being able to give me that time to make sure this wasn’t something that we were gonna have to deal with.” Kupp continued, “But (having to manage it) is certainly not the expectation I have.”
McVay said that he so far does not expect any specific limitations to Kupp’s game workload on Sunday, but added, “I think we’ll see how it goes. I think what you do know is (that) once he gets going, you want to be smart about it. I also know that once a game gets going, you’re kind of in that moment. … It’ll be something that we’ll want to be careful about, but I think there will be a lot of that communication in terms of how he’s feeling as well because he has such a good ability to do that with myself and the rest of our coaches.”
The Rams upgraded Kupp’s workload through the week, and he was a “full” participant in those practices. Kupp looked “sharp” and felt good enough to extend for the football, even making a one-handed grab, per team sources.
In the media viewing portion of practices, Kupp did not appear to be limited in any movements. The Rams designated Kupp to return to practice Wednesday, and league sources said at that time that he was pushing to play Sunday.
Kupp, 30, started the season on injured reserve with a hamstring injury after missing most of training camp.
How has Kupp looked at practice?
Kupp was a full participant at practice all week (despite Wednesday’s listing of “limited”). From the time media is allowed to view practice, I watched Kupp run through a variety of routes in individual drills, and he looked sharp with what appeared to be good trust in the leg that he had issues with.
“He looked good,” Rams star defensive tackle Aaron Donald said Thursday. “He’s been looking good for the past few weeks, so to have him back out there was good. It’s going to be big for us. Not just having a great leader out there, but a big productive player. It’ll make us that much better.” — Jourdan Rodrigue, Los Angeles Rams writer
Should fantasy owners start him?
Even at 50 percent of the snaps, you’re starting Kupp everywhere. Put him in all lineups as a WR1 play. As for Puka Nacua, this isn’t the end. He’s still a top 20 receiver and near must-start, as we see plenty of teams with two top 20 options (Philadelphia Eagles, Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins, etc.).
The Rams are one of the highest-paced teams with one of the highest pass rates. Don’t worry about it either … but Tutu Atwell and Tyler Higbee are back to being risky. — Jake Ciely, senior fantasy writer
Backstory
Kupp has been dealing with hamstring issues since the summer, missing most of training camp. He saw a specialist in Minnesota to get more clarity on the issue, which flared up again after he participated in joint practices in Denver in mid-August.
McVay deferred to Kupp in discussing the specifics of the injury, but added on Friday, “I think just time … the body is such a complex thing. Feeling good, and then I think time and having a consistent rhythm and routine and then not necessarily feeling like you have to rush back for that Sept. 10 (opener), I know it was kind of weighing on him a lot. … That was just kind of always in the back of his mind because he’s such a conscientious guy and (felt) obligated.
“Being able to say, ‘OK, you’ve got a month, you’ve got four weeks. And if you’re not ready by Philly, then we’re not gonna rush that either.’ I think there was a benefit of just the overall time (and) ability to have a good rehabilitation program structured toward building the overall strength and trying to eliminate some of the, whether it was the sensations or the things that were in alignment with a muscle strain or whatever it was, he’s feeling good now.”
When asked by The Athletic last Friday how much Kupp’s own opinion and desire to play could factor into his return, McVay said, “100 percent. It’s our dialogue.”
“I trust the way that he knows how to feel,” McVay added. “So, he’s practicing next week. We’re gonna see how he feels. Obviously, there are opinions that really matter. But he’s the one that matters the most, to me, because I know he knows his body.
“We’re not going to do anything that’s reckless. But I also have enough trust and confidence in our relationship, knowing how intentional he is about educating himself (and) using the information at his disposal. … If he feels good enough, and the situation (is) in alignment where we’re ready, we’re gonna get Cooper back and ready to compete for us.”
Last season, Kupp caught 75 passes for 812 yards and six touchdowns in nine games. He was the NFL’s Triple Crown winner in 2021, the year the Rams won the Super Bowl.
In his absence, Nacua has emerged as Los Angeles’ lead option, hauling in a league-high 39 passes for 501 yards in four games this year.
Required reading
(Photo: Kirby Lee / USA Today)
