After eight days of play, he is one of the stars of the 2021 NFL season: Rams receiver Cooper Kupp. With impressive performances, the 28-year-old plays his way into the group of the best wide receivers and convinces with down-to-earthness and hard work.

Los Angeles/Munich – Seven wins from the first eight games of the season – the Los Angeles Rams are heading unerringly towards the postseason.

An important part of this success is wide receiver Cooper Kupp, who has been emblematic of the upswing of the once unsuccessful franchise since 2017.

With his record-breaking performances during the current season, the pass receiver has not only joined the ranks of the top receivers, but has wowed colleagues, opponents and fans with his impressive play. 

Cooper Kupp: The best receiver in the NFL?!

924 yards and ten touchdowns – many receivers in the NFL show satisfaction when they can look back on similar records in early January. To show such a statistic after less than half of the season, however, is not an everyday occurrence.

“Honestly, it’s all about execution. It’s usually little things like that,” Cooper Kupp reveals with a sly smile. He seems to perceive his accomplishments, like here after the game against the New York Giants, modestly. Nothing out of the ordinary, let’s just keep doing what we’re doing, is probably what he’s saying.

Yet the 28-year-old’s season so far has been anything but normal: for the first time since Hall of Famer Jerry Rice in 1990, a receiver has recorded at least 900 yards and ten touchdowns in the first nine games.

Not Julio Jones, not Davante Adams, not DeAndre Hopkins – the current best receiver in the NFL is Cooper Kupp.

Kupp is in for a historic season

At 6’2″, Kupp is often overlooked, mainly because he’s not usually the go-to player for the long deep balls, but operates as a slot receiver. Most of the time, he’s the first playmaker for quarterback Matthew Stafford.

A short, uncomplicated pass and off he goes. With 366 yards, Kupp has collected the third most yards after catching the ball, only DeAndre Swift (434 yards) and Deebo Samuel (416 yards) rank ahead of the blond arrow of the Rams.

The first player in the SB era to have 800+ rec yards and 9+ rec TD in his team’s first 7 games of a season?@CooperKupp‘s been SCARY good. 👻 RamsHouse

📺: LARvsHOU — Sunday 1pm ET on FOX
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/sgVllljKLP

– NFL (@NFL) October 29, 2021

In all other important statistics, there is no way around the 28-year-old: His 924 yards and ten touchdowns are the best of all receivers, the same goes for his targets (90). Only in terms of balls caught does he have to admit defeat to Tyreek Hill (64 to Kupp’s 63).

Extrapolated to 17 games of the season, Kupp might even have the record of all records. The star records 115.5 yards every Sunday, which means he could reach 1964 yards by the end of the season – the same number as Hall of Famer and record holder Calvin Johnson.

Cooper Kupp: Underrated since 2017

Kupp’s talent has been undisputed since his debut in 2017, however, at least they would have expected such an explosion in performance. In recent years, the 28-year-old was considered more of an insider’s tip, with at least seeing him in a league with the big boys.

“Cooper Kupp is the most underrated receiver in the league,” said Packers star Davante Adams on Twitter last year. Kupp’s new sparring partner in Los Angeles, Matthew Stafford, also shares this opinion.

Cooper Kupp is the most underrated receiver in the league.

– Davante Adams (@tae15adams) November 24, 2020

“He is one of those players that is overlooked by a lot of the league. He’s extremely talented and does everything that’s asked of him, whether it’s blocking for the other guys or making a big play himself. I’m just happy to be able to play with him. “

Now the centre of attention for the Rams

That joy is reflected during games as well, thanks to Stafford, Kupp is playing as well as he ever has in his career. His personal season best of 1161 yards (2019) should fall in the coming weeks, and he has already equalled his touchdown record (ten, also in 2019). Kupp’s 14.7 yards per pass significantly exceeds his career average of 12.8.

The days of overlooking Eastern Washington’s former third-round pick are long gone. The reward for his great start to the season is being named NFC Offensive Player of the Month in October.”

@cooperkupp is built different.

Your NFC Offensive Player of the Month had 38 receptions, 557 yards, 5 TDs in October 👀 pic.twitter.com/QIvcQ1ZL90

– Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) November 4, 2021

If Kupp keeps up his level, more awards are likely to follow. His only other award to date is being selected to the 2017 All-Rookie Team by the Pro Football Writers Association (PFWA).

At home in the spotlight

Kupp’s records are one thing in any case, the Rams’ big goals are another. In the fifth year under head coach Sean McVay, the long-awaited Super Bowl victory is finally to come, if everything goes smoothly even in front of the home crowd at SoFi Stadium.

However, there are still a few games to be won before then, with Los Angeles hosting the Tennessee Titans on Monday night (highlights from Monday morning on ran.de).

As is so often the case, Cooper Kupp will once again be crucial. That shouldn’t be a problem: After all, the former underdog feels right at home in the spotlight of the big NFL stage.