Rams receiver Cooper Kupp is eager to build on his rookie season
Rams receiver Cooper Kupp ended his first NFL season among the league’s top rookies.
A third-round pick from Eastern Washington, Kupp caught 62 passes for 869 yards and five touchdowns. He averaged 14 yards per reception.
“I believed in myself coming into this and being able to play at this level,” Kupp said Sunday after he gathered belongings from his locker at the team’s facility in Thousand Oaks. “So it’s obviously great being able to help produce.”
Three rookies caught more passes than Kupp, including New Orleans’ Alvin Kamara (81), Carolina’s Christian McCaffrey (80) and the New York Giants’ Evan Engram (64).
Kupp added another eight catches for 69 yards and a touchdown to his total in a loss to the Atlanta Falcons in an NFC wild-card playoff game, but was disappointed in the team’s abrupt postseason exit.
“We came up shorter than we wanted,” Kupp said. “Expectations were higher than that.”
Kupp said he would work with teammates to develop an offseason routine to find balance among working out, watching film and personal time.
“I’m going to talk to some of the vets and put a good plan together,” Kupp said. “And be able to attack this thing and be ready to go.”
Kupp was among a young receiving corps that developed chemistry with quarterback Jared Goff.
Goff targeted Kupp a team-high 95 times.
In a victory over the New Orleans Saints, Kupp caught eight passes for 116 yards, and in a defeat by the Philadelphia Eagles, he caught a 64-yard pass and followed with a six-yard reception for a touchdown.
“To be able to have an offseason together, to be able to grow and just continue to get reps and go through film together and just get that time, just being able to build that relationship,” Kupp said about Goff, “I think will be good.”
Kupp also suffered a few miscues.
The rookie dropped a possible game-winning touchdown pass in a loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 5, fumbled on the one-yard line in a loss to the Minnesota Vikings and dropped a critical third-down pass before catching a game-winning touchdown against the Tennessee Titans, which clinched the Rams their first NFC West title since 2003.
After the victory over the Titans, Kupp said the bounce-back ability he displayed was a reflection of his season.
Follow Lindsey Thiry on Facebook and Twitter @LindseyThiry
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