The Rams sit at the bottom of the NFC West with a 1-3 record, and injuries to some key players have contributed to their early struggles. Los Angeles has finally received some good news on the health front, with ESPN’s Adam Schefter reporting that wide receiver Cooper Kupp is expected to return for the club’s Week 7 game against the Raiders on October 20 (the Rams have a Week 6 bye, so the hope is that today’s Week 5 bout with the Packers is the last game Kupp will miss).
Kupp, 31, sustained an ankle injury during the second quarter of LA’s loss to the Cardinals in Week 2, and he has been sidelined ever since. He was initially mentioned as an injured reserve candidate, although subsequent reports indicated that he would avoid IR.
The decision to keep Kupp on the active roster naturally led to optimism that he would be back on the field sooner rather than later, optimism that grew when it became clear that he would not require surgery on the ankle. As fellow wideout Puka Nacua’s knee injury forced the team to place him on IR, Kupp’s imminent return is surely a welcome development.
Of course, Schefter qualified his report with the caveat that Kupp will return in Week 7 “as long as there are no setbacks in practice.” Given the injury problems that have plagued the 2021 Triple Crown winner, the absence of setbacks cannot be assumed.
After his dominant 2021 season, in which he led the league in receptions (145), yards (1,947), and receiving touchdowns (16) and took home Super Bowl MVP honors, Kupp landed a three-year, $80MM extension. Unfortunately, a high ankle sprain cut the ensuing 2022 campaign short, and he opened the 2023 season on IR with a hamstring ailment.
He started the 2024 season hot, racking up 18 catches for 147 yards and a TD in less than six quarters of play. When healthy, he and Nacua represent one of the best WR tandems in the game, and there is some hope that Nacua will also be able to suit up in Week 7, when he is first eligible to be activated. The healthy and productive return of the Kupp-Nacua duo will go a long way in determining whether the Rams can reverse their fortunes and make another postseason run.
Without his top two pass catchers, quarterback Matthew Stafford has turned to players like Demarcus Robinson, Tutu Atwell, Tyler Johnson, and Jordan Whittington. All of those wideouts have had their moments, but none of them have the upside of Kupp and Nacua.
