RENTON — Every now and again, the brain needs to be sparked. The neurons need to fire in a way that breaks away from the routine and challenges the process centers to work in a different mode.
At the end of last season, Cooper Kupp wasn’t exactly looking for that kind of mental challenge. Over eight seasons with the Los Angeles Rams, there was a feeling of comfort that came with his evolution from being a third-round pick from a directional college in the state of Washington into one of the best wide receivers in the NFL.
He understood what was asked and what was expected. There were recognizable faces and routines that were part of every day.
And then it all changed. The familiarity. The certainty. The routine.
“I’ve known how things are done one way for my eight years of being in the NFL. It was like, ‘This is how you do things,’ and that was all I knew,” Kupp said sitting inside the indoor practice facility at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center, his new home headquarters. “And it’s really cool to come in like: ‘Man, this isn’t the only way to do things. There’s new way. There’s other ways that people operate and do stuff.’ There’s just this mixture of those two things. And it’s been really fun. I mean, really hard. But also very rewarding.”
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Everything is new for Kupp entering his ninth NFL season with the exception of the state he now plays in. He’s home. Back in Washington. Back in the place where he grew up in Yakima watching the Seahawks play Sundays on television, or the occasional times he’d make the trip over the mountains to see them play in person.
It’s only been five months since Kupp was released by the Rams and made the decision that his next NFL home would be in Seattle and signed with the Seahawks. That number stuns and amazes Kupp — that it’s been that long and that short amount has elapsed at the same time.
And for the first time since his rookie season in 2017, almost everything he’s being asked to learn is new. His role is different. What’s expected of him is different. How he’s being coached to do certain things is different.
It’s an experience that so far has challenged some of his previous convictions or ideas.
“Then a new way is presented and it’s told, ‘This is how things are done.’ There’s like this whole rush, like: ‘Well, how do I do things? How have I known to do things? How am I being asked to do things?’” Kupp said. “And it does. It breaks you in all the right ways (to) question and ask questions, and dive into some of the details of stuff that you maybe took for granted because you have been told and done it this way for so long.”
There are many parts to the story around Kupp joining the Seahawks. One is sentimentality and being the local guy that’s returning home, tapping into his backstory of being the undersized and overlooked kid from A.C. Davis High School in Yakima who eventually developed into a star at the FCS level at Eastern Washington before embarking on a pro career.
That’s one side.
Another part — and the one most Seahawks fans care about most — is what the former league Offensive Player of the Year and Super Bowl MVP can still provide at age 32 and entering his ninth season and following three straight injury-filled campaigns when he didn’t play in more than 12 games in any of the three.
Over those three seasons, all cut short by various injuries, Kupp caught 201 passes and 17 touchdowns over 33 games. Consider that in 2021 when he was voted the best offensive player in the NFL, Kupp caught 145 passes for 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns in the regular season that year.
Kupp might never again be that version of himself as a pass catcher. But in this offense under new coordinator Klint Kubiak, that version might not be needed.
“It hits my brain and I understand what we’re trying to get done foundationally. I think at this point in my career, it’s like, I want to do things that make sense,” Kupp said. “I want to do things that put guys in good positions and give us opportunities to win based on how we set up a play, and it’s a big part of what this offense is and being able to shake and move.
“At this point of my career it’s just more so because that’s how my brain has come to know football, so I vibe with just the understanding and intent of all things we’re trying to do. I’m like ‘Yes, I get that.’ I think that’s why it fits me.”
Since that 2021 season, when he caught the second-most passes of any player in any single season in league history, injuries have defined most of Kupp’s subsequent three seasons. He still caught his share of passes, but Kupp missed eight games in 2022 because of an ankle injury, four games in 2023 with hamstring troubles and five more games last season with another round of ankle problems.
So while this season is about fitting into a new place for Kupp and learning along the way, it’s also about proving he can avoid the injury issues from the past few years.
But it’s the kind of challenge he loves. The tactical understanding of how to be successful that comes from study and practice and implementing it on the field.
“At some point players got to make plays and make things come to life,” Kupp said. “But I love that. I love the intent behind it, and that is why the preparation side is so important to me because I love being part of all of that.”
Ultimately, how productive Kupp ends up being for the Seahawks this season is tied into the performance of Sam Darnold. Kupp was a rookie with the Rams during Darnold’s final season at USC in 2017 and was keenly aware of the talent that made the quarterback the No. 3 pick in the draft that following spring.
While the pair had mutual friends and would connect briefly after games, they never crossed paths until now.
“He’s the exact person that you want in your receiver room to just be able to hold the standard to a certain level and be able to teach the guys about the offense and about certain routes,” Darnold said. “I feel like a lot of times receivers can be robots, they can run their routes kind of how it’s drawn on paper, whereas Coop is like as he’s running his route he’s trying to see the coverage and get to a certain spot, a soft spot in the coverage. So just him being in that room being able to teach the guys about that is priceless.”
Tim Booth: Tim Booth is a sports reporter at The Seattle Times, where he covers the Kraken and the ongoing story surrounding possible NBA expansion and helps with coverage of the Seahawks and Mariners.