Cooper Kupp’s Approach to Greatness An offseason spent in a kind of scientific exploration of what drives great receiver play led to a historical season from an unlikely superstar
Rice sprinted up towering hills and caught bricks to harden his hands. Irvin lifted weights in full uniform, helmet atop his head in 100-degree heat and a heavy vest secured around his torso. Johnson partook in Navy SEAL–like drill sessions. To match them, Kupp decided: He would become a dreamer, a transformer and a football scientist, defined not by one part of his approach but by the totality of it.
Jake returned to Yakima and passed the dream gene to his son, Craig, who carved out his own NFL career, as a backup quarterback with three NFL teams and for two World League franchises. Both created an incubator for young Cooper, while he crashed into the now-dented fence in the backyard of his family home or sidestepped the sandbox into an end zone marked off by a garden hose stretched across the grass. Jake read himYoung Cooper Kupp, wearing the sling on the right.
Cooper uncovered unexpected answers, finding balance in the hours devoted to a singular pursuit. Every element of his approach made him better at the others. He needed to gain size and strength, so that half of the numbers on his jerseys wouldn’t disappear when tucked in. He needed to dribble for hours on end to improve his coordination for, needed to round out his gridiron skills with stints at running back and on defense, needed to skateboard and break-dance to develop body control.
Kupp wanted answers. He loved data points and objectivity, and making sense of numbers came easily to him. At Davis, he scoured more game film than most coaches. In college, he would stop by the office of Jeff Schmedding, Eastern’s defensive coordinator, and ask a million questions designed to net a more holistic view of the game. In the NFL, he eats breakfast with his quarterbacks—first, Goff; now, Matthew Stafford—centering discussions on offensive schemes.
Eastern played on a gaudy field with red turf. They showcased a soaring offense, led by three FCS All-American wideouts who turned games into dizzying blurs. Kupp redshirted, allowing for more development. Timing. “If he had gone to Stanford,” Dumas says, “he’d probably be in Congress right now, changing laws.”
When Peyton was readying for his final season, he would not have gone full older brother one summer. He would not have insisted Cooper run routes only for him. Eli wouldn’t have protested. And Les Snead, the Rams’ general manager, wouldn’t have been standing a few feet from the debate, close enough to overhear them. He saw a resoluteness in Peyton’s eyes that prompted him to write down a single sentence in a notepad.
The rest of the NFL would find out soon enough, as the football scientist began to carve out the very career he designed in those experiments. He started to break free from the overly simplistic narrative that enveloped him. For Dumas, descriptions of Kupp as the crafty underdog were grounded, at least partially, in race. “There’s a weird undertone,” he says. “Yeah, he’s a white receiver. But when we put so much emphasis on how smart he is, we miss his athletic gifts. He’s not Steve Largent.
The smaller, deliberate experiments started to combine, and the combination transformed gradual progress into exponential enhancements. No Rams laughed at Kupp anymore, except when referring to him by the nickname—the third Paul brother, due to his resemblance to the YouTubers turned boxers.
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