How rookie Cooper Kupp blossomed from FCS star to the Rams’ leading receiver

NFL receiver Cooper Kupp doesn’t work in a vacuum. He’s not especially big, he’s not especially fast, and he doesn’t test well. But through 13 games with the Rams, he’s the leading receiver on a playoff-caliber team and a major reason for Jared Goff’s leap from below-average rookie to ascending star.

Kupp came into the 2017 NFL Draft with one of the largest resumes a prospect’s ever had. No NCAA player at any level has ever had more receiving yards than Kupp, who also had more receptions than any D-I or D-II player. With Kupp leading the way, the Eagles had the nation’s No. 1 passing offense in 2016 and the No. 2 unit in 2015.

Despite all that, the man with a name straight out of Mario Kart still had something to prove when he landed in Los Angeles last spring. At 6’2(ish) and 205 pounds, he wasn’t big enough to be a true red zone threat. Running a 4.6 40-yard dash suggested he wouldn’t be fast enough to be a true deep threat. But the biggest question that remained was whether his prolific production could translate from a relatively small stage to the bright lights of the NFL.

Consider that question answered.

After a slow start, Kupp is trending upward as an NFL receiver. In his last four games, the rookie has 24 receptions for 366 yards and a touchdown, launching him into the league’s top 25 in both yardage and catches. He’s been more productive than any of the six wideouts taken before him in the 2017 draft — and for that matter, more productive than any rookie receiver in the league.

So how did the Rams get a key franchise building block with their third-round pick?

While other receivers were raising their profiles at last year’s combine, Kupp was putting together a string of mediocre performances that failed to level him up from small-school star.

Fellow Washingtonian John Ross was out there earning a top-10 draft slot with a record-setting 4.22-second 40 time that garnered weeks of headlines. Kupp was two steps behind at 4.62. His vertical, long jump, and three-cone drill numbers placed him in the bottom 10 among wideout prospects. The only exercise in which he tested out as a top performer was the 20-yard shuttle.

That put the pressure on Kupp’s game film to verify him as an NFL-ready player. Fortunately for him, that wasn’t a problem.

His ability to perform against top competition wasn’t tested often, but Kupp stepped up when given the opportunity. He played five games against FBS programs in his college career, including four games against teams from Power 5 conferences. To say he acquitted himself well would be an understatement.

His 20-yard shuttle drill belied one strength that helped him shine at Eastern Washington and now with Los Angeles. Kupp doesn’t have great straight-line speed, but he cuts well, allowing him to create space early in his routes and get open for Goff. He also works well when his young QB is flushed from the pocket, breaking off his plans to find seams on the same side and turn potential losses into gains.

From there, a combination of strong hands, field awareness, and vision downfield allows him to break plays open after the catch. The best example of that came last Sunday against the Eagles, when he juked not one, but two Philadelphia defenders into oblivion on a 64-yard catch-and-run.

Kupp has been especially reliable after some uncharacteristic struggles to start his career. Early drops kept points off the board for the Rams, and upper-tier defenders — particularly the Seahawks’ secondary, who limited him to three catches on eight targets back in Week 5 — found ways to rein him in.

He’s improved since then; in his last five games — three without nominal top wideout Robert Woods on the field — he’s been targeted 38 times. He came down with 30 receptions to prove his value as a No. 1 wideout in the NFL. That wasn’t against cupcake competition, either. Several of those performances came against playoff teams, both definite (Eagles) and probable (Saints and Panthers).

The league’s other high-profile rookie receivers haven’t been able to transition to the NFL as well. Ross, the lighting-quick Bengals wideout, played in just three games this fall as injuries derailed his first season as a pro. He finished his year with zero receptions and a fumble on one carry. No. 5 overall pick Corey Davis has also dealt with nagging injuries and has only one game with more than four receptions for the Titans. Chargers wideout Mike Williams, sandwiched between the two in the draft order, has been in and out of the lineup and only has 10 receptions this year.

Only the Steelers’ multi-tool JuJu Smith-Schuster has had anything near the success Kupp has had in his first year. Smith-Schuster has emerged as a capable second option behind Antonio Brown and a tremendous follow on social media.

The 24-year-old still has plenty to prove as he marches toward a potential 1,000-yard seasons. His average reception only travels 5.1 yards through the air, a mark that highlights his ability to run after the catch but paints him as an ineffective deep threat. As he continues to stand out, opposing defenses will take advantage of that with more press coverage, instead daring him to burn them downfield.

While Kupp can operate successfully without that facet of his game, being able to back opposing cornerbacks from the line of scrimmage pre-play would open up more quick routes and easy yardage for a Rams team that will need all the offense it can get in the playoffs.

He hasn’t been as efficient in the red zone, as compressed defenses have helped limit what he can do. His catch rate has dropped from 66 percent to 55 percent inside his opponent’s 20 — another area for improvement. He has only four touchdown receptions this season.

Despite those issues, he’s still managed to be a very effective target in a very short amount of time as a pro. His presence has been a rising tide for the rest of the Los Angeles offense as well; Jared Goff’s quarterback rating when targeting Kupp is 105.6 — moderately higher than his 99.2 season average.

That’s made him a top option in a well-stocked Rams receiver rotation. He leads the team in receptions and receiving yards, though deep threat Sammy Watkins has nearly doubled up his season touchdown total. Kupp’s emergence as Goff’s favorite target has been a function of Woods’ absence as well. With the key free agent acquisition out for the last three games with a shoulder injury, the rookie — and not Watkins — has stepped into his role and thrived. In their last three games, Goff has thrown to Kupp 24 times and Watkins 20.

Kupp’s recent emergence has made him look like a top-20 NFL wide receiver. The good news for the Rams is he’s still got room to grow. Despite a prolific college career, his EWU teams consistently fell tantalizingly short of a national title. He’ll likely have the opportunity to prove himself in the postseason once more in 2017, just on a much bigger stage and for a franchise starved for playoff success.

Los Angeles devoted its rebuild to surrounding 2016 No. 1 pick Goff with the talent he needs to survive. With one third-round pick, the Rams may have found another foundational talent — one who is FCS royalty.