The Seattle Seahawks’ new wide receiver, Cooper Kupp, has come home to the Pacific Northwest after eight seasons with the Los Angeles Rams. But would he get to keep his No. 10 jersey? Thanks to his new teammate, linebacker Uchenna Nwosu, the answer is yes.
Nwosu agreed to give up his jersey number for a donation to his foundation, and Kupp was happy to oblige.
Kupp will wear No. 10 for the Seahawks as he did with the Rams and in college at Eastern Washington, an FCS team that plays on red field turf in Cheney. Nwosu will wear No. 7 instead, which he wore in high school at Narbonne in Los Angeles.
“He mentioned he’s played his best football in No. 10, and it had been important to him, and just his time in Seattle,” Kupp said. “And just clearly, the community was an important part of this whole thing, so I respect his desires there, and we were able to work it out, and I’m really thankful for him being able to work something out for us.”
For Kupp, a Yakima, Washington, native, playing for the Seahawks is very much a homecoming for him. He became a star at Davis in high school and then the FCS’ all-time receiving yardage leader with the EWU Eagles before his largely successful stint with the Rams.
“It’s a really cool thing,” Kupp said about joining the Seahawks. “It’s something that I don’t take lightly. I’m just really excited to be able to be a part of this program, what this program’s been about and continuing to move it forward.”
Yakima is two hours southwest of Seattle, and Kupp recalled going to a Seahawks home game against the Green Bay Packers in 2006 when he was 13.
“I was up in the very top, frozen as an icicle up there … I have memories of ... being part of that environment, and it’s such a cool thing,” Kupp said. ”That was a special thing growing up, to be able to go to a Seahawks game. A very special memory.”
Now, Kupp is looking to put behind him his memories of how things ended in Los Angeles, where the Rams released him after eight seasons. He won a Super Bowl MVP and tallied 7,776 yards and 57 touchdowns on 634 receptions in his time with the Rams, but the team moved in a different direction by signing star wideout Davante Adams.
“It’s been difficult,” Kupp said. “In all honesty, it’s been very difficult and frustrating. There’s been lots of questions and things. It’s a real tough situation. I’ve said I always imagined that I'd finish my career there, but that’s not the plan that God had for me and my family.”
Kupp had a three-year, $80 million contract extension with the Rams until 2026, but he also had been dealing with injuries for the past three seasons. He hasn’t played more than 12 games in any given year since his 2021 monster season when he helped the Rams win the Super Bowl.
Seattle gives him a fresh start with a three-year, $45 million deal, and he’s immediately a key part of an offense after the departures of former star wideouts DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. Kupp will get to catch passes from new Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, who is fresh off of a career year with the Minnesota Vikings.
“Stepping into this new adventure, this new place, this new chapter in my career but also in our lives as my wife and I navigate moving back up home to our home state, I think that’s something that we’re excited about,” Kupp said. “We’re excited about the community that we get to be a part of, the people that are going to be a part of our lives.”
“But yeah, it has been difficult,” he added, going back to the Rams. “Without a doubt, it has been difficult. We’re humans. We’re real people.”
That said, playing the Rams twice in the NFC West didn’t factor into why he chose his home state Seahawks. The series between the two division rivals has been closely contested, as only one game has been decided by more than one score in the past three seasons.
“I am looking forward to it,” Kupp said. "That didn’t play into the decision to come here, but it’s a nice little thing on the side to be able to go against those guys. I know a lot of those guys. So much respect for the coaching staff, the way they handle things down there, [and] the players down there. I am excited about it, though. It’s going to be a really cool thing.
“When that time comes, it will just be football at that point. But I am looking forward to it.”
Kupp added that he’s not about proving doubters wrong. That’s been a challenge from the start of his career when he came out of a small school in EWU, but the Rams gave him a shot with the third-round draft pick in 2017.
“I’ve lived in that space, and it never goes well,” Kupp said. “It’s been about being who I am, believing in myself, and knowing that I can be who I see myself becoming. When I’ve taken that attitude, when I’ve taken that mindset, that’s when I’ve always been at my best. I'll continue that. I know how to navigate these waters I’ve been here before.
“It’s not about the negative energy of trying to prove anyone else wrong, trying to make anyone else feel bad about anything. It’s just about being myself and trying to be who I believe I can be and going out there and playing the game I love.”
