The Los Angeles Rams’ season was at a crossroads, sitting at 1-4 going into their bye week, which led to some trade rumors involving some key players.
Cooper Kupp was chief among them as his name was in trade rumors all week with plenty of teams in need of quality receivers. Kupp had not played for the Rams since Week 2 but was set to return against the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday Night Football.
That game was a big one for the Rams as it was a chance to pick up their second win in five days, and they did exactly that, improving to 3-4 with the 30-20 victory.
After the game, Rams head coach Sean McVay addressed the trade rumors surrounding Kupp, a franchise cornerstone during this era, and how much truth there was to them.
“Teams reached out. Some of the things I’ve seen out there, they’re just not true,” McVay said. “We’ve addressed it with those individuals. Teams have called about him and we let him know what the dialogue was there and there’s a lot of stuff out there where there’s not a lot of accountability to the reports and that’s unfortunate.”
Now at 3-4 though, the Rams are back in the NFC West mix and seem ready to go on a run after getting some key players back healthy. With that being the case, McVay shot down the possibility of Kupp being traded before the Nov. 5 deadline.
“I think a lot of the things that were out there were speculation,” he said. “We’re an inside-out organization. I’m really glad to have Cooper Kupp back with us and that’s what I expect to stay that way.”
McVay then doubled down on those comments on Monday morning, per Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic:
Sean McVay was asked by @LATimesklein whether he would double down on Thursday’s comments expressing that Rams wont trade Cooper Kupp after inquiries from teams:
“That’s not a move that we want to make.” And, “He’s a Ram and we expect him to stay that way.”
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) October 25, 2024
It would be hard for Rams fans to see Kupp in another journey, so it’s great that they were able to pick up a win over the Vikings to get back in the playoff mix so that wouldn’t happen.
If the Rams had lost then they likely would have seriously considered the offers they were receiving for the 31-year-old. Now that the trade rumors are behind them though, the focus can shift back to the football field and how this team can go on a second-half run similar to last season to make the playoffs.
With the offense as healthy as it has been all season after the returns of Kupp and Puka Nacua and the defense improving weekly, the Rams are looking like a team that no one wants to play down the stretch.
Rams star Cooper Kupp didn’t pay attention to trade rumors
Before the big game against the Vikings, Cooper Kupp was asked about the trade rumors and said he wasn’t paying attention to them, focusing on his job of trying to help the Rams win games.
