Bills traded Stefon Diggs. Could Rams do same with Cooper Kupp in 2025?

Rams could look to trade Cooper Kupp next offseason

The Buffalo Bills made a surprise move on Wednesday when they traded star wide receiver Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans along with a 2024 sixth and 2025 fifth for a second round pick in 2025. While Bills general manager Brandon Beane continues to dig himself into a bigger hole after saying that they were trying to be more fiscally responsible last offseason to avoid a collapse, inferring to the Los Angeles Rams while making that statement, Les Snead and co. could be looking at similar situation in their future.

Trading Diggs may have seemed like a surprise move. With that said, the former Bills wide receiver is 30 and coming off a bottom-three career season in yards per reception. His 1,183 yards in 2023 were his fewest in four seasons in Buffalo. Over the past few years, we’ve seen teams that have a quarterback in place move on from the pricier wide receivers. The Kansas City Chiefs did it with Tyreek Hill and the Green Bay Packers traded Devante Adams when they had Aaron Rodgers. There are more recent example this offseason with the Los Angeles Chargers and Keenan Allen and likely soon to be Tee Higgins with the Cincinnati Bengals.

However, there are commonalities in situations with the Bills and Diggs as the Rams and Cooper Kupp. It’s not a scenario that many want to think about, but it is a conversation that Rams brass may be having next offseason. Like Diggs, Kupp is 30-years old and will be 31 next offseason. Since his triple crown season, he hasn’t eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark. Of course, injuries are part of that, but that is also an issue in itself.

The summer following Kupp’s triple crown season, the Rams signed their star wide receiver to a three-year extension. Since that extension, Kupp has played in just 21 out of a possible 34 regular season games. Injuries are nothing new for Kupp. He tore his ACL in 2018 and has missed at least four games in each of the last two seasons. In 2022 it was an ankle injury that help him out and last year he missed the first four games with a hamstring and also sprained his ankle in November.

There was a lot of speculation this offseason that the Rams may look to restructure Kupp and Stafford’s contracts in order to open up cap space. The Rams did neither and a big reason for that is by not touching either contract, it gives them future flexibility, especially when it comes to moving on from those deals. Next season, Kupp only has $5M guaranteed in his contract. By trading Kupp, the Rams would save $12.5M.

This is not to say that the Rams should or will trade Kupp. However, if he has another down-year or injury-riddled season, it’s a conversation that they will certainly have to have inside the building. At the end of the day, Kupp is on the wrong side of 30 and the same upside that he may have had coming off of a torn ACL at 25 or ankle injury and following surgery at 29 won’t be there if he does the same at age 31. While Kupp is a very good wide receiver when healthy, another injury-riddled season or down-year and it will be difficult to defend a $29.5M cap-hit for the wide receiver. It’s very possible that the Rams look to get that number off the books.

Again, hopefully Kupp has a good season and this isn’t a conversation that the Rams are forced to have in a year’s time. With that said, it’s also a very realistic possibility.