Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods have established themselves as one of the best wide receiver duos in the NFL over the last four years. They may not individually put up huge numbers in the range of the elite wideouts like DeAndre Hopkins and Davante Adams, but together they make up a great pairing in Los Angeles.
It’s not the first time the Rams have boasted a dynamic wide receiver tandem. Fans vividly remember the days of Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt wreaking havoc against opposing secondaries, winning a Super Bowl together in St. Louis.
Bruce and Holt both made the Pro Bowl together in 2000 and 2001, with Holt leading the NFL in receiving yards (1,635) in 2000 and Bruce adding another 1,471 yards receiving himself that year. Woods and Kupp haven’t come close to more than 3,100 combined yards in a season, but Bruce still sees similarities between them and his reign with Holt.
“I think they’re pretty close,” Bruce said on NFL Network of where Woods and Kupp rank in the NFL right now. “Number one, they’re football players, and that’s always where I begin in my evaluation of players. They can run after the catch, catch footballs in traffic, make plays. They can get open versus zone and they do a lot of their work at the line of scrimmage. So when I see these two guys and the combination that they have together, very similar to what Torry and I were able to accomplish. And at the same time, I’m very biased about my time with the Rams and the work that Torry and I put in, so it’s going to be hard to match but hopefully they do it.
“That gets me a free playoff ticket to somewhere in the country, preferably in SoFi Stadium. The more they win, the happier I am.”
"I'm learning how to hug with that gold jacket on." 😂@IsaacBruce80 joined @RhettNFL on @NFLTotalAccess as he prepares to enter the @ProFootballHOF! pic.twitter.com/bY6d7k1C7i
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) June 30, 2021
It’ll take a lot for Woods and Kupp to catch Bruce and Holt in terms of production, and they probably never will. Bruce is a Hall of Famer with eight 1,000-yard seasons and four Pro Bowl selections. Holt has been a Hall of Fame finalist, made the Pro Bowl seven times and recorded eight straight 1,000-yard seasons with the Rams.
It’s fun to think about how good Kupp and Woods will be, but there are few wide receiver tandems better than Holt and Bruce in NFL history.