Puka Nacua probably wouldn’t have put up the huge numbers that he did during his rookie year if not for the fact that he had Cooper Kupp in his corner as a mentor in the Rams’ wide receiver room. There’s no question he put in a ton of work himself, but Nacua has talked endlessly about the value of learning from Kupp in his rookie season.
Jordan Whittington is now the next rookie wideout to step into the Rams’ receiver room with the chance to learn from not only Kupp, but also Nacua. And he can’t wait.
After being drafted by the Rams in the sixth round, Whittington said he’s excited to learn what Kupp, “a professor,” has to teach him.
“I’m a student of the game, and Cooper Kupp I feel like is a professor,” Whittington said. “So I want to get to that level.”
Like Kupp and Nacua, Whittington isn’t a rare athlete with great measurables. He’s 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, but we don’t know exactly how fast or explosive he is because he didn’t test at the combine (hamstring).
Where he makes up for anything he lacks in athleticism is with his football intelligence and work ethic. Everything the Rams heard about Whittington leading up to the draft was that he’s a complete team player and leader in the locker room. He was a team captain for the Sugar Bowl, too, which shows how highly coach Steve Sarkisian thought of him.
For those reasons, he’s going to fit in just fine in the Rams’ receiver room alongside Kupp and Nacua.