3. Cooper Kupp, Los Angeles Rams
The Rams’ formerly vaunted passing offense fell off in 2019, dropping from fifth overall in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted efficiency metrics in the franchise’s Super Bowl season of 2018, to 13th in 2019. Some of that had to do with the running game falling apart, some of that had to do with defenses figuring Sean McVay’s offense out to a point, and a lot of it had to do with quarterback Jared Goff hitting his ceiling with the force of an Aaron Donald sack.
Didn’t matter to Kupp, though. The Rams’ third-round pick in 2017 had his most productive season as a slot target in 2019, with 69 catches on 99 targets for 853 yards, five touchdowns, and a passer rating of 101.1 when targeted inside. That was exactly Goff’s overall passer rating in 2018, but it dropped to 86.5 in 2019, while Kupp was the rare part of that passing game that actually presented improvement.
Kupp is especially good at reading and understanding coverage, which allows him to break to defensive openings and take advantage of those openings with his acceleration and downfield speed.
Cooper Kupp is so good at elongating his release and waiting for things to open up underneath. What makes him more than an average slot receiver is his burst after the catch. pic.twitter.com/9G1GQXp0Xb
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) July 23, 2020