Cooper Kupp joins rare company after helping Seahawks win Super Bowl
It’s fitting Cooper Kupp celebrated winning another Super Bowl at the San Francisco 49ers’ home stadium.
Because by helping the Seattle Seahawks win their second Lombardi Trophy Sunday over the New England Patriots, Kupp joined 49ers all-time great Jerry Rice as the only players to win an offensive player of the year award and two Super Bowls.
Kupp finished Sunday with 6 catches for 61 yards, both team highs and modest totals compared to when he was named MVP of Super Bowl LVI with the Los Angeles Rams against the Cincinnati Bengals. He tallied 8 catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns in that 23-20 win.
But Sunday’s 29-13 victory for Seattle was more about Seattle’s defense throttling the Patriots and second-year quarterback Drake Maye. Still, throughout the season Kupp proved invaluable in his first year with his home-town Seahawks. The Yakima, Wash. native instantly became a leader in Seattle’s new-look receivers room after the team moved on from Tyler Lockett and traded D.K. Metcalf to the Pittsburgh Steelers last offseason.
The Rams released Kupp last March after being unable to find a trade partner, allowing the Seahawks to sign him for three years and $45 million, a low rate for a former triple crown winner. Kupp was available for that price after dealing with a slew of injuries over the previous three seasons after winning offensive player of the year in 2021.
Kupp finished the regular season with just 593 yards on 47 receptions and two touchdowns, the fewest in his nine-year career when he played a full season. He was largely a secondary or tertiary weapon on the Seahawks offense while Jaxon Smith-Njigba was the focus during his 1,793-yard, offensive player of the year season. Kupp finished the three playoff games with 15 catches for 157 yards.
“It’s an unbelievable story,” Kupp said. “There were some really tough times this year, for my family and I. Being part of this organization, I stepped in, it wasn’t smooth, it wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t sunshine and rainbows.
“But day after day, my family showed up for me and the guys on this team, the coaches ... I’ve never run blocked so much in my life. But I had so much fun this year. The relationships with the guys, in one year, are so special. I’m just incredibly thankful.”
Kupp said he celebrated the Seattle’s 29-13 victory with his wife, his high school sweetheart Anna Marie Kupp, and three children.
“My wife was the first person to believe in me,” Kupp said. “She believed that this story was written so long ago.”
“A lot of happy tears from her,” Kupp continued. “Everyone here that has family knows how much that our family’s put into this for us to do what we do. There’s so much a part of it. And this year my wife and my boys are more a part of it than they’ve ever been in my life. And so I told them afterwards, ‘this is you guys’ trophy.’ They wanted to be up there, wanted to hold the trophy. So we, all of us, got to participate in this moment.”
