The Los Angeles Rams could be without one of their biggest offensive weapons when they open their 2023 season on Sunday, September 10 in Seattle.
Receiver Cooper Kupp, who missed the better part of the last few weeks with a nagging hamstring injury, suffered a setback this week and did not practice on Thursday.
“”It was a little muscle strain,” said Rams’ head coach Sean McVay. “I would probably call it a setback. Yeah, I think that’s fair to say.”
The Super Bowl 56 MVP first suffered the injury during the team’s first week of training camp in Irvine, CA. Asked whether or not he’ll be able to play in the team’s opener, McVay said Kupp and the team are taking it day by day.
“I think we just take it a day at a time right now,” said McVay. “We’ll see, we want to be able to get him back right. We’re obviously a much better team when he’s available, but in his absence over the last handful of months he’s been out there leading in the way that he can.”
If Kupp does have to miss games, McVay said that receivers Ben Skowronek and Demarcus Robinson could pick up the bulk of the snaps in his absence.
“Ben Skowronek is another guy that can play a lot of different spots. (WR) Demarcus Robinson has really done a nice job of continuing to get more and more comfortable,” said McVay. “He’s a guy that’s played a lot of snaps in this league and so it might be different in terms of, how do we really activate our players that we feel like are best fit to be able to try to attack an excellent tough defense and a team that we know is going to be ready to go? So we got a little bit of time.”
Kupp captured the elusive receiver triple crown in 2021, leading the NFL in catches (145), receiving yards (1,947), and touchdowns (16). He is entering his seventh year, and missed the majority of last season (8 games) with a high ankle sprain injury that required surgery in the offseason.
Kupp’s availability is vital to a Rams team that shed a lot of talent and contracts in the offseason. The rams depth chart is extremely thin behind their starters, so if Kupp has to miss significant time, it could have a huge impact on the team’s success this season.
The Rams were a historically bad 5-12 last season, the worst record in NFL history by a defending Super Bowl champion. According to current odds, the Rams are predicted to win between 6 and 7 games this season.
Source: NBC Los Angeles
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