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# Drive to Compete Still Fuels Cooper Kupp as Seahawks Chase Super Bowl Repeat
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/drive-to-compete-cooper-kupp-seattle-seahawks-chase-super-bowl-repeat/
- Published: 2026-06-08T20:33:12.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T05:47:50.000Z
- Author: Corbin Smith
- Tags: Features, Seahawks, Cooper Kupp

RENTON, Wash. - Almost seeming to break character like an actor caught off guard by an unexpected twist in a script, Cooper Kupp unleashed a stare that could have pierced through someone’s soul.

Moments after the Seattle Seahawks completed their final OTA practice on Thursday, the 10th-year veteran receiver fielded a question about whether or not he considered hanging up his cleats following a Super Bowl LX victory. Based on past precedent, especially after seeing his production dip to 573 receiving yards and two touchdowns in the regular season, he wouldn’t have been the first player to make such a decision to leave the game on top. It was certainly a valid question to ask.

But for Kupp, ideas of retirement never crossed his mind from the moment the confetti started to rain down on the field at Levis Stadium four months ago, and he promptly shot down the notion.

“No, never for a second. I'm loving playing this game too much,” Kupp briskly replied. “I love playing football, and so I'm enjoying it. No, that was never a thought.”

Now five years removed from a historic triple crown season with the Rams, which coincided with his first Super Bowl win, Kupp may not be a No. 1 or even a top-tier No. 2 receiver at this stage of his career. Set to turn 33 years old later this month, he hasn’t hit the 1,000-yard mark since leading the league in catches, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns that year, with injuries contributing to that decline missing five or more games each season from 2022 to 2024 and his eventual release in March 2025.

While he stayed healthy for the most part playing in 16 regular season games for the Seahawks after signing a three-year contract, Kupp’s 47 receptions on 70 targets were the second-fewest in a season for him, ahead of only 2018 when he finished with 40 receptions in eight starts before suffering a season-ending torn ACL. He finished with two or fewer receptions in nine of those 16 games and didn’t eclipse 100 receiving yards in a single game for the first time in his career.

But even if Kupp’s target share took another drop in his first year in Seattle, his presence couldn’t have been more valuable joining his hometown team as a complementary possession receiver to pair with budding superstar Jaxon Smith-Njigba and trade deadline acquisition Rashid Shaheed. And in many ways, his production actually improved compared to his final few seasons in Los Angeles, proving he had plenty left in the tank to help a team pursue championship aspirations.

For one, Kupp saw his yards per reception jump back up to 12.6, his highest mark since the aforementioned triple crown campaign in 2021\. He turned 26 of his 47 catches into first downs, higher than a 50% rate for the fifth time in his career, and his success rate shot back up to 58% after plunging into the mid-40s in his prior two seasons. He also remained a crucial part of Seattle’s run game due to his blocking prowess on the outside, making an impact beyond box score numbers.

Most importantly, when the playoffs arrived, Kupp turned back the clock at the perfect time, delivering in crucial moment after crucial moment. Over three games, he hauled in 15 passes for 157 yards and a touchdown, finding the end zone and later adding a clutch first down conversion in the closing moments against his former team in the NFC Championship Game. Extrapolating those numbers over a 17-game season, he would have caught 85 passes for 889 yards and six touchdowns.

“It was a really cool journey, incredible looking back on it, all the highs and lows and things like that,” Kupp said as he took a brief glance at the new Super Bowl banner in the background of Seattle’s indoor practice facility. “But yeah, all that being said, it's great being here now, being here with the guys, understanding that there's a relationship.”

Offering vintage play throughout the postseason, Kupp could have walked off into the sunset after leading the team he grew up rooting for in Yakima, Washington to a Lombardi Trophy. But the drive to compete and push for another title hasn’t wavered at all.

Unlike most of his teammates, with linebacker Ernest Jones being the exception, this isn’t Kupp’s first time opening a new season as a defending Super Bowl champion, and the first go around didn’t go well for him and his teammates. When the Rams returned to work in the spring of 2022 to begin their title defense, many key players had departed in free agency, including EDGE rusher Von Miller, while others couldn’t participate as they recovered from offseason surgeries.

Injuries ended up being a major theme for an incredibly disappointing season, as Kupp himself missed nine games with an ankle sprain that required surgery and others such as quarterback Matthew Stafford missed extended time, leading to a dreadful 5-12 finish that fueled months of retirement speculation for coach Sean McVay.

In contrast, the Seahawks have a dramatically different situation as they inch towards the start of training camp in late July. While they did lose a couple of noteworthy starters such as running back Ken Walker III and safety Coby Bryant, they only lost five free agents off of their Super Bowl squad in total, managing to keep most of the team together. All 11 offensive players who logged 700-plus snaps in 2025 will return this season, while everyone except Bryant and cornerback Riq Woolen who hit that total on defense will be back as well.

Even with a handful of players working back from injury, the Seahawks also have a far healthier team at this stage than the Rams did four years ago, which Kupp identified as a major plus. It’s rarified air to see a defending champion have such impressive roster continuity and few health concerns coming off a long season, making it easy to see why the veteran wideout had no interest in walking away.

“It's so unique,” Kupp explained. “Back in 2022, the injuries and things that were going on, we've been out here for however - I don't even want to say the amount of time. We've been out here for the max allotted amount of time for OTAs and competing the whole time. We weren't capable of doing that in 2022 in L.A. because we had too many injuries. We couldn't do it. So it's very different in terms of what's your approach in that regard. What's been great is just being able to come back here and guys are healthy. Guys are competing. It's been some really good work moving forward and being able to chase something special here.”

If there’s a significant question mark for Kupp and the Seahawks as they “run it forward,” the mantra initiated by coach Mike Macdonald, the offense will have a third offensive coordinator in as many seasons with Brian Fleury stepping in for Klint Kubiak, who accepted the Raiders head coaching job after the Super Bowl.

Coming over from the 49ers in the NFC West, where he coached under Kyle Shanahan since 2019 and most recently held the title of run game coordinator along with continuing to coach tight ends, Fleury has never been a play caller at any level. Growing pains should be expected as he acclimates to a role he has never held before, at least on the offensive side of the ball, and adjusts his offense and philosophy to personnel that isn’t carbon copy to the one he worked with in San Francisco last season.

However, Kupp spoke glowingly of what he has seen from Fleury so far, as the new coordinator has done a fine job of balancing what worked in Kubiak’s offense with identifying schematic wrinkles to attack areas of improvement, quickly molding his own version of the system to cater to Seattle’s unique personnel that largely remains intact from a year ago. As the receiver put it, he’s melded nicely with the championship standard and mentality that is demanded from everyone who steps into the building, bringing his own methods to the table to “challenge and push” people as a means to get the most out of his players.

In some ways, thanks to similar verbiage and terminology crossover in Fleury’s offense compared to Kubiak, the Seahawks actually appear to be ahead of schedule compared to this time a year ago.

“There's no copy and paste,” Kupp remarked. “Where he's coming from, they had players that had certain characteristics, certain strengths, certain weaknesses, and your job is to take a lot of those same concepts, and he's going to take a lot of the things that he believes in, and how do you formulate that and how do you tweak it and how do you make it your own to fit who the Seahawks are this year and how do we make that come to life? There's a balancing act there, and that's the great thing about coaching in general is you've got this opportunity to always grow and build and change and adapt because if you don't, you die. They've done a great job of that, and it's going to be really cool to see as it continues.”

When it comes to the daunting task of becoming the hunted as a defending Super Bowl champion, Kupp has lived on the other side of the coin where everything can implode in quick fashion. The 2022 Rams remain the textbook cautionary tale for how rapidly success can fade in an instant in the NFL, as key personnel departures, coaching changes, and injuries can derail seasons for even the most talented teams. There’s a luck element that cannot be quantified either.

But in terms of being equipped to stay on the throne, Seattle appears to have all the necessary ingredients in the pantry to cook up another deep playoff run. They have a young, talented roster that will enjoy uncharacteristic continuity with the vast majority of starters back from their title team, including Smith-Njigba and Shaheed returning on the outside, they have only a handful of players working back from significant injuries, and maybe most importantly, they have respected vets such as Kupp who remain hungry and understand what it takes to achieve sustained winning in the league leading the way on and off the field.

Having been here before, while the team doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel to repeat, Kupp believes the key for the Seahawks to have a chance at replicating last season’s magic will lie in dissecting all of the areas where the team can improve from a year ago and attacking those deficiencies head on. Staying stagnant and refusing to evolve serve as the blueprint for regression.

Early signs suggest they are doing just that, creating a tangible excitement as the franchise pursues a rare feat seeking back-to-back Super Bowls. Still loving the game as much as he ever has as his NFL career hits double digit seasons, Kupp eagerly looks forward to helping the cause in any way he can.

“You treat this just like any other year. You look at your film, you look at the process, you look at what you put on tape and what your year was the year before. You identify things that can get better. You scrutinize. Then you build on those things all offseason and you try to attack the weaknesses. You don't look at the results at all. That's just kind of the best way to do it, all these guys that are in this building have done that year after year for their entire lives. That's why you're playing in the NFL right now, because you've continually found ways to get better, and take that same approach.”