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LA Rams owner Stan Kroenke just made a $105 million deal on Wednesday — but he may not be done with the heavy spending as the team prepares to open his dream football home of SoFi Stadium on Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys.
The ink wasn’t even dry on the new, five-year $105 million contract for cornerback Jalen Ramsey when word broke that the Rams may soon try to get a deal down for receiver Cooper Kupp.
#Rams GM Les Snead said the other day he was working on extensions for Jalen Ramsey and Cooper Kupp. With Ramsey now done, Snead & Co. will try to close out Kupp as well. If not, Kupp begins his contract year this weekend.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 9, 2020
This shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Rams have made it known they want to keep Kupp in the program for the long haul. He’d be very popular on the free-agent market next March if he gets there.
But signing him this week would be in character with the Rams. In recent years, they extended the deals for Aaron Donald, Jared Goff and now Ramsey just before the start of the season.
It will be interesting to see what type of deal Kupp and the Rams are talking about. I could see Kupp trying to get in the $16-18 million a season range. Last year, Minnesota’s Adam Thielen received an average of $16 million a season and this year, Dallas’ Amari Cooper received an average of $20 million.
Kupp has been a highly productive player and he is a key to the organization on and off the field. So, he won’t be cheap. He may not be as pricey as Ramsey, but it will be a big deal if it gets done.
Of course, the Rams will have to eventually look at extending the contracts of safety John Johnson and receiver Robert Woods. At some point, the Rams would be able to fit in everybody and that’s part of the reason why they cut Todd Gurley and traded Brandin Cooks this offseason. Yet, it seems, Kupp may be close to being secured.
UPDATE:
Sean McVay says that “it is the hope” that the Rams get a deal done with WR Cooper Kupp this week.
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) September 9, 2020