It wasn't too long ago that Cooper Kupp was seated on the back of a golf cart next to his wife, Anna, riding away from his Super Bowl LVI press conference in the bowels of SoFi Stadium, awash in the glow of football's greatest triumph.
The Super Bowl LVI Most Valuable Player returns to the site of his legendary performance Sunday as a visitor when his new team, the Seattle Seahawks, face his old club in an NFC West showdown. Despite disagreeing with the Rams' decision to part with him in early 2025, Kupp isn't carrying animosity into the contest.
"It's another football game," he said, via ESPN. "You get out there, play your game. I love these guys. I love so many of the guys over there. But at the end of the day, you've got to go play a football game. So that's going to be what it is. Try to treat this the same as any other game. Go out there and be able to lock in and do your job one play after the next, take that play-by-play mindset. Same as usual."
As Kupp learned firsthand in February and March, no matter how good the situation may seem to be, nothing is forever in the NFL. Time passes, participants age, leadership's motivations, goals and desires evolve and eventually, working partners head in separate directions. Sometimes, as in Kupp's case, the split isn't mutual.
His statement in February said it all: "There are so many things that are out of your control, but it is how you respond to these things that you will look back on and remember."
Since the Rams released Kupp in March, he's found a new home in the Pacific Northwest. Kupp's production falls slightly below the rate he established over his final few injury-plagued seasons with the Rams, but he's happy to fill a secondary role alongside current NFL receiving leader Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
It's working out just fine for the Seahawks, who at 7-2 represent one of the NFL's leading Super Bowl contenders. They'll meet another in the Rams (7-2) in a highly anticipated clash of title chasing squads.
To Kupp, that is what matters most. Though the pain of his split may still linger, he'd prefer the focus not fall on him entering Week 11.
"You can't make this game about yourself," Kupp said. "It just doesn't work that way. It's just too much of a team game. There's too many guys on the field doing too many things, working at such a high level. It's just about controlling what you can control, being a positive part of whatever's called and executing at a high level and coming back and doing it over and over again.
"It would just be a shame to say I want this game more than any other game. That's doing a disservice to the guys that sit in this room with me, that I would hold back anything from them [for] my own ambitions or wants."
Both Kupp and his former coach Sean McVay hit all the notes typical in a reunion game, expressing gratitude for player, coach, team and city. Kupp added he finally gained the clarity he sought from the Rams when they initially informed him of their desire to move on, which provided him with much-needed closure.
"I was able to have some conversations in private with people in the organization to try to get to that point," he said. "It was important. It was important enough for me to reach out and try to get that. I'm glad to be in that place. I'm looking forward to being able to see some people pregame, give them a hug, and then when it's time to go, it's time to go."