I asked Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Cooper Kupp about how the offense attacked the middle of the field after their Week 9 win over the Arizona Cardinals. The video is available on Seahawks Press Pass’ YouTube channel. Skip to timestamp 3:57 to hear the full question and response.
Here was his response:
Q: “Cooper, you and Jaxon both had success on in-breaking routes over the middle of the field. How do you feel like that and the run game complemented each other today?”
Kupp: “Yeah, well, a lot of that’s just kind of dependent on the coverages you’re getting. Arizona was doing a good job, they were showing some stuff — being able to show a heavy box, and then roll into some two-high stuff, getting to some places where it felt like the middle
of the field was open, and you know, attack some places where safeties were pushing and things like that.
“But certainly, when you can keep defenses in this place where they are playing two-high, it’s a great opportunity to go run the ball — and it puts the onus on us as receivers to make sure we’re getting downfield [and] blocking the guys we’re supposed to, springing those short runs into big runs.”
Kupp’s football mind is consistently lauded as one of the brightest around, but he shows another element at work here. He begins with the problem and ends with the solution. His ability to reason through the technical aspect of the game with logic that checks out gives the listener, or reader, in this case, something to latch onto — whether they understand every bit of what he’s saying or not. That deep level of communication is part of what makes Kupp special. He’s able to sift through the sand and find the nuggets of gold.
Let’s go through the story. Arizona showed a heavy box, then rolled into some two-high safety looks. Kupp recognized their initial strategy without proclaiming it good, bad, or solidified. He identified it and took aim at its weak points. He shifted his perspective and told you how the receiver group affected the rushing attack. He made it sound eloquent.
It might sound simple when he explains it, but therein lies the curse of learning football. You’ll hear something that sounds ordinary to someone else, worry that you don’t understand it, and move on. Kupp did the opposite. He remained curious. That’s why he learns as much as anyone while rolling with the punches of unpredictable gamedays.
Kupp spent more than half his life making sacrifices to understand the game better. As a high school senior, he waited three weeks after his high school career ended before receiving his first scholarship offer from Eastern Washington University. As a freshman there, he redshirted and won Offensive Scout Team Player of the Year before breaking out as a sophomore. He’s a third-generation NFL player and a native Washingtonian who was raised in Yakima. He had access to the perspective of an NFL quarterback in his father, yet grew up in a small town around plenty of people who saw their dreams end after high school. He’s been a right-hand man to coaches from Sean McVay to Mike Macdonald and Klint Kubiak. Kupp has seen, thought about, and played football as much as any 33-year-old on the planet. It’s no wonder he’s got such a unique viewpoint of the game.
But it didn’t just come from experience. It came from inquisitiveness. Kupp’s football learning ability mirrors that of a heat-seeking missile. He locks on and bypasses bad logic. It’s almost like he can still see the game from the eyes of the scout-teamer who prioritizes learning and growth over immediate performance, yet reconcile that perspective with all of his learned knowledge from his experiences in the 15 years since then.
Many will miss these details as they see Kupp’s box score. To grade him on the same scale as fellow wide receiver Jaxon-Smith Njigba in 2026 is to misunderstand his contributions to the Seahawks. He’s not the team’s receiving leader, but he’s making an invaluable impact bridging the gaps that inevitably form when you chase edges. There’s no stat to measure the internal mental and spiritual intangibles we don’t see on their receiving line. One thing is certain, though — in a battle, you want Cooper Kupp on your side. Whether calling the shots or executing them, your operation’s force output will multiply.
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This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Cooper Kupp on how in-breaking routes, run game complement each other
