By james art The Tampa Bay Buccaneers need help at wide receiver. They had one of the best wide receiver corps in the league heading into this season, but after Monday night’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, they lose both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin for extended periods of time.
Evans could return after the team’s bye in Week 11, but Godwin will be out for the year. Many have wondered if the Bucs will make a move at wide receiver to help fill in the gaps if they still really want to compete, and while there are several wideouts who could do the trick, one name comes up quite often — Rams star wide receiver Cooper Kupp.
Kupp — who Bucs fans may know from their dreams shattered in the 2021 NFC Divisional Round game — was at one point one of the NFL’s best receivers. Kupp did a great job with the Rams and Liam Cohen, who had Chris Godwin even play what he called the “Cooper Kupp role” in his offense.
And good news – he’s available for trade and the Rams are shopping him hard. Kupp was a first-team All-Pro in 2021 and had 7,213 receiving yards and 52 touchdowns during his time with the Rams, and it looks like they want a steep second-round pick for the asking price.
The Rams have called several teams to trade former Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp, sources say @mikesilver, @jourdanrodrigueme too.
The Rams have expressed a willingness to take on some of the ’24 salary and are looking for a 2nd round pick.— Diana Russini (@DMRussini) October 22, 2024
Plus, with his knowledge of the system, Coop could come in at the beginning of the week and possibly play at the end of the week. He would fit right into the offense and effectively replace Godwin well enough (probably not in All-Pro style of Godwin’s production before this). So the question remains – with all of this, will the Bucs pursue him and try to bring him to Tampa Bay.
As usual with Tampa Bay, probably not.
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For starters, head coach Todd Bowles seems to be of the opinion that the team is comfortable with its wide receiver room. He said Tuesday that while the team will look around, it’s unlikely they’ll make a big deal and give up draft picks. Kupp would be at least a third-round pick, so that’s probably off the table. Jason Licht, in particular, holds draft picks at high value and prefers to draft his own players rather than spend picks on acquiring talent.
It doesn’t sound like the Bucs are going to make a big deal. Todd Bowles says to become No. 1 you have to give up a lot of capital and that the team “feels comfortable with the guys we have here”
— River Wells (@riverhwells) October 22, 2024
On top of that, Coop is no spring chicken, as they say. He’s now 31 years old and has dealt with some injuries from time to time and is actually still dealing with an ankle injury he suffered in Week 2. He hasn’t played a full season of football since that 2021 All-Pro .campaign where he dealt with a high ankle sprain in 2022 (played 9 games) and a lingering knee injury in 2023 (played 12 games). For that alone, he might not be worth the high price the Rams are asking for him.
It is unknown if the Bucs will make a move at wide receiver before the deadline. If the team doesn’t beat the Atlanta Falcons, it might not matter, so the Bucs might wait to see how this game goes before doing anything drastic. But if they do, Coop is highly unlikely to be the move – even if he does slot right into this Liam Cohen offence.
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