Only a few days after being released by the only NFL franchise he had ever called home, Cooper Kupp finds himself inking a 3 year/$45 million deal with the Seattle Seahawks. This move comes just days after the Seahawks parted ways with two of their homegrown receivers, releasing Tyler Lockett and trading D.K. Metcalf to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Seahawks have shifted into a rebuilding team quickly, and this signing serves as a bridge for the team to sign a veteran to a short-term deal while they plan for the future. Does Kupp have anything left in the tank? Will Jaxon Smith-Njigba take his game to the next level with only Kupp to compete for targets? Can Sam Darnold repeat his 2024 performance? We’ll be looking at players who benefit from the Cooper Kupp signing with the Seahawks and players whose fantasy value took a hit with the move.
Winners of the Cooper Kupp Signing
Cooper Kupp: WR, Seattle Seahawks
It was obvious from the start of the offseason that Kupp was never going to play another game for the Los Angeles Rams, but it should still be mentioned that he is a big winner for simply moving on from the Rams. This receiving corps now features both Puka Nacua and Davante Adams, both of whom would have easily out-targeted Kupp, who has always been a high-volume fantasy asset.
Some will say that the downgrade from quarterback Matthew Stafford to Sam Darnold is a cause for concern, but let’s not kid ourselves; Stafford isn’t the same fantasy stud that he was in their Super Bowl season. Darnold finished as QB9 last season, while Stafford finished as QB19. It’s entirely within the realm of possibilities that Darnold is the better quarterback in 2025, at least as far as fantasy football in concerned.
Regardless of how you feel about the quarterback situations, it’s far more ideal to be competing for targets with Jaxon Smith-Njigba as opposed to both Puka Nacua and Davante Adams. Kupp certainly has seen an end to his WR1 overall days, but if Darnold can produce at a high-end QB2 level, Kupp could easily see himself pushing the WR2/3 borders. That may not sound like much, given where Kupp was only a few years ago, but given his rapid decline at age 31, it should be considered a massive win for his fantasy value.
Davante Adams: WR, Los Angeles Rams
Adams is a winner in a similar way to Kupp in the sense that the two were unlikely to ever share the field this season, but until Kupp signed elsewhere, you couldn’t rule out the possibility of his return. The scenario where Kupp signs a short-term deal with Los Angeles after they release him creates a nightmare in which the offense becomes a messy three-headed monster, and none of the Rams’ receivers would be trustworthy on a week-to-week basis.
Nacua will still lead the Rams in targets, but Kupp had been a safety valve for Stafford over their time together, and that “breakfast buddy” bond could have proven difficult for Adams to overcome. That could have been particularly devastating to his fantasy value, as Adams has a reputation as a diva when he doesn’t get his share of the targets.
It’s tough to say if Adams has anything left in the tank, but with gunslinger Stafford as his quarterback, he may cling to fantasy relevance for another season or two. He isn’t an obvious winner of the Cooper Kupp signing, but he certainly wasn’t a loser, either.
Sam Darnold: QB, Seattle Seahawks
Easily the biggest winner of the Cooper Kupp signing is Sam Darnold. After putting up a career year with the Minnesota Vikings in 2024, Darnold signed a less-lucrative deal than he could have had he not had a few in-game meltdowns at the end of last season.
As it stands, he finds himself on a glorified “prove-it” deal with an offense that had been recently gutted. His career year came with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison as his receivers, so having Jaxon Smith-Njigba as his only elite option seemed problematic for the Seahawks’ new signal caller.
The Seahawks’ front office got the memo and snapped up veteran Cooper Kupp on a relatively cheap deal, giving him a solid receiving duo if you believe Kupp has something left. Seattle has typically operated as a run-first offense, and with Darnold at quarterback that is likely to be the case again. Darnold should find himself as a game manager in Seattle, which could keep him out of the top 10 quarterback conversation, but with two excellent slot options, he should have ample opportunities to be a high-end QB2 at worst.
Losers of the Cooper Kupp Signing
Jaxon Smith-Njigba: WR, Seattle Seahawks
As the Seahawks parted ways with Metcalf and Lockett, Smith-Njigba managers could be seen foaming at the mouth over the prospects of him entering the WR1 overall conversation. However, what the fantasy Gods gave us, they quickly took away.
For a brief instance, Smith-Njigba was the only fantasy-relevant pass-catcher on the Seahawks roster and seemed poised for a monster season, but the Cooper Kupp signing quickly put a damper on that party. Jaxon should still be a fantasy superstar sooner rather than later, but adding another receiver to compete for targets certainly wasn’t what anyone wanted.
He finished as WR10 last season, and while I expect him to meet or exceed that finish in 2025, Kupp could certainly kill his chances of a top-three finish. Darnold is more than sufficient to ensure he produces adequately, and the sky is the limit, but Kupp makes that sky slightly lower, if only by a few fantasy points.
Ken Walker: RB, Seattle Seahawks
Walker is tough to project because people have never viewed him as a receiving back. With Sam Darnold as his quarterback, he should be the bellcow who carries the offense. However, any hopes of him having an Aaron Jones-type season and possibly becoming the team’s second-leading receiver vanish with the Cooper Kupp signing.
As I said above, Walker is still certain to be the workhorse in this backfield, but if he hopes to enter the top-three running back conversation, he is going to have to do so in a Derrick Henry-type manner, where he rushes for 2,000 yards with little yardage through the air.
Overall, the arrival of Kupp and Darnold should improve this offense, which makes Walker’s fantasy outlook more stable, so calling him a loser is true if you only consider him a modest loser as a pass-catching back.
Let us know who YOU think is the biggest winner and loser over at The Fantasy Advice Network.
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