Cooper Kupp's huge game is a case for wide receivers to get more love in NFL MVP talks

It's a quarterback award, but maybe that should change.

On a weekend where leading NFL MVP candidates Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady were both eliminated from the postseason, a less-heralded candidate for the award moved on. 

Wide receiver Cooper Kupp’s Los Angeles Rams beat Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 30-27, in a thrilling finish Sunday, and they did it in no small part due to the performance of Kupp himself.

The unanimous All-Pro selection caught nine passes for 183 yards and a touchdown in a 30-27 victory, including catches of 20 and 44 yards to set up the game-winning field goal. In a game that required each team’s biggest stars to make plays, Kupp made the biggest.

The first player to capture the NFL’s receiving triple crown (145 receptions, 1,947 yards, 16 touchdowns) since Steve Smith in 2005, Kupp had the type of game his team has come to expect of him, the type you’d expect an MVP candidate to have on the biggest stage. In the regular season, he recorded fewer than 92 yards just once, with a season-high of 163 yards. He eclipsed 100 yards in 11 games and caught multiple touchdowns in five games. It’s hard to ask for much more from a receiver, but when the Rams needed more Sunday, he delivered.

Yet, Kupp finished the regular season with six players ahead of him in terms of MVP odds, all quarterbacks — including his own. Kupp had +3000 odds on Tipico Sportsbook to win the award, far longer than the favored Rodgers at -135. Along with Matthew Stafford and Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen and Joe Burrow all had better odds, too.

Kupp’s performance against the Bucs is an interesting case for wide receivers to get more attention in future MVP conversations. Without Kupp, it’s hard to imagine the Rams in the playoffs, let alone one game from the Super Bowl. It’s also hard to imagine Stafford having the career-defining season he’s having. The game was enough for several people on social media to make his case, most notably teammate Johnny Hekker who could’ve said Stafford but didn’t.

Quarterback is widely accepted as the most important position in football, maybe in all of sports. And as such, players at the position take the most blame when things go wrong and receive the most credit when they go right, deserved or not. But how much of that credit should go to Davante Adams if you’re Rodgers, or the all-star cast of targets Brady had to work with this season? And the list goes on. Are the Cincinnati Bengals more similar to last year’s team without Ja’Marr Chase?

It’s hard to quantify, but on Saturday when the Packers desperately needed their MVP quarterback to put away the San Francisco 49ers, he could not. And on Sunday, when the Bucs needed four quarters from their future Hall of Fame quarterback, he could only give them a half. When Stafford and the Rams needed Kupp, he was there each time, including on the drive that put them in position to advance.

Kupp’s performance in the playoffs has no bearing on voting for MVP, a regular-season award. But it does help bring into perspective the true value a player of his caliber can have. Maybe that’s taken into consideration the next time a receiver has the type of season Kupp had…and gets to keep having.

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