The Seattle Seahawks needed a veteran wide receiver to try to replace a lot of the productivity that DK Metcalf had when he was in Seattle. Metcalf was traded this offseason to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Seattle signed Cooper Kupp in free agency.
Kupp wasn't inexpensive, though. His deal was for three years and up to $45 million. Or, $15 million a season. Sort of.
Per general manager John Schneider's normal way of doing business, years two and three of the contract have no guaranteed money. If Kupp gets injured in his first season with Seattle and misses a bunch of games, Seattle could let him go.
One NFL analyst says Cooper Kupp is the worst contract on the Seahawks roster
According to NFL Spin Zone's Lou Scataglia, the deal that Seattle gave Kupp is the worst contract the Seahawks currently have. This could be true if Kupp gets hurt, as he has been apt to do every season since 2021. The receiver has missed five games in each of the last two years and missed eight in 2022. He is also now 32 years old, so one would not assume he will get healthier.
Scataglia does offer, "It could be a long year for Kupp and the Seahawks in the 2025 NFL Season." But that comes with a bit of a catch.
The NFL Spin Zone writer has historically been critical of the Seahawks, ranking Seattle's quarterback room, featuring Geno Smith and Sam Howell in 2024, as the 29th (or fourth-worst) in the league. Clearly, there was some kind of bias there because there was no factual evidence to support the claim.
Scataglia also predicted the Seahawks to go 4-13 last year, and let's just say he was wrong by about six games.
Still, he might be right about Kupp because Seattle is taking a big risk with the receiver, even if he only spends one season with the Seahawks. Of the $45 million contract, $26.5 million is guaranteed. In essence, Seattle might pay Kupp one year for $26.5 million. That's a lot.
Of course, the hope is that Kupp will stay healthy for three seasons and be a great WR2 to Jaxon Smith-Njigba's WR1. If that happens, the former Los Angeles Rams receiver would certainly be worth the deal the Seahawks gave him.
He is a better fit for the culture that head coach Mike Macdonald is trying to build. Instead of the, at times, bombastic and mercurial attitudes of Geno Smith and DK Metcalf, Seattle brought in Sam Darnold and Kupp, and each has a much calmer personality than Smith and Metcalf.