Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp has put together one of the finest seasons ever in NFL history, helping his team return to the Super Bowl for the second time in four years.
The 28-year-old won the receiving triple crown by leading the league in regular-season receptions (145), receiving yards (1,947) and receiving touchdowns (16). He has added 25 catches for 368 yards and four touchdowns in L.A.’s three playoff games, bringing his season totals to 170 catches (an NFL record), 2,333 yards (an NFL record) and 20 TDs, with one big game left to play. He’s the first player in NFL history to surpass 2,000 receiving yards (regular season and postseason).
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By his side throughout his rise from Eastern Washington University to the Super Bowl has been his wife, Anna. After Cooper’s 142 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday helped the Rams reach Super Bowl LVI, Anna ran onto the field to celebrate with her husband. She later posted a video of the moment on Instagram, and thanked God in the caption.
“This moment. These moments!!! Thanking God for every one of them,” she wrote. “We have prayed for a season to glorify our Savior Jesus Christ and you are doing just that my lovey @cooperkupp. SURREAL!!”
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Anna and Cooper have long been grounded by their faith in Christ. She describes herself as a “Child of the King” on Instagram, and Cooper has often talked about his faith publicly. Faith is also apparent in the apparel line they have started.
They met as high school seniors at a track meet when Cooper was at Davis High School in Yakima, Washington. He instantly knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
“I knew that she was the one that I wanted to marry when we had first met back in high school,” Kupp recently told ESPN. “I told my mom the day I met her, ‘I’m going to marry this girl.'”
They began dating, but Anna soon left for the University of Arkansas to compete as a heptathlete, while Cooper went to Eastern Washington. But she transferred to EWU after nearly two years at Arkansas, knowing Cooper was the man she wanted to marry. They tied the knot the following summer.
“We just were so aligned in terms of what our goals were and what we wanted to do moving forward and what we wanted to be about as a couple,” Cooper told ESPN. “And the belief that football was the community, was the place that I was supposed to be, that we were supposed to be, and that’s where God placed us.”
Said Anna to ESPN, “A lot of people ask, ‘Why did you guys get married so young? Didn’t you feel you were missing out?’ And you’re telling them, ‘No, we actually think the opposite. We feel so lucky to have found someone that we love and cherish so much so early.'”
Cooper became a four-time FCS All-American, and set 15 FCS records in 52 collegiate games, including 6,464 yards, 428 receptions, 73 touchdown catches, 124.3 average yards per game and 1.40 average TDs per game.
The Rams took him in the third round of the 2017 draft (69th overall), and he’s started 57 of his 71 career regular-season games since. He topped 1,000 receiving yards (1,161) for the first time in 2019, when he also added 10 touchdowns. But with the addition of quarterback Matthew Stafford this season, Kupp took his play to a whole new level. He was named a Pro Bowler and first-team All-Pro for the first time in 2021.
Looking back. Thinking forward. pic.twitter.com/DC7KojjiYc
— Cooper Kupp (@CooperKupp) February 2, 2022
When asked by ESPN this fall what fans don’t already know about him, Kupp was quick to say his wife doesn’t get enough credit for his accomplishments. As detailed in the ESPN story, Anna would watch film with Cooper in college, train with him, help him learn about nutrition, and even worked at a restaurant to support them financially in college so he could focus on football and not have to work a landscaping job too.
Now, he’s on his first year of a three-year, $47.25 million contract extension, and set to receive numerous postseason bonuses. She’s still by his side, as they also raise two young boys.
“I was telling him the other day, I was saying I’m proud of you in all the moments,” Anna told ESPN. “I’m proud of you when you wake up at 2 in the morning to go rock our kid, proud of you when you wake up at 4 in the morning to go watch film, and I’m proud of you when you break NFL records. … More than anyone, I see the work. I see his sacrifice, his dedication to his craft, his time. It has been so special to watch.”
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