Former Rams RB Jerome Bettis thinks Rams are “a year late” on trading Kupp
Jerome Bettis spent much of his NFL career with the Steelers, yet began his Hall of Fame journey with the L.A. Rams. Bettis has kept tabs on the team that drafted him and felt the team made a mistake by not trading star wideout Cooper Kupp sooner.
In a Feb. 8 interview with RG sports reporter DJ Siddiqi, Bettis said the Rams are “a year late” in deciding to trade Kupp, and felt the emergence of All-Pro Puka Nacua has negated LA’s need for the 2021 Offensive Player of the Year.
“Teams have to make a decision. If you’ve got your guy, then you don’t need the other guy. I think Cooper Kupp was the guy, and then Puka Nacua came and became the new guy. Now you’ve got two guys and you don’t need them both. It’s smart to get off of the other guy and it’s understandable. I don’t think it’s such a crazy thing.
I don’t think it’s a purge or him changing philosophies. They’ve got the guy. They don’t need to pay two guys a big amount to do the same thing. You have two guys that play the same position, right? They do the same thing. You don’t need the redundancy.”
Kupp made it known on social media that he disagrees with the Rams’ decision to move on, so a trade is inevitable this offseason. Truthfully, Nacua’s rise to stardom unofficially became a passing of the torch in Los Angeles, making the transition seamless whenever that difficult day arrives.
For what it’s worth, Bettis also shared his thoughts on whether Matthew Stafford stays in Hollywood. All signs point to “yes” for the Hall of Famer:
“They bring back Stafford because a championship quarterback is like a needle in a haystack. If you don’t have the succession plan figured out, you’ve got to bring him back.”
The Rams certainly missed the Bus—Jerome Bettis nickname pun totally intended—on figuring out what to do with the former Super Bowl MVP. Hopefully, they do right by Kupp and trade him to a contender for a chance at a second ring.
