THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – As Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp transitions into the 2023 offseason, he's happy with where things stand with the rehab for the ankle injury he sustained in Week 10 of the 2022 season.
"I've never done this before, so the trainers feel good about where we're at," Kupp said Monday. "Feel like we're making good time on things. At the end of the day, I just want to be able to get to that place here so I can get back to training and doing the football stuff I love. But things seem to be going really well."
Kupp suffered a high ankle sprain late in the Rams' Week 10 home loss to the Cardinals, an injury that required surgery – specifically a tightrope procedure, head coach Sean McVay confirmed. In wake of that, Kupp was placed on Injured Reserve and missed the Rams' final eight games of the season.
When it came to the decision to get the tightrope procedure, Kupp said that ultimately his choices were to either not do anything, or to get it fixed. He determined the latter was best given the potential negative impact of the former.
"At the end of the day, I think the best thing as a player seems to be that, if you aren't able to get it fixed, that things can kind of linger, go on, you can never get fully back," Kupp said. "And so I think that was the right decision. I don't think I had any other option but to get it fixed. The great thing is that guys have done really well with this procedure and come back feeling good, so excited to be able to get to that place and back to work."
Injury or no injury, Kupp said he is always trying to refine his offseason routine, not wanting to do the same thing repeatedly and say it's good enough and knowing there's always opportunities for growth.
For now, though, he is concentrating on getting healthy. After that, he'll take the time to evaluate what he was able to put on tape from those games he played in this past season as part of his preparation for 2023.
"Right now, my focus is fully on just getting healthy, being able to get back to do the training, all that stuff that I want to do," Kupp said. "And then being able to evaluate, 'OK, what's this training going to look like? What kind of things do I need to dial in on as I meet with the coaches today? Going over, OK, I did get the opportunity to play (nine) games this year, the things that are on there, what are the things that you guys see that, coming back this next year, how can I be better for this team?' And then be able to put a plan together to attack those things."
