Cooper Kupp picked up an injury in practice yesterday. Reportedly a hamstring issue, he'll be sidelined for "a few weeks." That will no doubt knock him down a few spots in early drafts, and there are people who were probably avoiding him anyway.
There's a concern with the Rams themselves looking like an older, broken-down trainwreck, from Matthew Stafford on down through the rest of the roster. Kupp himself, who had one of the all-time wide receiver seasons in 2021, is coming off an ankle injury that cost him half of last season. While some will note that while he and Stafford were both healthy last year, Kupp was putting up his usual outstanding numbers -- averaging 8 catches for 90 yards per game, with 6 touchdowns in 9 contests -- others will look at his advancing age, having turned 30 in June.
We've done a lot with running back ages lately, not as much with wide receivers. Should Kupp be downgraded as a 30-year-old? Maybe, but I think it's a little soon to be too concerned.
The injury risk is there, although Kupp suffering a hamstring injury now, nearly six weeks before Los Angeles' first game, is better than if it happened closer to the season. And Kupp was healthy from 2019 to 2021, missing only one game those seasons (the other time he missed half a season, to a torn ACL, he was 25).
The fact is, 30 isn't an age that has prevented the elite talents from putting up big numbers. Looking at just the last five seasons, plenty of guys have done it.
Since 2018, nine wide receivers aged 30 or older have ranked in the top 25 (PPR), so about 2 per season. Thirty-one have ranked in the top 50 (6 per season). Obviously if you select Kupp in the first round you're hoping for better than that. But just last year 30-year-old Davante Adams ranked No. 3 among wideouts, while 30-year-old Tyler Lockett ranked 13th. One of those guys had a new team and both had new quarterbacks, but they put up some of the better numbers of their career.
Table shows all 30-year-old wideouts from the last five seasons to rank in the top 50 at the position. The five players who did it last year are in bold.
| 30-YEAR-OLD WRS IN THE TOP 50, 2018-2022 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Age | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | Rk |
| 2022 | Davante Adams, L.V. | 30 | 180 | 100 | 1516 | 15.2 | 14 | 3 |
| 2019 | Julio Jones, Atl. | 30 | 157 | 99 | 1394 | 14.1 | 6 | 3 |
| 2018 | Antonio Brown, Pitt. | 30 | 168 | 104 | 1297 | 12.5 | 15 | 5 |
| 2019 | Julian Edelman, N.E. | 33 | 153 | 100 | 1117 | 11.2 | 6 | 7 |
| 2020 | Adam Thielen, Min. | 30 | 108 | 74 | 925 | 12.5 | 14 | 10 |
| 2022 | Tyler Lockett, Sea. | 30 | 117 | 84 | 1033 | 12.3 | 9 | 13 |
| 2020 | Marvin Jones, Det. | 30 | 115 | 76 | 978 | 12.9 | 9 | 18 |
| 2018 | Julian Edelman, N.E. | 32 | 108 | 74 | 850 | 11.5 | 6 | 21 |
| 2018 | Emmanuel Sanders, Den. | 31 | 98 | 71 | 868 | 12.2 | 5 | 23 |
| 2018 | Larry Fitzgerald, Ariz. | 35 | 112 | 69 | 734 | 10.6 | 6 | 26 |
| 2020 | Cole Beasley, Buff. | 31 | 107 | 82 | 967 | 11.8 | 4 | 27 |
| 2021 | Adam Thielen, Min. | 31 | 95 | 67 | 726 | 10.8 | 10 | 28 |
| 2022 | Adam Thielen, Min. | 32 | 107 | 70 | 716 | 10.2 | 6 | 31 |
| 2018 | Golden Tate, 2TM | 30 | 113 | 74 | 795 | 10.7 | 4 | 31 |
| 2019 | Emmanuel Sanders, 2TM | 32 | 97 | 66 | 869 | 13.2 | 5 | 32 |
| 2021 | Marvin Jones, Jac. | 31 | 120 | 73 | 832 | 11.4 | 4 | 34 |
| 2019 | Cole Beasley, Buff. | 30 | 106 | 67 | 778 | 11.6 | 6 | 34 |
| 2019 | Larry Fitzgerald, Ariz. | 36 | 109 | 75 | 804 | 10.7 | 4 | 35 |
| 2018 | Jordy Nelson, Oak. | 33 | 88 | 63 | 739 | 11.7 | 3 | 38 |
| 2021 | Cole Beasley, Buff. | 32 | 112 | 82 | 693 | 8.5 | 1 | 39 |
| 2018 | Demaryius Thomas, 2TM | 31 | 89 | 59 | 677 | 11.5 | 5 | 39 |
| 2021 | A.J. Green, Ariz. | 33 | 92 | 54 | 848 | 15.7 | 3 | 41 |
| 2020 | Emmanuel Sanders, N.O. | 33 | 82 | 61 | 726 | 11.9 | 5 | 41 |
| 2022 | Keenan Allen, LAC | 30 | 89 | 66 | 752 | 11.4 | 4 | 41 |
| 2020 | T.Y. Hilton, Ind. | 31 | 93 | 56 | 762 | 13.6 | 5 | 42 |
| 2018 | A.J. Green, Cin. | 30 | 77 | 46 | 694 | 15.1 | 6 | 42 |
| 2018 | DeSean Jackson, T.B. | 32 | 74 | 41 | 774 | 18.9 | 5 | 43 |
| 2019 | Golden Tate, NYG | 31 | 85 | 49 | 676 | 13.8 | 6 | 45 |
| 2018 | Doug Baldwin, Sea. | 30 | 73 | 50 | 618 | 12.4 | 5 | 46 |
| 2022 | DeAndre Hopkins, Ari. | 30 | 96 | 64 | 717 | 11.2 | 3 | 47 |
| 2019 | Danny Amendola, Det. | 34 | 97 | 62 | 678 | 10.9 | 1 | 49 |
Kupp isn't the only top wide receiver entering his age-30 season. Others include Stefon Diggs, Mike Evans, Brandin Cooks and Michael Thomas (if we're still putting him in the elite category). I wish he were healthy now, but if it causes him to fall a few spots so I can take him in the second round, I guess I'll be happy about that. For the moment, I'm seeing more opportunity than worry.
--Andy Richardson