March 14, 2025 • 12 mins
Hugh Millen joins Dave Softy Mahler and Dick Fain to talk about the Seattle Seahawks signing former Rams receiver Cooper Kupp, how the team might use Kupp in their new offense under Klint Kubiak, Kupp’s specific skill set, and his injury history with the Rams.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to the exclusive home of the Huskies, the
Kraken and March Madness. Now back to Softie and Did
proudly brought to you by Emerald Guin Casino on Sports
Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Play action for Adams. Puffs fires deep looking for Cooper Cup.
Cut it touchdown Eastern Washington, forty one yards Adams to
Cooper Cup. Adams the quarterback empty backfield prows looking.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
For Cooper Cup.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Touchdown Eastern Washington, vernon Adams this second time he has
found Cup.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
By the way, how long was that first touchdown pass
right there?
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Forty one yards?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Are you kid me? I mean, just the stars are aligning.
Speaker 5 (00:47):
Just had the wrong play by play guy do well,
first we get this guy same down, good time, and
now we got a guy with a forty one yard
bomb against the Huskies. I mean we are remember that
day it was two thousand and fifteen. Do I have
that twenty fifteen season Cooper Cup twenty fourteen? Sorry, Cooper
Cup at Eastern came to you, dub and almost beat him.
(01:07):
Put up fifty two and Cooper Cup eight for a
buck forty five free touchdowns. Well, no better guy to
get on the air to talk about this, signing that
our QB one have to have his voice on the
air on days like today, HU milling with us and
here we let's just give you the floor man. Cooper
Cup three years, forty five million bucks with the Hawks,
how about it?
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Well, I think it's a good acquisition in that you've
got a guy who has a distinct brand of making plays.
He's got championship pedigray. We'll talk about the injury concerns,
but here's a guy, you know, Tyler Lockett is one
of the smartest players who's ever played in a Seahawk uniform.
But if there's a way to even go a step
(01:49):
above in terms of football IQ, the natural field for
playing wide receiver, Cooper Cup is that guy. Well, you
compare him with JSN. That's gonna be as as bright
and high IQ and instinctive of a receiver tandem as
you're ever gonna get. Now, there's a lot of questions
about who's gonna play where, But I'm watching the tape,
(02:12):
you know, since I've learned of the news, looking at Unfortunately,
right now, I'm just looking at the real where the
ball is thrown to him. Whether they're incomplete or not.
I think the only way to really evaluate the receiver
is to watch all routes, even the ones that you're
not throwing to him. But here's a guy that I
think and we'll get into the details here, but but
(02:34):
I think he's more of a zone guy now because
of his you know, exceedingly high IQ. He has a
feel for, Okay, what am I going to break in
break out? Do I choke my motor down or do
I just just go vertical and just stop because I've
got somebody the left of the right of me. He's
a very easy read for the quarterback. And and then
(02:56):
you know his hands are our elite. You know, he
can't jump, and he doesn't have great size, but similar
to Tyler Lockett, you can be draped on him and
he has a way of finishing the plays.
Speaker 6 (03:08):
There's a lot to like about this professional.
Speaker 7 (03:10):
So let's talk about the potential redundancy with JSN.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
JB.
Speaker 7 (03:14):
Long mentioned that he thought that could be the case,
although I mean, I don't know why there wouldn't be
redundancy with Pooka Nakulan Cooper Cup. They almost seem like
more similar players than JSN and Cup. Am I wrong
about that?
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Well, if you take all the core of the wide
receivers that had one hundred and more targets last year
and then you say, okay, what percent were in the slot? Well,
out of thirty five guys, JSN was number one, eighty
one point two percent of his route in the slot.
Cooper Cup was at sixty four percent, and that put
(03:49):
him at sixth on the list.
Speaker 6 (03:50):
By the way.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
By the way, DK Metcalf was dead last at eleven
point five percent and second to Lowis was sixteen and
a half to So dk Metcalf was dead last for
a by a mile. If you go yards per route run,
that's not target, that's every time you run down the top.
So the number is gonna sound a little low because
(04:12):
this includes balls that are not thrown to you. But uh,
dk Metcalf was irrespectable again on that list two point
four yards per route run and uh and then you
have let me get let me sort it here. You've
got Cooper Cup was at two point one two and
Jackson Smith and jig But was at one point nine
(04:34):
to four. So Metcalf was higher in the slot. They
just didn't put him in there. But back to Cooper
Cup his his ability to run option routes. Particularly, I
think his best route is what I call a wake
option route. So let's say it does. It doesn't have
to be JSN as the decoy. He could be on
(04:54):
the other side. You could have anybody on the line
of scrimmage. Let's say, to Sam Darnold's left, if you
motion h Cooper Cup so that he's aligned, there's a
very close hip alignment. Now you snap the ball. And
similar to like being in in the wake of a boat,
if you or or in a jet stream. Some people
call it if you get Cooper Cup in the jet
(05:15):
stream behind Derek Young. Let's just you know, any wide
receiver for the Seahawks. Now, what Cooper Cup is doing
is he's reading how the defense has responded to his motion.
Are there defenders on the inside leverage? Uh? If he
breaks out? Are they going to go over the top
or underneath? He has this instinct to either break in
or break out. And uh, just because he has this
(05:39):
this this kind of peripheral vision, knowing where all of
the leverage and the help is, even at a declining
age and injuries and what have you, that high IQ
look for a lot of those type option routes because
I mean, he's he's he's murdering those.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
What about the fit for Koubax offense, Well, somebody's gonna
have to play outside.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
You know, every team has a slot receiver, and he's
gonna be a slot receiver if you put Cooper Cup outside. Here,
here's the problem. Outside, it's more of a vertical type
of a challenge for a corner. So you're you're going
to get a corner the opponent's best athlete. And the
yin in the yang outside is more am I going
(06:25):
deep or am I going shallow? When you're in the slot,
the yin in the yang is more am I going
to the inside or am I going to the outside.
Because usually almost all defenses are capped with a safety
in the middle of the field, one or two safeties
in the middlefield, so it's more of a lateral game. Outside,
it's more of a vertical game. And what happens is
is if let's let's say I'm a corner and you know,
(06:48):
I run a four four five and I and I
got Cup lined out and he and it's like, okay,
you're trying to sell me on the go route, but
you don't have any speeds. So I'm just gonna jog
along on your inside hip. I'm only going about eighty
five percent speed right now. And if you decide to
stop on me, well, because I'm only going eighty five percent,
(07:09):
I'm not full throttle. I can stop on a dime
and I can glove you. You know, if you were faster,
then I'd have to open up. I'd have to match you.
I'd have to be going ninety five ninety eight percent.
Now if you stop, it's like whoa. It takes me
a lot more steps to mirror your break. So the
lack of speed that he has, it manifests its more
(07:31):
of a problem on the outside. And so that's why
I think he's inside. That's why I think you're gonna
see JSN. What did I say earlier in the conversation,
JSN number one at at it.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Was the eighty eighty one point two percent. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
That so now, JSN, he's gonna have to play outside
more now. He had the game winner against the Eagles
his rookie year that was outside. I want to pull
up the highlight. But he had that unbelievable almost game
winner in the in the Rose Bowl against Utah to
the right side on a fade. I think he was
the widest receiver. It's possibly he was in the slot,
(08:05):
so I might be misspeaking. But but you know, he's
JSN has more versatility. But I think that it's possible
if you want to be a little bit concerning about
this year taking, jsn's comparative advantage is in the slot.
He's a better slot receiver relative to all other wide
(08:25):
receivers than he is an outside receiver. I think he's
competent in both. JSN he's competent in both. He's proven
in both. But I think that that if we're talking
about ideal we it's gonna be that that particular question
is going to be something that we'll be watching from
September on about just how is this impacting JSN.
Speaker 7 (08:45):
How much will a receiver like Cooper cup help the
offensive line, because it wouldn't seem like they got a
whole blocks as long for a guy that's running routes
of five to ten yards.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Yeah, I mean, he's he's not gonna have a big
impact well beyond the line of scrimmage. He's very deft
at finding openings near line scrimmers, so yeah, so the
ball can get out and and you can kind of
trust him. U Now, if you put him in the
slot in man to man, you know, if he's lost
a little twitch and and and thus far in some
(09:16):
of the study, you know, I think there's a little
bit of man to man questions about whether or not
he can get open. And let me illustrate it like this.
Let's say you're you're a slot guy, You're you're a
defender in the slot, you're a nickel guy, and you
come out and you've got to cover a wide receiver.
I want you to imagine a five hundred pound dude
coming at you and you've and and and you let's
(09:39):
just keep it simple. He's either going to break to
your inside to over the middlefield, or he's going to
break outside to the flat. Well, if that five hundred
pound dude comes up and he's trying to shake, give
you shoulder shakes and everything in your mind, you're kind
of laughing, and you're going that fast, I'll just wait
here declare whether you're actually going in or actually going out.
Because you're five hundred pounds and your slow as a
(09:59):
slow so I'm you know, you just don't concern me
with all these shakes. I'm not going to bite on
those shakes. Well, if you can relate to that dynamic.
Now imagine you're saying, Okay, here's a slower guy, a
little bit older guy. He's given me his soulder shimmys.
I'm not really inclined to bite on those soulder shimmys.
I'll just wait till he declares the direction he's going
(10:22):
and then I have the speed to catch up. And
we're talking just feet and we're talking about you know,
micro seconds that all of this is processing. But that's
the difference between guys getting open on an option route
or not doing so that's gonna be one of the challenge.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
That's why I say I think he's going to be
more effective in zone.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
All right, Well, tons to go over next time we
have you on man de Marcus Lower and Sam Darnold,
Marquez Valdez Scandaling and now Cooper Cup so quick.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Hey, hey, I talked to Mike Gettings who owns pro
Scout and they've been advising the NFL since nineteen seventy six.
I just had a conversation with a half an hour ago.
He hasn't a Coper Cup has an F injury grade
that means three years or more with three plus games missed,
that he factors historically, going you got a seven percent
(11:08):
chance that he'll play. They have a term called blue,
red and purple. That will ever play blue. Obviously he's
been a Blue. But he says those who do beat
the odds, who defy the odds, they are and I'm right,
we're reading word for word what he said. They are
former Blue or multiple year Blue players. Cooper Cup is
a multiple year Blue player and but he's he is
(11:29):
trying to buck the odds of being an F injury.
This is a guy that is a consultant to the NFL,
and he says, your biggest mistakes is you throw money
at F injury players. So it must be discussed that
Cooper Cup is an F injury player.
Speaker 6 (11:43):
Let's see if he can defy the odds.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
No, it's the biggest concern by farm. No question, he's missed.
He's missed a full season the last three years. All right, man,
great stuff here, thanks past all right, you're milling with us.
We're going to break text the adials. What do you
think Cooper Cup is a seahawk and have the Seahawks
gotten better. Are they a better team today than they
were maybe a week ago? They've basically swapped Gino Smith
and Sam Darnold for DK Metcalf excuse me, Gino for
(12:07):
Sam and DK for Cooper Cup while also picking up
the second and third round draft pick. So are they
a better team today when you factor in the draft capitol?
Are they a better team today than they were maybe
two weeks ago? Four nine, four five one And then
Jackson bevans He of the Geno Defender Club will join
at five on ninety three three KJRFL
You're listening to the exclusive home of the Huskies, the
Kraken and March Madness. Now back to Softie and Did
proudly brought to you by Emerald Guin Casino on Sports
Radio ninety three point three kjr FM.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Play action for Adams. Puffs fires deep looking for Cooper Cup.
Cut it touchdown Eastern Washington, forty one yards Adams to
Cooper Cup. Adams the quarterback empty backfield prows looking.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
For Cooper Cup.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Touchdown Eastern Washington, vernon Adams this second time he has
found Cup.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
By the way, how long was that first touchdown pass
right there?
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Forty one yards?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Are you kid me? I mean, just the stars are aligning.
Speaker 5 (00:47):
Just had the wrong play by play guy do well,
first we get this guy same down, good time, and
now we got a guy with a forty one yard
bomb against the Huskies. I mean we are remember that
day it was two thousand and fifteen. Do I have
that twenty fifteen season Cooper Cup twenty fourteen? Sorry, Cooper
Cup at Eastern came to you, dub and almost beat him.
(01:07):
Put up fifty two and Cooper Cup eight for a
buck forty five free touchdowns. Well, no better guy to
get on the air to talk about this, signing that
our QB one have to have his voice on the
air on days like today, HU milling with us and
here we let's just give you the floor man. Cooper
Cup three years, forty five million bucks with the Hawks,
how about it?
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Well, I think it's a good acquisition in that you've
got a guy who has a distinct brand of making plays.
He's got championship pedigray. We'll talk about the injury concerns,
but here's a guy, you know, Tyler Lockett is one
of the smartest players who's ever played in a Seahawk uniform.
But if there's a way to even go a step
(01:49):
above in terms of football IQ, the natural field for
playing wide receiver, Cooper Cup is that guy. Well, you
compare him with JSN. That's gonna be as as bright
and high IQ and instinctive of a receiver tandem as
you're ever gonna get. Now, there's a lot of questions
about who's gonna play where, But I'm watching the tape,
(02:12):
you know, since I've learned of the news, looking at Unfortunately,
right now, I'm just looking at the real where the
ball is thrown to him. Whether they're incomplete or not.
I think the only way to really evaluate the receiver
is to watch all routes, even the ones that you're
not throwing to him. But here's a guy that I
think and we'll get into the details here, but but
(02:34):
I think he's more of a zone guy now because
of his you know, exceedingly high IQ. He has a
feel for, Okay, what am I going to break in
break out? Do I choke my motor down or do
I just just go vertical and just stop because I've
got somebody the left of the right of me. He's
a very easy read for the quarterback. And and then
(02:56):
you know his hands are our elite. You know, he
can't jump, and he doesn't have great size, but similar
to Tyler Lockett, you can be draped on him and
he has a way of finishing the plays.
Speaker 6 (03:08):
There's a lot to like about this professional.
Speaker 7 (03:10):
So let's talk about the potential redundancy with JSN.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
JB.
Speaker 7 (03:14):
Long mentioned that he thought that could be the case,
although I mean, I don't know why there wouldn't be
redundancy with Pooka Nakulan Cooper Cup. They almost seem like
more similar players than JSN and Cup. Am I wrong
about that?
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Well, if you take all the core of the wide
receivers that had one hundred and more targets last year
and then you say, okay, what percent were in the slot? Well,
out of thirty five guys, JSN was number one, eighty
one point two percent of his route in the slot.
Cooper Cup was at sixty four percent, and that put
(03:49):
him at sixth on the list.
Speaker 6 (03:50):
By the way.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
By the way, DK Metcalf was dead last at eleven
point five percent and second to Lowis was sixteen and
a half to So dk Metcalf was dead last for
a by a mile. If you go yards per route run,
that's not target, that's every time you run down the top.
So the number is gonna sound a little low because
(04:12):
this includes balls that are not thrown to you. But uh,
dk Metcalf was irrespectable again on that list two point
four yards per route run and uh and then you
have let me get let me sort it here. You've
got Cooper Cup was at two point one two and
Jackson Smith and jig But was at one point nine
(04:34):
to four. So Metcalf was higher in the slot. They
just didn't put him in there. But back to Cooper
Cup his his ability to run option routes. Particularly, I
think his best route is what I call a wake
option route. So let's say it does. It doesn't have
to be JSN as the decoy. He could be on
(04:54):
the other side. You could have anybody on the line
of scrimmage. Let's say, to Sam Darnold's left, if you
motion h Cooper Cup so that he's aligned, there's a
very close hip alignment. Now you snap the ball. And
similar to like being in in the wake of a boat,
if you or or in a jet stream. Some people
call it if you get Cooper Cup in the jet
(05:15):
stream behind Derek Young. Let's just you know, any wide
receiver for the Seahawks. Now, what Cooper Cup is doing
is he's reading how the defense has responded to his motion.
Are there defenders on the inside leverage? Uh? If he
breaks out? Are they going to go over the top
or underneath? He has this instinct to either break in
or break out. And uh, just because he has this
(05:39):
this this kind of peripheral vision, knowing where all of
the leverage and the help is, even at a declining
age and injuries and what have you, that high IQ
look for a lot of those type option routes because
I mean, he's he's he's murdering those.
Speaker 5 (05:55):
What about the fit for Koubax offense, Well, somebody's gonna
have to play outside.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
You know, every team has a slot receiver, and he's
gonna be a slot receiver if you put Cooper Cup outside. Here,
here's the problem. Outside, it's more of a vertical type
of a challenge for a corner. So you're you're going
to get a corner the opponent's best athlete. And the
yin in the yang outside is more am I going
(06:25):
deep or am I going shallow? When you're in the slot,
the yin in the yang is more am I going
to the inside or am I going to the outside.
Because usually almost all defenses are capped with a safety
in the middle of the field, one or two safeties
in the middlefield, so it's more of a lateral game. Outside,
it's more of a vertical game. And what happens is
is if let's let's say I'm a corner and you know,
(06:48):
I run a four four five and I and I
got Cup lined out and he and it's like, okay,
you're trying to sell me on the go route, but
you don't have any speeds. So I'm just gonna jog
along on your inside hip. I'm only going about eighty
five percent speed right now. And if you decide to
stop on me, well, because I'm only going eighty five percent,
(07:09):
I'm not full throttle. I can stop on a dime
and I can glove you. You know, if you were faster,
then I'd have to open up. I'd have to match you.
I'd have to be going ninety five ninety eight percent.
Now if you stop, it's like whoa. It takes me
a lot more steps to mirror your break. So the
lack of speed that he has, it manifests its more
(07:31):
of a problem on the outside. And so that's why
I think he's inside. That's why I think you're gonna
see JSN. What did I say earlier in the conversation,
JSN number one at at it.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Was the eighty eighty one point two percent. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
That so now, JSN, he's gonna have to play outside
more now. He had the game winner against the Eagles
his rookie year that was outside. I want to pull
up the highlight. But he had that unbelievable almost game
winner in the in the Rose Bowl against Utah to
the right side on a fade. I think he was
the widest receiver. It's possibly he was in the slot,
(08:05):
so I might be misspeaking. But but you know, he's
JSN has more versatility. But I think that it's possible
if you want to be a little bit concerning about
this year taking, jsn's comparative advantage is in the slot.
He's a better slot receiver relative to all other wide
(08:25):
receivers than he is an outside receiver. I think he's
competent in both. JSN he's competent in both. He's proven
in both. But I think that that if we're talking
about ideal we it's gonna be that that particular question
is going to be something that we'll be watching from
September on about just how is this impacting JSN.
Speaker 7 (08:45):
How much will a receiver like Cooper cup help the
offensive line, because it wouldn't seem like they got a
whole blocks as long for a guy that's running routes
of five to ten yards.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Yeah, I mean, he's he's not gonna have a big
impact well beyond the line of scrimmage. He's very deft
at finding openings near line scrimmers, so yeah, so the
ball can get out and and you can kind of
trust him. U Now, if you put him in the
slot in man to man, you know, if he's lost
a little twitch and and and thus far in some
(09:16):
of the study, you know, I think there's a little
bit of man to man questions about whether or not
he can get open. And let me illustrate it like this.
Let's say you're you're a slot guy, You're you're a
defender in the slot, you're a nickel guy, and you
come out and you've got to cover a wide receiver.
I want you to imagine a five hundred pound dude
coming at you and you've and and and you let's
(09:39):
just keep it simple. He's either going to break to
your inside to over the middlefield, or he's going to
break outside to the flat. Well, if that five hundred
pound dude comes up and he's trying to shake, give
you shoulder shakes and everything in your mind, you're kind
of laughing, and you're going that fast, I'll just wait
here declare whether you're actually going in or actually going out.
Because you're five hundred pounds and your slow as a
(09:59):
slow so I'm you know, you just don't concern me
with all these shakes. I'm not going to bite on
those shakes. Well, if you can relate to that dynamic.
Now imagine you're saying, Okay, here's a slower guy, a
little bit older guy. He's given me his soulder shimmys.
I'm not really inclined to bite on those soulder shimmys.
I'll just wait till he declares the direction he's going
(10:22):
and then I have the speed to catch up. And
we're talking just feet and we're talking about you know,
micro seconds that all of this is processing. But that's
the difference between guys getting open on an option route
or not doing so that's gonna be one of the challenge.
Speaker 6 (10:35):
That's why I say I think he's going to be
more effective in zone.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
All right, Well, tons to go over next time we
have you on man de Marcus Lower and Sam Darnold,
Marquez Valdez Scandaling and now Cooper Cup so quick.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
Hey, hey, I talked to Mike Gettings who owns pro
Scout and they've been advising the NFL since nineteen seventy six.
I just had a conversation with a half an hour ago.
He hasn't a Coper Cup has an F injury grade
that means three years or more with three plus games missed,
that he factors historically, going you got a seven percent
(11:08):
chance that he'll play. They have a term called blue,
red and purple. That will ever play blue. Obviously he's
been a Blue. But he says those who do beat
the odds, who defy the odds, they are and I'm right,
we're reading word for word what he said. They are
former Blue or multiple year Blue players. Cooper Cup is
a multiple year Blue player and but he's he is
(11:29):
trying to buck the odds of being an F injury.
This is a guy that is a consultant to the NFL,
and he says, your biggest mistakes is you throw money
at F injury players. So it must be discussed that
Cooper Cup is an F injury player.
Speaker 6 (11:43):
Let's see if he can defy the odds.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
No, it's the biggest concern by farm. No question, he's missed.
He's missed a full season the last three years. All right, man,
great stuff here, thanks past all right, you're milling with us.
We're going to break text the adials. What do you
think Cooper Cup is a seahawk and have the Seahawks
gotten better. Are they a better team today than they
were maybe a week ago? They've basically swapped Gino Smith
and Sam Darnold for DK Metcalf excuse me, Gino for
(12:07):
Sam and DK for Cooper Cup while also picking up
the second and third round draft pick. So are they
a better team today when you factor in the draft capitol?
Are they a better team today than they were maybe
two weeks ago? Four nine, four five one And then
Jackson bevans He of the Geno Defender Club will join
at five on ninety three three KJRFL
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