I argued recently that the Washington Commanders should not invest the salary cap resources that will be necessary to sign premium free agent wide receiver Tee Higgins. Now that another top-tier option has become available, do the same arguments apply to Cooper Kupp?
Should Adam Peters pursue a trade for the All-Pro and Triple Crown winner?
As I said when discussing Higgins, the Commanders would like to have a player of Kupp’s caliber. He would give quarterback Jayden Daniels a second major weapon on the outside opposite Terry McLaurin. The question comes down to a matter of price and roster construction.
The Commanders should prefer Higgins. He is younger and should be entering his prime. Kupp turns 32 years old this summer.
Though there have been exceptions, wide receivers typically fall off noticeably after they pass 30 years old. Because Higgins is a pending free agent, it will not require anything beyond cash to acquire him. To pry Kupp from the Los Angeles Rams, Peters will have to offer other assets — either players, draft picks, or a combination of the two.
However, there are reasons that Kupp would be a better fit, at least from a roster construction standpoint.
His total salary makes him one of the 10 highest-paid receivers in the league, and his cap hit would be hefty. The impact of Kupp’s salary would not be as significant as Higgins is going to get an enormous contract this offseason. That’s simply the nature of the NFL. Prices keep going up.
More important than the raw total, Kupp’s contract is contained. His current deal runs for two more years. If nothing is renegotiated, it ends in 2027.
McLaurin’s is up in 2026. That matters because the Commanders will still have Daniels playing under his rookie deal until 2027. They can keep him at a low price even longer, but that would be foolish. They will want to extend the signal-caller at a major pay hike well before his rookie contract is up.
Commanders must bide their time before exploring Cooper Kupp trade
Kupp will be off the books by 2027. Higgins, at a significantly higher price, would not. So Washington could add the veteran without having the same impact on its salary cap picture.
But money is not the only consideration.
Kupp won't yield the Rams a very big haul should they trade him. His age and health are both major concerns. His savvy route running and physicality would be a real asset for the Commanders’ offense, but there are red flags all over the place.
The former third-round pick played in 33 of a possible 51 games over the last three seasons. Kupp has missed at least five games in each of those years. Players do not get healthier as they get older.
His catch percentage dropped below 70 percent in each of the last two years. That is the lowest it has been since his rookie season. Kupp had the fewest first downs of any year other than his second this season. That's when he missed half the campaign. His yards-per-catch were the lowest of his career.
Kupp would easily be the second-best receiver on the Commanders from the moment he stepped onto the field. But the things he was so good at — finding open spots, converting on third downs, securing yards after the catch — are all diminishing. His rate of successful plays (based on a formula related to down and distance) was also the lowest of his career in 2024.
As with health, players do get more productive once they pass 30 years old.
Kupp could be a valuable asset for the Commanders, provided the asking price isn’t too high. But Washington still needs to groom a young dangerous weapon to succeed McLaurin.
The Eastern Washington product could be a nice bridge and he would help the Commanders get maximum value out of Daniels' next few seasons. But — and this is the most important point — any decision on Kupp should be delayed.
There is a much bigger trade target for Washington this offseason. It is not Higgins. It’s Myles Garrett.
If the Cleveland Browns are genuinely entertaining legitimate offers for their all-world defensive end, that’s the player the Commanders should go all-in on. If Kupp’s salary in any way interferes with the pursuit of Garrett, then forget about him.
As nice as it might be to have the wideout, any decision can be revisited after Garrett’s situation is resolved.