Los Angeles Rams WR Cooper Kupp announced on Monday night that the team will attempt to trade him this offseason. That announcement doesn’t come as a huge surprise overall. It will be interesting, however, to see if the Rams can ultimately find a team willing to trade for Kupp with his contract as it currently stands. When it comes to the Pittsburgh Steelers, it’s hard to imagine them trading for Kupp’s contract as is.
Kupp, who will turn 32 years old in June, is due a base salary of $12.5 million in 2025. Additionally, Kupp is due a $7.5 million roster bonus on March 15, according to Over the Cap. Five million of that $7.5 million is fully guaranteed as well.
With his contract as it sits currently, a team would take on $20 million in both cash and salary cap charges if they traded for him. It should also be noted that Kupp’s current contract runs through 2026 with that year totaling out at $19.85 million. Five million of that total is due in March of 2026 as a roster bonus.
Quite honestly, I am not expecting the Rams to be able to trade Kupp unless they eat some of the 2025 money that he’s currently due. In fact, I bet inquiring teams will attempt to get the Rams to eat at least $5 million, the fully guaranteed amount of the $7.5 million roster bonus he is due in March, as part of a trade that would take place before said bonus was due.
If the Rams aren’t able to trade Kupp by March 15, they would then have to pay the wide receiver that $7.5 million roster bonus unless they decided to cut him. If released, he would obviously become a free agent.
Should the Rams be unable to trade him by March 15, and should they also decide not to cut him by that date, they would have higher odds of trading him pre-draft. That’s because an acquiring team would only be on the hook for the $12.5 million base salary for the coming season at that point. Even so, it’s hard to imagine the Rams getting more than a third-round pick in exchange for Kupp. Quite honestly, the Rams would do good to get a third-round pick for him when and if they are able to trade him at all.
While Kupp still probably has a good year or two of play left in him, he has missed a total of 18 regular season games over the course of the last three seasons, an an average of six games per season. It should be expected that his days of playing every game in a single season are now behind him.
In closing, if the Steelers were to attempt to trade for Kupp, I imagine they would only do so after March 15. The only way I could see them trading for Kupp before March 15 would be if they could get the Rams to still eat that full roster bonus amount of $7.5 million. On top of that, it’s hard to imagine the Steelers wanting to part with a draft pick higher than a fourth rounder to acquire Kupp as there’s a risk he might wind up being just a one-year rental.
Should the Rams ultimately wind up having to cut Kupp outright, he would obviously be a lot more desirable to the Steelers as a street free agent for the right price. I can almost guarantee everyone reading this post that the Steelers won’t trade for Kupp with his contract in its current form.
To end this post, should the Rams ultimately wind up trading or cutting Kupp after March 15, their dead money charge in 2025 for doing so would be $24.76 million. That would result in them clearing just $5.02 million in 2025 salary cap space by going those routes as Kupp’s current salary cap charge for 2025 is set to be $29.78 million.
