Seahawks' Cooper Kupp is a third-generation NFL star on branch of football family tree

Billy Heyen

Seahawks' Cooper Kupp is a third-generation NFL star on branch of football family tree image

Cooper Kupp certainly had some positive football influences.

His family tree traces its roots two generations back in the NFL, and that's in part what helped the former Los Angeles Rams and current Seattle Seahawks star wide receiver to this point in his career. 

It started with Cooper's grandfather, Jake.

Jake Kupp was a ninth-round pick by the Dallas Cowboys in 1964 out of the university of Washington.

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The offensive guard well outplayed his draft position, appearing in 154 career games and making a Pro Bowl. He also had a brief dalliance as a tight end, with four career catches, but his lengthy tenure with the Saints (along with time in Dallas, Washington and Atlanta) was mostly spent helping protect the QB and pave the way for the running game.

Jake's son was Craig, a quarterback.

Craig Kupp was a fifth-round pick in the 1990 NFL Draft by the New York Giants after splitting his college career between Montana Tech and Pacific Lutheran.

The QB only appeared in one NFL game, in 1991 for the Cardinals, when he completed 3-of-7 passes for 23 yards.

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And now there's Cooper. He was a collegiate star at Eastern Washington, earning himself a third-round draft selection by the Rams in 2017. 

Kupp's crowning accomplishments are winning Super Bowl MVP to get the Rams the Lombardi Trophy, along with earning AP Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2021 when he had 145 catches for 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns.

This is set to be Kupp's first year not with the Rams, and he'll help Seattle replace DK Metcalf. It's a football journey that started in the Kupp family a long, long time ago.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle