Cooper Kupp recorded 46 yards on seven catches in the Rams' 30-27 win over the Panthers on Sunday in Charlotte, and some special family members witnessed the wide receiver's performance.
On a day that happened to be National Grandparents Day, Jake and Carla Kupp, the parents of Cooper's father Craig, made the trip from Washington state and were seated in the east stands behind the goal posts at Bank of America Stadium to watch their grandson play.
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"You know the Rams, we had a little bit of a problem in the Super Bowl last year," Jake told Sporting News before the game. "But from what I understand from our grandson, they’re picking up right where they left off at the end of the season last year, and they’re looking forward to getting back into the Super Bowl."
Jake Kupp knows the game pretty well, one could say. The senior Kupp, a member of the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame, started his NFL career when he was picked by the Cowboys in the ninth round of the 1964 NFL Draft. He also played for the Redskins and Falcons, but he is most known for his nine seasons with the Saints (1967; 1968-75).
Cooper's father Craig also was drafted. He was taken in the fifth round of the 1990 NFL Draft by the Giants.
When the Rams drafted Cooper in the third round in 2017, the Kupp family became only the third in history to have three consecutive generations of men drafted in the NFL.
"It’s pretty cool," Cooper Kupp told Sporting News after the game. "Just to be able to have my dad and grandpa have both played, it's great."
Cooper, now in his third NFL season, is trying to make his own name.
"It’s something I think that as you look back and growing up hearing the stories that they have playing in this league; being able to make my own stories now is something that we don’t take for granted, something we definitely feel like is a pretty special thing."
Now the Kupp family might have a chance to reach four consecutive generations of men drafted in the NFL, as Cooper and his wife Anna had a boy named Cooper Jr. (they call him "Juney") last summer. Cooper Sr., though, is just hoping his son finds what he loves.
"My wife and I have talked about it a lot," he said with a laugh. "Whatever our son wants to do, wherever it is his passion is, what we want is for him to purse what that is. It doesn’t have to be football, whatever it is he falls in love with: Go after it."