After veteran WR Cooper Kupp was released by the Rams, he generated a healthy market and quickly found a new club. Just two days after his release, the Super Bowl LVI MVP joined the Seahawks on a three-year, $45MM contract.
The $15MM average annual value on Kupp’s Seattle deal surpassed initial expectations. The Cowboys, who were known to be in the market for a pass-catching sidekick for CeeDee Lamb, were connected to Kupp, but even the $12MM AAV that was originally believed to be the asking price for the former Rams target was seen as too rich for Dallas’ liking.
Elaborating further on that point, ESPN’s Adam Schefter notes Lamb and Cowboys QB Dak Prescott called Kupp in an effort to recruit him to Dallas. Per Schefter, the club was indeed interested before bowing out due to financial considerations.
“[T]he Cowboys reached out about Cooper Kupp, and they were interested,” Schefter said on a recent podcast (via Clarence Hill Jr. of All City DLLS). “Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb, who I understand it, were on the phone with Cooper Kupp talking to him about the idea of coming to Dallas, and it was floated out there. And then the Cowboys heard the numbers, and they were at numbers the Cowboys weren’t going to get to.”
With massive contracts for Prescott and Lamb already on the books and another one for Micah Parsons in the works – despite a current lack of traction on that front – Dallas’ reluctance to make additional notable commitments to its cap sheet has been well-documented. Nonetheless, the team does hope to compete for a postseason berth in 2025, and signing Parris Campbell one day after Kupp agreed to join the Seahawks may not have been an ideal consolation prize for the Cowboys’ QB1/WR1 duo (especially since Brandin Cooks has now rejoined the Saints).
Interestingly, the Patriots, who entered the offseason with easily the most cap space in the NFL and who still lead the league in that regard, were also unwilling to exceed a certain threshold for Kupp. New England has been on the lookout for a high-end receiver for some time and was named as a suitor for Kupp. However, just like the Cowboys, the Pats bowed out when it became clear how much money Kupp was going to command (as Mike Giardi of the Boston Sports Journal implies).
Despite the season-ending ankle injury that Chris Godwin suffered in Week 7 of the 2024 season, New England seemingly had no reservations about his price point. We already knew the Pats were preparing to make an aggressive push for Godwin, who reportedly left money on the table to re-sign with the Bucs. As it turns out, he might have left quite a lot of money on the table.
In a recent appearance on 95.3 WDAE (h/t Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk), Tampa Bay GM Jason Licht said, “[t]here were several teams that inquired but there was one that kept writing him blank checks. We got to a point of what we could do in order to keep everything together and add some pieces here, and he took it.”
Naturally, Licht did not name the blank check writer, but as Smith notes, the Patriots are believed to have extended a very lucrative offer. We may never know how high New England was willing to go to land Godwin, though QB Drake Maye cannot fault the club for its efforts to add to his supporting cast.
With Godwin off the market, the Pats recently turned their attention to free agent wideout Stefon Diggs. As of the time of this writing, a deal with the four-time Pro Bowler is not imminent.