Cooper Kupp Praises Seahawks’ Young Receivers Ahead of Super Bowl Title Defense

Cooper Kupp is entering his 10th NFL season with a new job description: mentor. And based on what he’s seeing out of Seattle’s young receiving corps, he likes where things are headed.

The Seahawks wide receiver spoke with NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport about the state of Seattle’s receiver room heading into the 2026 season, and Kupp didn’t hold back his enthusiasm for the group’s younger talent. Eleven receivers currently make up that room, including Kupp and top target Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

Kupp pointed to something coaches watch for in every training camp: which players hold up once the pads come on. “You see a lot of guys come in here, and it’s like who they are,” he said. “The day one of OTAs is unfortunately who they are two weeks into the training camp, and our guys have done a great job of continuing to grow, continue to adapt and learn our stuff and put it to use. Take tools, take coaching, and make it happen.”

That growth matters for a receiver room that will lean on more than just its top two options this fall. Kupp described wanting to be “an open book” for the group, crediting veterans who did the same for him earlier in his career.

“It’s one thing to hear; it’s another thing to go out there and do it. And they’ve done a great job of that,” Kupp said. “And then just for me, I want to be an open book. I’ve said before, I was blessed to be able to have guys around me that were an open book for me, and that were willing to share things that worked for them, things that they thought would be useful for me to use in my game and just paying it forward.”

Kupp’s role behind Smith-Njigba

Kupp shifted into a complementary role in his first season with Seattle, working as the No. 2 option behind Smith-Njigba, who emerged as one of the league’s top receivers. That arrangement helped power the Seahawks to a franchise-best 14-3 regular season and, ultimately, a Super Bowl LX win over the New England Patriots.

Kupp’s teammates and coaches have long pointed to his approach with younger players as one of his biggest contributions off the field, and this camp appears to be no different. Training camp settings like this one tend to separate players who look good in shorts from those who hold up once physical practices begin — the exact distinction Kupp raised in his comments.

What’s next for Kupp and the Seahawks

Seattle enters the season chasing history. A repeat Super Bowl title would make the Seahawks the first NFC team to go back-to-back since the Dallas Cowboys in 1993, and just the latest in a run of recent Super Bowl champions who have returned to the playoffs the following year.

The Seahawks will get an immediate measuring stick. Seattle opens the 2026 season at home against the Patriots on Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 8:20 p.m. ET — a rematch of the Super Bowl LX matchup Seattle won 29-13 in February. It marks a rare Wednesday night opener, scheduled that way in part because the NFL is staging its first regular-season game in Melbourne, Australia the following night between the Rams and 49ers.

Seattle’s receiver room will be a storyline worth tracking all summer, particularly with camp battles still shaping the depth chart behind Smith-Njigba and Kupp. If Kupp’s comments are any indication, the Seahawks’ younger pass catchers have already bought into how the room operates — and that continuity could matter as Seattle tries to become the first repeat NFC champion in more than three decades.