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Signing With Seahawks 'A Full-Circle Moment' For Cooper Kupp

Cooper Kupp signed with the Seahawks Tuesday, making official a return home for the Yakima native.

The Seahawks signed wide receiver Cooper Kupp on March 18, 2025.
The Seahawks signed wide receiver Cooper Kupp on March 18, 2025.

If the presence of an Eastern Washington University helmet wasn't enough to make Cooper Kupp's signing with the Seahawks feel like a homecoming, then maybe the vintage Pearl Jam T-shirt, worn under a flannel shirt, was enough to hammer home the obvious point.

Cooper Kupp is back home.

Kupp grew up in Yakima and stayed in state for college, putting up record-setting numbers at Eastern; his dad, Craig, played at PLU for legendary football coach Frosty Westering, while his mom, Karin, starred in soccer at PLU, and both are in the PLU Athletics Hall of Fame; his grandfather, Jake Kupp, played at the University of Washington; and Kupp met his wife, Anna, at a high school track meet while they were students at Davis High School and Richland High School, respectively.

And now, after eight highly productive years with the Rams that included Super Bowl MVP honors, an Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year award, All-Pro and Pro-Bowl honors and 7,776 receiving yards, Kupp is back home as a member of the team he grew up rooting for.

"Being here, the communities that we've been a part of, Yakima, Tri-Cities, Spokane, Cheney, to now be a part of a professional sports team here in Seattle, it feels like a full-circle moment," Kupp said Tuesday while the youngest of his three sons stood at his feet wearing a way-too-big Seahawks throwback helmet.

Having played in the NFC West his entire career, and been teammates with former Seahawks players, Kupp has plenty of familiarity with the organization, both from playing against the Seahawks at Lumen Field, and also from what he has heard about the organization from people who have been a part of it, a group that also includes Seahawks passing game coordinator Jake Peetz, who spent two seasons with the Rams before joining the Seahawks last year.

"The biggest thing is just the people that this organization has brought in," Kupp continued. "That was the selling point that Coach Mike (Macdonald) brought, that John (Schneider) had talked about; it was about the people. All the players I talked to, just the culture of this organization, the winning culture of this organization, that's something I wanted to be a part of.

"It's that culture, it's a culture of winning. For a long time, the 12s have made this a renowned environment to play in. It's always something you prepared for when you came up here. It was my favorite thing walking out of the locker room and breathing the Northwest air. It's like, 'Man, this is just a special place to be.' You go out there and you've got the fans creating such an electric environment. They've always been cheering against me, now I get to be a part of that."

The Seahawks have signed wide receiver Cooper Kupp after eight seasons with the Rams. The Yakima native and Eastern Washington graduate returns to his home state after catching 634 passes, for 7,776 yards and 57 receiving touchdowns in his NFL career. Check out the best photos of Kupp throughout the years.

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