Cooper Kupp’s return to his home state proved to be a storybook reunion. The former Offensive Player of the Year had a fantastic postseason for the Seattle Seahawks, catching 15 passes for 157 yards and a touchdown over three games. Technically speaking, his TD against the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship win was the winning score, a poetic result given the messy exit from his old team.
With the New England Patriots keyed in on stopping Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Kupp stepped up as the Seahawks’ leading receiver, hauling in a team-high six passes for 61 yards. It might not have been the Super Bowl MVP performance he had with the Rams against the Cincinnati Bengals, but he was still an important piece of the passing offense.
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Kupp also made a bit of history along the way. Through some extensive research on Stathead, I perused the Super Bowl box scores to determine the leading receiver (by yards) in all 60 editions of the big game. While there have been multiple players who’ve led their team in receiving yards in Super Bowl wins (notably Travis Kelce and Jerry Rice), no one has done it like the former Eastern Washington star.
Cooper Kupp is the first player in NFL history to be the Super Bowl single-game receiving yards leader for two different franchises.
Every Super Bowl single-game leading receiver
|
Super Bowl |
Player |
Team |
Receiving Yards |
|---|---|---|---|
|
60 |
Cooper Kupp |
Seattle Seahawks |
61 |
|
59 |
Devonta Smith |
Philadelphia Eagles |
69 |
|
58 |
Travis Kelce |
Kansas City Chiefs |
93 |
|
57 |
Travis Kelce |
Kansas City Chiefs |
81 |
|
56 |
Cooper Kupp |
Los Angeles Rams |
92 |
|
55 |
Rob Gronkowski (TE) |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
67 |
|
54 |
Tyreek Hill |
Kansas City Chiefs |
105 |
|
53 |
Julian Edelman |
New England Patriots |
141 |
|
52 |
Corey Clement (RB) |
Philadelphia Eagles |
100 |
|
51 |
James White (RB) |
New England Patriots |
110 |
|
50 |
Emmanuel Sanders |
Denver Broncos |
83 |
|
49 |
Julian Edelman |
New England Patriots |
109 |
|
48 |
Doug Baldwin |
Seattle Seahawks |
66 |
|
47 |
Anquan Boldin |
Baltimore Ravens |
104 |
|
46 |
Hakeem Nicks |
New York Giants |
109 |
|
45 |
Jordy Nelson |
Green Bay Packers |
140 |
|
44 |
Marques Colston |
New Orleans Saints |
83 |
|
43 |
Santonio Holmes |
Pittsburgh Steelers |
131 |
|
42 |
Amani Toomer |
New York Giants |
84 |
|
41 |
Joseph Addai (RB) |
Indianapolis Colts |
66 |
|
40 |
Hines Ward |
Pittsburgh Steelers |
123 |
|
39 |
Deion Branch |
New England Patriots |
133 |
|
38 |
Deion Branch |
New England Patriots |
143 |
|
37 |
Joe Jurevicius |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
78 |
|
36 |
Troy Brown |
New England Patriots |
89 |
|
35 |
Brandon Stokley |
Baltimore Ravens |
52 |
|
34 |
Isaac Bruce |
St. Louis Rams |
162 |
|
33 |
Rod Smith |
Denver Broncos |
152 |
|
32 |
Ed McCaffrey |
Denver Broncos |
72 |
|
31 |
Antonio Freeman |
Green Bay Packers |
105 |
|
30 |
Michael Irvin |
Dallas Cowboys |
76 |
|
29 |
Jerry Rice |
San Francisco 49ers |
149 |
|
28 |
Alvin Harper |
Dallas Cowboys |
75 |
|
27 |
Michael Irvin |
Dallas Cowboys |
114 |
|
26 |
Gary Clark |
Washington |
114 |
|
25 |
Mark Ingram |
New York Giants |
74 |
|
24 |
Jerry Rice |
San Francisco 49ers |
148 |
|
23 |
Jerry Rice |
San Francisco 49ers |
215 |
|
22 |
Ricky Sanders |
Washington |
193 |
|
21 |
Stacy Robinson |
New York Giants |
62 |
|
20 |
Willie Gault |
Chicago Bears |
129 |
|
19 |
Roger Craig (RB) and Dwight Clark (TE) |
San Francisco 49ers |
77 |
|
18 |
Cliff Branch |
Los Angeles Raiders |
96 |
|
17 |
Charlie Brown |
Washington |
60 |
|
16 |
Freddie Solomon |
San Francisco 49ers |
52 |
|
15 |
Kenny King (RB) |
Oakland Raiders |
93 |
|
14 |
John Stallworth |
Pittsburgh Steelers |
121 |
|
13 |
Lynn Swann |
Pittsburgh Steelers |
124 |
|
12 |
Billy Joe DuPree (TE) |
Dallas Cowboys |
66 |
|
11 |
Fred Biletnikoff |
Oakland Raiders |
79 |
|
10 |
Lynn Swann |
Pittsburgh Steelers |
161 |
|
9 |
Larry Brown (TE) |
Pittsburgh Steelers |
49 |
|
8 |
Paul Warfield |
Miami Dolphins |
33 |
|
7 |
Paul Warfield |
Miami Dolphins |
36 |
|
6 |
Lance Alworth and Mike Ditka (TE) |
Dallas Cowboys |
28 |
|
5 |
John Mackey (TE) |
Baltimore Colts |
80 |
|
4 |
Otis Taylor |
Kansas City Chiefs |
81 |
|
3 |
Matt Snell (RB) |
New York Jets |
40 |
|
2 |
Boyd Dowler |
Green Bay Packers |
71 |
|
1 |
Max McGee |
Green Bay Packers |
138 |
(All data here collected through Stathead)
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Kupp joins Paul Warfield, Lynn Swann, Cliff Branch, Jerry Rice, Michael Irvin, Deion Branch, Julian Edelman, and Travis Kelce on the list of players who’ve had a team-high in receiving yards at least twice in a Super Bowl win. Those other eight guys, most of whom are or will be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, had their accomplishments happen with the same organization.
What a postseason from Kupp, what a performance in the Super Bowl—don’t forget it was his 3rd and 9 conversion that led to the A.J. Barner touchdown—and what a story for the Yakima native to return to Washington and win it all with the team he grew up rooting for.
