Will Cooper Kupp play for the Rams against the Vikings on Thursday Night Football week 8?

NFL Week 8 kicks off tonight with Thursday Night Football featuring the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings. The big news for the Rams is that they should be able to finally start their star wide receiver Cooper Kupp after missing several weeks with an injury.

Cooper Kupp not listed on injury report Week 8

The Rams have had a rough start to the season. After losing several offensive players to injuries, they are at 2-4 heading into Week 8.

One of their biggest losses was wide receiver Cooper Kupp, who sustained an ankle injury in Week 2. He spent the following week in a cast and although he was never placed on Injured Reserve, he has not yet made his return to the field.

That looks like it’s about to change, however, as the Rams prepare to take on the 5-1 Vikings tonight. For the first time since Week 2, Kupp was not listed on the injury report and he was a full participant in practice this week.

Rams head coach Sean McVay said he expects Kupp to play against the Vikings and that he “was close” to playing against the Raiders last week as well when he was listed as questionable. He noted that they prefer he be ready to “return to performance,” not just “return to play.”

In the one full game he was able to play this season, Kupp had 14 receptions for 110 yards and a touchdown.

Cooper Kupp trade rumors

With the NFL trade deadline approaching in the next few weeks, there have been rumors that the Rams could trade Kupp. According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, Mike Silver, and Jourdan Rodrigue, the Rams are speaking to “multiple teams” about trading Kupp for a 2nd round pick and would be willing to take on some of his 2024 salary.

Fellow wide receiver Puka Nacua has said that he hopes the rumors of a trade for Cooper Kupp as well as quarterback Matthew Stafford are not true.

“Two veteran guys who are core to what we’re trying to do here at the Rams organization. Yeah, that wouldn’t feel great,” Nacua said on The Zach Gelb Show.

The Rams vs Vikings Game kicks off at 8:15 p.m. ET from SoFi Stadium tonight. You can follow along with all tonight’s TNF action with our live text updates brought to you by our own Dane Arlauckas, right here on AS USA.