Kupp has been down this road before. As much as we may regard Sean McVay as one of the fairer coaches, Kupp's role was inexplicably downsized in both 2019 and 2020. In 2019 he was as dominant as he was in his Triple Crown season of 2021 until suddenly everything changed with no logical explanation ever given. I wrote this in the Kupp thread on Dec. 16, 2020 (post #42):
Here are Kupp's snap count percentages for the past five games: 53%, 72%, 89%, 65%, and 62%. A decision was made mid-way through the 2019 season -- when Kupp was tearing up the league, being in the top three among receivers statistically -- to demote him and otherwise reduce his role. When he does play now, he's mostly running short routes, whereas before he ran downfield more often and as a result had a number of big plays, including long TD catch and runs. He's great after the catch as he's very elusive, and pretty much uncoverable. Apparently he's too talented for his own good in the anti-White construct known as the NFL and the fake news sports media that props it up.
Those percentages I wrote above were in reference to the 2020 season. In '19 he saw snap counts of 67%, 62%, 72%, 29%, 61% and 61% in various games. He was on the field for virtually every snap during his historic 2021 season, and again in 2022 until getting injured. Same with 2023. But this year, after coming back from another ankle injury, his snap count fluctuated from 71% to 95% before dropping way off to 55% in the wildcard playoff game. So unlike other top WRs, Kupp has been treated differently at times in how he was used and how often he was on the field. Yes, his injuries have hurt his career numbers, but they don't explain the sudden demotions in three different seasons, especially 2019 and 2020 when he was in his prime and was among the very best in the league at his position.
