NFC Notes: Kyle Juszczyk, Cooper Kupp, 49ers, Rams, Seahawks

“It was a short stint that I was a free agent, but for me, I mean, again, it felt like a lifetime,” Juszczyk recently told SiriusXM NFL Radio. “I had had discussions with them throughout the offseason that maybe it was a possibility that I was gonna have to take a pay cut or we were gonna have to rework some things in my contract. I haven’t heard too much. Things are kind of looking good. But then they finally, a couple days before (the release), were like, ‘Yeah, this is a real thing, the financial restrictions we’re under are a real thing.’ And they kind of put it in my court, whether I wanted to be released or if we wanted to continue to try and negotiate a pay cut.”

Rams

“It’s been difficult,” Kupp told Brady Henderson of ESPN. “In all honesty, it’s been very difficult and frustrating. There’s been lots of questions and things. It’s a really tough situation. I’ve said, I always imagined that I’d finish my career there, but that’s not the plan that God had for me and my family. Stepping into this new adventure, this new place, this new chapter in my career but also in our lives as my wife and I navigate moving back up home to our home state, I think that’s something that we’re excited about facing. We’re excited about the community that we get to be a part of, the people that are going to be a part of our lives. But yeah, it has been difficult. Without a doubt, it has been difficult. We’re humans. We’re real people.”

“I’m sure they have their reasons for why they wanted to do things, whatever it is,” Kupp continued. “Not a ton of clarity in that regard, but at the end of the day, I’m thankful to be able to walk away from that organization and be able to look back on all those memories, all those experiences, all those things that we were able to go through together, the relationships that we had with so many people there, and look at it in a positive light and be very thankful for my time in Los Angeles. It’s something that we will always cherish.”

“It’s never been about proving people wrong,” Kupp concluded. “I’ve lived in that space, and it never goes well. It’s been about being who I am, believing in myself, and knowing that I can be who I see myself becoming. When I’ve taken that attitude, when I’ve taken that mindset, that’s when I’ve always been at my best. I’ll continue that. I know how to navigate these waters. I’ve been here before. It’s not about the negative energy of trying to prove anyone else wrong, trying to make anyone else feel bad about anything. It’s just about being myself and trying to be who I believe I can be and going out there and playing the game I love. I am looking forward to it. That didn’t play into the decision to come here, but it’s a nice little thing on the side to be able to go against those guys. I know a lot of those guys. So much respect for the coaching staff, the way they handle things down there, the players down there. I am excited about it, though. It’s going to be a really cool thing. When that time comes, it will just be football at that point. But I am looking forward to it.”

Seahawks 

Seahawks’ new WR Cooper Kupp is returning to his home state after playing collegiately at Eastern Washington. He considers signing with Seattle a “full-circle moment” for his career. 

“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, via John Boyle of the team’s site. 

Kupp said major selling points from HC Mike Macdonald and GM John Schneider were the type of players they are bringing in and the “winning culture” they’ve established. 

“The biggest thing is just the people that this organization has brought in,” Kupp said. “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.”

Kupp said the fan environment was another factor in his decision. 

“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.”