Journey to NFL Success and Mindset

It's well documented, I'll just say it again for those of you

that don't know, but,

you know, I weighed in freshman year on the scale

119 in jeans, covering my ankle weights.

But

at no point,

not at the end of my freshman year coming back, didn't develop

any relationships with new friends, but just worked.

I worked really freaking hard, right?

Before school, during school, walking around looking like not the

coolest kid with my ankle weights on. I'm after school working out. I'm running.

I'm setting up cones in the public parks, right? I'm running home from school.

Mom's coming to pick up my backpack.

You know, like,

but at no point during that journey of high school where it

was just

how much better can I get did I then say,

"Okay, I'm there now." Like, "I've done enough." Like, "I've,

I've arrived,

and now I deserve to play," right? Like, then it was college,

and in that same way, you get to college, and the first thing I hear, the first

murmurs I hear are that I'm never gonna, I'm never gonna play there.

Never gonna see the field.

Never gonna see the field there.

You know, from our coaches. They didn't tell it directly to me.

I heard it through the back channels,

but that was like, those were the words. And it's like, I know what I believe.

Yeah.

But I'm gonna keep earning it. I'm gonna go out and keep earning it,

and keep

working towards this thing. And I had another opportunity,

I'd earned in high

school an opportunity to go for it still at Eastern Washington, right?

Mm-hmm.

But it, I didn't stop. It was like, now I'm gonna go earn it again every day.

Wake up, I'm gonna earn it.

Yeah.

When I put my head on the pillow, I'm going to know that my

dreams, the things that I see, that myself achieving,

and all these things

I want to do are reflected in the last 24 hours.

Those, if you take a snapshot of that,

that is reflective of someone that wants to go play in the,

in the league, right?

I did that every single day consistently. Boom, all the way through.

You were a huge part of that. We got married

in college, and you got to see that, and then partnered in it with me to help

me

go through that, and the sacrifices you made through

that as well.

And for both of us there,

it was earning it over, and over, and over again.

Mm-hmm.

You earning it with me over, and over, and over again.

And then I get an opportunity

to go play in the NFL.

Yeah.

The Los Angeles Rams select Cooper Kupp, receiver, Eastern

Washington.

And even then,

it wasn't I got drafted and you made it.

Right.

Right? It wasn't like I've arrived.

It was just like another start.

Yeah.

Look at this. I got another opportunity.

How can I go earn it again every single day?

Yeah.

How much better can I get? And you were with me on that as well, and

seeing the sacrifices that we had to put in to make,

you know, playing in the NFL a reality-

Mm-hmm

... and continuing to play, and playing at a high level.

And, you know, I think that's the difference

is like I've never stopped this

mindset of earning. I never, every year ends, and I feel like,

ah, there's just a little more.

Mm-hmm.

There's more we can do.

Yeah.

I, I gotta go earn it again.

Yeah.

I gotta go find a way to be better for my teammates, for my coaches,

and that mindset I think is the difference, where like I, I've n-

I haven't

deserve, I don't deserve anything.

Yeah.

I never deserve any of the stuff that's come my way, and I didn't deserve the

opportunity. Like, I didn't deserve Eastern Washington.

Mm-hmm.

I didn't deserve the NFL, but I've worked to earn an opportunity

to go attack it.

Yeah.

You know?

Yeah.