Patriots fans call out franchise after team suffers blow in Cooper Kupp pursuit -“Stop being cheap”

The New England Patriots are desperate for wide receivers in the Drake Maye era. They already failed to land Brandon Aiyuk in a trade in 2024, and now they might further alienate fans by missing out on his former divisional rival.

On Thursday, MassLive's Karen Guregian reported that the franchise was interested in Cooper Kupp, whom the Los Angeles Rams cut on Wednesday after a trade partner could not be found. However, there is an obstacle - his current asking price is "a bit too steep" for the Patriots:

Fans of the team groaned:

More of the dismay can be seen below:

"Pay him (whatever) he wants," one demanded.

"What else are you doing with that money?" another wondered.

"Here goes penny pinching Kraft again," another lamented.

Kupp has also drawn interest from the Denver Broncos and Jacksonville Jaguars. Speaking to the media on Thursday, the latter's general manager James Gladstone, who worked with the wide receiver during his time with the Rams, said:

"I got a ton of respect for Cooper... I think at this point in time, it's fair to say, in free agency, we're always open to every opportunity that presents itself, but time will truly tell."

---

Patriots urged to not sign Stefon Diggs, says insider

There is a plethora of top wide receivers that the Patriots should want - Cooper Kupp, Amari Cooper, Keenan Allen, and even Tee Higgins via a trade. However, ClutchPoints' Douglas Fritz has one player whom he believes the Patriots must avoid, even in desperation - Stefon Diggs:

"NFL teams can’t expect Diggs to perform like his old self throughout the 2025 season. He’s coming off a major injury that occurred fairly late in the 2024 season. It could be December before Diggs is fully healthy. And he will be 32 years old by then. That’s well past the prime age for NFL wide receivers."

But beyond the injury and age concerns, he also carries another issue: a lack of familiarity with Mike Vrabel. Most of the signings under the new head coach's watch have in some way been associated with him, and he emphasized that familiarity during a press conference on Thursday:

“It’s important to me to bring the right people onto this football team. If we have coaches that trust and believe in players, we have to take that into consideration… It really helps when you know somebody, or you’ve coached them, or a trusted personnel member has been with that player.”

Diggs caught 47 passes for 496 yards and three touchdowns in eight games in the 2024 season.