When the NFL suspended Rams wide receiver Drake Stoops two games for violating the league policy on performance-enhancing substances, the NFL announcement did not say what substance Stoops took. Stoops says it was Adderall.
Stoops said he took the medication to help him stay awake while driving. He acknowledged that he did not have a therapeutic use exemptions, which is required of players who take Adderall and some other prescription medications that are on the banned substance list.
“It was just an honest mistake,” Stoops told the Oklahoman. “It’s not steroids or anything like that, and I would never try to gain an unfair advantage or cheat the game or the process in any way like that.”
Several NFL players have been suspended for taking Adderall, which is a trade name for a stimulant used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy.
Stoops said he appreciates how the Rams have handled the matter.
“When I reached out to the Rams, they were nothing but supportive and great about it,” Stoops said. “They’ve had my back the whole entire way and that means the world to me. So, I’m excited to have that behind me now and go forward and just put my best foot forward.”
The son of former Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops, Drake Stoops was generally not viewed as an NFL prospect during his six seasons at Oklahoma, but he made the Rams’ practice squad last year as an undrafted rookie and spent the whole season with the team. The suspension is a setback but won’t keep him from fighting for a roster spot this year — starting in Week Three.
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua does not want a long NFL career.
Nacua, who will turn 24 in May, said on the Join The Lobby podcast that he will retire when he’s 30.
“I know I want to retire at the age of 30,” Nacua said, via USA Today. “I’m 23 right now, I’m going into Year 3 – it wouldn’t even be 10 years. It’d be maybe seven or eight. I think of Aaron Donald, to go out at the top, I think it would be super cool. But also, I want to have a big family. I want to have at least a starting five. I came from a big family so I need five boys, for sure. But also, like, I want to be able to be a part of their lives and be as active as I can with them. The injuries are something you can’t control [as] part of the game, so you never know. Hopefully, the rest of the career can go healthy, but you have shoulder surgery, you have knee surgery, you have ankle. By the time my kids could be 18, I could be barely walking if you play the game and sustain all the injuries and stuff like that, but I want to retire early.”
A 2023 fifth-round pick of the Rams, Nacua is going into his third NFL season. He’ll be 30 in his ninth NFL season. That would give him an even shorter career than Donald, who retired after 10 NFL seasons. Nacua has plenty of time to change his mind, but for now he doesn’t think he’ll be around long.
After he was released by the Jets, receiver Davante Adams signed a two-year deal with the Rams earlier this month.
Having played in the NFC North for several years, Adams and quarterback Matthew Stafford are used to going against one another. But now they’re teammates seeking a championship in Los Angeles.
Over the weekend, Stafford touted Adams’ signing as significant.
“I have a ton of respect for him, the way he goes about his business and the way he plays the game,” Stafford said, via Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times. “He’s been a big-time in this league for a long time, so happy to have him. I know he’s going to be a big addition to our team.”
Adams, 32, split his 2024 between the Raiders and Jets, catching a total of 85 passes for 1,063 yards with eight touchdowns in 14 games. He’s eclipsed 1,000 yards in each of the last five seasons.
The Rams have brought back one of their defensive free agents.
Los Angeles announced on Wednesday that the club has agreed to re-sign cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon to a one-year deal.
Witherspoon, 29, has spent the last two seasons with the Rams. While he went unsigned in free agency last offseason, Los Angeles brought him back into the fold in September on the practice squad. He was then signed to the 53-man roster later in the year.
He’s appeared in 30 games for L.A. since 2023 with 22 starts. In 2024, he recorded nine passes defensed with one interception.
A third-round pick in 2017, Witherspoon has appeared in 90 career games for the 49ers, Steelers, and Rams. He’s recorded 58 passes defensed with 12 interceptions.
Receiver Cooper Kupp did great things with the Rams. In 2021, he had one of the greatest single seasons for any receiver in NFL history. He capped that season by winning the Super Bowl MVP award.
And, still, when it was time to move on, the Rams didn’t give him any special consideration. Or any normal consideration.
“It’s been difficult,” Kupp told reporters during his introductory press conference with the Seahawks. “In all honesty, it’s been very difficult and frustrating and there’s been lots of questions. It’s a real tough situation. I’ve said, I’ve always imagined that I’d finish my career there, but that’s not what the plan was that God had for me and my family.”
He was asked if the Rams explained their decision to cut the cord on Kupp’s career in L.A.
“I’m sure they have their reasons for why they want to do things, whatever it is,” Kupp said. “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 and 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 another example of the harsh realities of pro football. Every player is a piece in a machine. Every piece of that machine will be changed out, at some point.
Sometimes, the player gets to leave the machine on his own terms. Far more often than not, the machine removes the player and replaces him with a newer, cheaper part.
Of course, the Rams opted to replace Kupp with someone older and more expensive in Davante Adams. They basically decided that Kupp was no longer good enough to be the No. 2 receiver, and there seemed to be no interest in working out a deal that would allow him to stay at the No. 3.
The Rams likely knew that it wouldn’t work. The Seahawks are paying Kupp like a No. 2.
Still, whatever the reasoning, it sounds like no one took the time to explain it to Kupp. And if a team won’t show more respect to a guy who was the MVP of a Super Bowl, what degree of sensitivity can the average player expect?
