“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 Tuesday while the youngest of his three sons stood at his feet wearing a way-too-big Seahawks throwback helmet.
Having played in the NFC West his entire career, and been teammates with former Seahawks players, Kupp has plenty of familiarity with the organization, both from playing against the Seahawks at Lumen Field, and also from what he has heard about the organization from people who have been a part of it, a group that also includes Seahawks passing game coordinator Jake Peetz, who spent two seasons with the Rams before joining the Seahawks last year.
“The biggest thing is just the people that this organization has brought in,” Kupp continued. “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.
“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.”