What do we know about Chris Kuper, the newest member of the Eagles’ coaching staff?
Dave Zangaro and Reuben Frank react to Jeff Stoutland announcing he will be stepping away from coaching the Eagles and discuss who could possibly replace him.We know he played with Dawk, he played under Vic and he had seven career receiving yards.
Beyond that? You’re going to have to keep reading!Kuper, 43, is the Eagles’ new offensive line coach, replacing legendary Jeff Stoutland, who held the job the last 13 years, producing 27 Pro Bowlers.Kuper is one of only 16 players born in Alaska to play in the NFL. Two of the 16 played for the Eagles: Cornerback Sammy Lilly, who was born in Anchorage but grew up in Georgia, was an Eagle in 1989 and 1990, and wide receiver Steve Smith, also born in Anchorage, spent the 2011 season here. His 90 games played are 5th-most among Alaska-born players. Kuper was not heavily recruited out of A.J. Dimond High School in Anchorage. He received scholarship offers from North Dakota and Western Washington and had an offer to be a preferred walk-on at Oregon, but he chose to attend North Dakota, a former NCAA Division 2 school in Grand Forks that moved up to the BCS in 2008. He spent five years in Grand Forks, majoring in communication. During Kuper’s 2001 redshirt freshman year, North Dakota won the NCAA Division 2 championship 17-14 over Grand Valley State in Florence, Ala. Grand Valley avenged the loss with a 10-3 win over North Dakota in 2003. Defensive tackle Keyonta Marshall, who was on both those Grand Valley State teams, was the Eagles’ 7th-round pick in 2005. Marshall – “Big Key” – passed away in 2019. He was only 37. Kuper was the only Division 2 player selected to play in the 2005 East-West Shrine game. “It’s awesome. I can’t wait to prove myself and show I belong in the NFL,” he told the Anchorage Daily News in an interview. Kuper was the 161st player taken in the 2006 draft, late in the fifth round. “The past 30 hours, it’s been up and down, just waiting and no phone calls coming, and I finally got one,” he said after he was selected in an interview with the Peninsula Clarion of Kenai, Alaska. “I’m just excited. It’s a dream, obviously, and it’s a place where I think I can succeed and have a long career.” He was the first North Dakota player drafted since the Vikings took tight end Jim Kleinsasser in the second round in 1999. During his eight years playing for the Broncos, Kuper spent three years with Brian Dawkins and was also teammates with former Eagles Joe Mays, Jabr Gaffney, Correll Buckhalter, Robert Quinn, Tim Tebow, Mike Bell, Brodrick Bunkley, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Mitch Berger and Winston Justice. Kuper played 90 games with 79 starts with the Broncos. He’s the only player the Broncos have drafted in the fifth round or later in the last 30 years to start that many games. Tom Nalen, a 7th-round pick in 1994 and a five-time Pro Bowler, started 188. Kuper never caught a pass but he did have seven career receiving yards. How? In the final minutes of the Broncos’ 28-16 loss to the Colts at Lucas Stadium in 2009, Kyle Orton completed a short pass to Brandon Marshall, who lateraled to Kuper, who gained seven yards before getting tackled. He’s the only Broncos offensive lineman with receiving yards in the last 40 years. Kuyper’s eight NFL seasons are the most by an Eagles offensive line coach since Ken Iman spent 15 years with the Packers and Rams from 1960 through 974. Iman coached Eagles offensive line under from 1976 through 1986 under Dick Vermeil, Marion Campbell and Buddy Ryan. Howard Mudd, who came after Juan Castillo and before Stoutland, was a three-time Pro Bowler with the 49ers but only played seven seasons. Kuper suffered a broken ankle in the 2011 season finale against the Chiefs at Invesco Field at Mile High that required two surgeries and then broke his arm in training camp the next summer. But he still managed to start seven games in 2012, earning the Ed Block Courage Award as voted on by his teammates. He played well enough that he was named a Pro Bowl alternate that year. “It’s been hard,” he said during the 2011 postseason in an interview with The Grand Forks Herald. “Basically, I’ve spent the last two years in the training room, trying to get back to full health knowing I probably won’t get back to where I once was. It’s been a difficult process.” Kuper was inactive for Super Bowl XLVIII, which the Broncos lost 43-8 to the Seahawks in East Rutherford. Kuper has two connections to the Eagles’ rapidly growing new offensive staff. He was Vikings offensive line coach in 2023, when new Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion was in his final year as an NFL quarterback. And he overlapped with new Eagles passing game coordinator Josh Grizzard for two years with the Dolphins. In 2017 and 2018, Grizzard was an offensive quality control coach under Andrew Gase and Kuper was assistant offensive line coach. Kuper spent 2019 through 2021 as Broncos assistant offensive line coach under head coach Vic Fangio, now the Eagles’ defensive coordinator. The Broncos’ offensive coordinator in 2019 was future Eagles assistant coach Rich Scangarello, and their offensive line coach all three years Kuper was in Denver was Hall of Famer Mike Munchak. Kuper’s last name is pronounced “Cooper,” like Riley or Darius or DeJean, not “Kuyper,” like former MLB second baseman Duane Kuiper.
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