It wasn't denial of Kupp, exactly anyway.. it was the fact that he was a 'slot'... therefore #3 by default. I was part of those conversations and questioned why 'slot' was deemed 'less'... I didn't think that was true... even though it probably does work out that way for many if not most teams.
I had a big awakening regarding receivers when my grandson played WR in college and I learned more about the position by listening to both him and other receivers. "route running"... I think it's very ignored by most, which included me at one time. Like many, I think most, I thought 'speed' first. And speed is very important... but speed can be schemed and somewhat neutralized. Great, (Elite), route runners are far more difficult to defend.
So in short.. Kupp came in as 'slot' which in the minds of most automatically meant 'less' than a wideout. That was just accepted as fact... even though several before Kupp were proving that wrong... ala Welker, Edelman. Mostly forgotten is that the man himself, Rice, worked out of the slot NOT infrequently.
