I'd be curious what his stats are the past 4ish games vs. earlier in the year. Just the eye test, it does not even look like the same player. I am convinced he is (still?) injured.
In terms of WRs going forward post-Kupp, I have loved what I have seen from Whittington, not only in pre-season, but also this regular season on kick coverage, as a returner, and the few times he does get the ball on offense. It is too bad he got hurt when he did because he had a bit of a coming out party vs. I believe it was the Raiders. He seems to be another WR in the Kupp/Puka mold. Big, physical, team-first, do-it-all WR that was found a bit later in the draft. I think if given the chance he could be a good WR2 once he gets a bit more seasoning and game experience. Therefore, I am not so sure I'd spend prime draft capital at the WR position. I like what we have in-house. I'd sooner bolster our secondary and our tackles, and run it back with this group, get Whittington more reps, and hope for 1 more productive year out of Kupp - he still is deadly when healthy, he looked amazing early.