Rams Wideout Puka Nacua is one of the most electric players in the NFL right now, and in this article, I’ll be taking a deeper look into this young athlete’s life. Puka Nacua was a fifth-round draft pick this year for the Rams. Many people didn’t even think this rookie would see the field this year, given where he was drafted, and the rather tough receiver corps he would be competing against in Los Angeles. He was a kid who grew up in Utah and had always had big dreams of playing football.
Puka has already broken two NFL records in the first two games of his young career. The first record Puka broke was the reception record for a rookie two games into the season, previously held by San Francisco 49ers receiver Earl Cooper in 1980, at twenty receptions. Puka Nacua now holds that new record with 25 catches in his first two games. He is the first-ever receiver to have 2,100-yard games as a rookie.
Rams star receiver and Super Bowl LVI MVP, Cooper Kupp, went on Injury Reserve for the team at the start of the season, leaving them without a clear Wide Receiver 1. Puka Nacua really stepped up for this team and has elevated their level of play entirely from what was expected of the Rams after Kupp went down. The Rams are getting Kupp back this week and they have done fairly well being 2-2 on the season and having two rough divisional matchups to start the season off. This is a team that a couple of years ago made the Super Bowl, when they were healthy, Puka Nacua only makes these chances better, in my opinion.
In college, Puka Nacua played for the Washington Huskies before transferring to BYU. That was when his college career started to take off. He racked up 1430 yards and 11 touchdowns while just playing 21 games at BYU which is very impressive for a college Wide Receiver. After getting drafted going into his rookie season without Kupp being on the field Puka has dominated the rest of the Rams receiving core in target share. He alone acquires 32.5% of the target share in the Rams passing game. This percentage may change now that Kupp will be returning from injury and he was Stafford’s favorite target before Puka showed up so it should be fun to see what the target hare will look like between the two. This rookie has lit up the league and I would be surprised if he didn’t continue to do so. He is one of the most electric players in the NFL right now and no matter how many targets Kupp may take away from Puka when coming back, nothing will change that there is something special about this rookie. I hope to see him learn from Cooper Kupp who is considered to be a respected veteran in the league and will only elevate Puka’s level of play, these two together will be very fun to watch.
Lucas • Oct 16, 2023 at 12:30 pm
Now that Kupp is back he’s going to steal all the target share.