Puka Nacua is a huge building block for the Rams
It wasn't a great Sunday for the Los Angeles Rams, as they lost 24-17 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, falling to 3-4 in the season. But this was never expected to be a contending season for the Rams. They traded away Jalen Ramsey and are the least expensive team in football. It was a step back […]
It wasn't a great Sunday for the Los Angeles Rams, as they lost 24-17 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, falling to 3-4 in the season. But this was never expected to be a contending season for the Rams. They traded away Jalen Ramsey and are the least expensive team in football. It was a step back to give two steps forward more quickly.
And the foundation of this process is to find young talent. It seems like wide receiver Puka Nacua is exactly that. Drafted in the fifth-round, the rookie 22-year-old offensive weapon has had an impressive production, and this didn't fall off even in the loss and questionable offensive production against a really good Steelers defense. The rookie had eight catches for 154 yards. No other Rams weapon had more than 31 receiving yards.
The performance is in line with what Nacua has done over his first games. He's just the second player in the history of the NFL to have more than 700 yards (752) in their first seven games — the other one is Ja'Marr Chase (754).
Nacua is the only NFL player in history to have more than 50 receptions (58) in the same period, right ahead of Eddie Royal (46) and Jaylen Waddle (44). He's on pace to finish his rookie season with 1,278 receiving yards, which would be seventh all time, behind Bill Groman, Ja'Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Anquan Boldin, Randy Moss, and Odell Beckham.
With Sunday's performance, Nacua became the fourth rookie to have multiple 150-yard games over the last decade, joining an impressive group with Odell Beckham, Justin Jefferson, and Ja'Marr Chase.
More than his production alone, Puka Nacua is a staple of a new version of the Los Angeles Rams offense. His willingness to block for the run game, for instance, has been praised by head coach Sean McVay.
"That toughness, that selflessness," McVay said after the Rams win over the Arizona Cardinals last week. "Some of the things that we were doing with him based on their personnel groupings and their matches, you can't do that unless you have a player like Puka Nacua."
The ability to be a useful piece of the offense tends to be rewarded. And that's what happened for the rookie. He's had 82 targets, and nobody else has more than 43. You might argue that he's had more volume because Cooper Kupp missed the first four games and, while this is partially true, Nacua has had more targets per game (11.7) than Kupp (9.3).
"He was a huge factor basically in extension of the line and the tight ends," McVay added. "The run game, we talk about it taking all 11. But it was truly the epitome of it takes all 11 to be able to run the football efficiently and that was on display."
The offensive efficiency against the Steelers wasn't as pronounced, which was to be expected. But Nacua was still prolific, and the run game worked well to a certain degree.
Maybe the Rams aren't a real contender this year, and nobody expected that. But it certainly looks like they have found a foundational piece, and the surplus value for the next four seasons will be huge.
Rams show path to utilize Kupp and Nacua together
Receivers combined for 23 targets on Sunday
