2023-09-22 22:48:10
In only two weeks, Puka Nacua has gone from relative unknown to the NFL leader in catches (25) and targets (35, 10 more than anyone else).
As a 2023 fifth-round pick out of BYU by the Los Angeles Rams, not a lot was expected of Nacua. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound transfer from Washington ran 4.56 on his pro day, and his pre-draft numbers were ordinary. And the best qualities of his game are the hardest for scouts and other decision-makers to pin down. Here is an attempt.
Nacua is the first player in league history with 10 or more catches and 100 or more yards receiving in his first two career games. His catch total is the most of any player in his first two games in NFL history.
But to define Nacua with these two weeks of historic numbers is really doing him a disservice. To credit coaching for his success is another disservice. His skill set is unique, and it shows in the way the Rams are using him. While most young receivers are memorizing plays, making sure they are in the right spot and alignments and trying to match concepts with reads and progressions, Nacua is showing graduate school-level football instincts and feel for the game. His football IQ for the little things is at another level. He is smart and sneaky, and his on-field timing is impeccable.
And that’s what makes him a great fit for the Rams and coach Sean McVay. Nacua might just be what the Rams have needed since the departure of wide receiver Robert Woods, especially with star receiver Cooper Kupp on the shelf with a hamstring injury.
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The level of detail that McVay, wide receivers coach Eric Yarber and the rest of the Rams staff require to execute their passing game might be the highest in the NFL. To get a kid this advanced, just off the bus, is rare. Quarterback Matthew Stafford has already made Nacua his security blanket, and the Rams have shown many examples of an uncommon trust in him these first two weeks. The Rams even set up a fourth-down play for Nacua last week against the 49ers that required him to precisely free himself with detailed footwork and make a catch by extending away from his body. And he even found a way to gain more yards after the catch and turn what should have been a 5-yard play into a gain of 11 and a first down. This has quickly become the norm in Nacua’s role with the Rams. But this level of is not common for a rookie wide receiver picked in the fifth round.
Nacua has shown he can align all over the formation and field. He clearly learns easily. He has enough quickness to come off the ball and couples that with body control to separate from defenders even though he is not a sudden or explosive athlete compared to others at his position in the NFL. Scouts sometimes struggle to find these traits. We all want fast, sudden ability to stretch defenses or run by defenders — the kinds of players who make opponents defend you differently — and most teams are focused on finding just that kind of player. I’m just as much a proponent of this as the next guy.
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Nacua is not slow, but his production comes from being just nifty enough to get away from coverage, having very strong hands and an ability to catch away from his body when he’s covered and an uncanny ability to find soft spots in zones that make him always available. Much like a convenience store, he’s always open. His size, strength and shorter routes are designed more to move the chains than account for explosive big plays.
Nacua has run 87 routes, according to TruMedia, second only to the Vikings’ Justin Jefferson. And his second- and third-level football acumen allows him to use his routes in many ways. He is at times a decoy, at times a screener and other times is nothing more than a tool for getting others open thanks to his subtle setting of picks and his taking the details of the job to another level. The passing game the Rams employ is awesome to watch. Credit that to McVay and his being able to teach a system, not just run plays.
The Rams are second in the NFL in converting third downs at 58.2 percent. But an extension of this is the effect Nacua has on the run game. He chips, he seals, and at his size, he can displace bigger guys on contact just enough to make a difference. Against San Francisco, the Rams deployed Nacua on occasion to disrupt Nick Bosa’s rush from the edge and to affect his path to the ball carrier on running plays. Nacua just seems to know what to do and when to do it.
In an era of teams looking for versatility and interchangeable parts, the Rams may have found a unicorn. Nacua’s yards after catch come not in the form of explosive plays but rather by forcing arm tackles, breaking tackles, falling forward and relying on his consistent route-running technique.
Nacua’s staying power is to be determined, but the fit and feel he has with his QB and playcaller make him, after two weeks, the definition of a football player.
(Photo by Brian Rothmuller / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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