Rams' Puka Nacua Joins Exclusive Company

Tom Fears, Elroy Hirsch, Flipper Anderson, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Cooper Kupp, and now Puka Nacua. Those are a few names of the many Rams' wide receivers that have dominated in years past. With Nacua carrying the torch and an illustrious legacy, he continues to cement his name within the lore of the franchise, being named as the 32nd best player in the NFL, according to a listing put together by Pro Football Focus' Dalton Wasserman and Trevor Sikkema.

"Nacua played only 11 games in 2024 due to injury but still finished with the NFL’s highest receiving grade at 93.0," wrote Wasserman and Sikkema. "He’s also coming off a 1,486-yard rookie season in 2022. Over the past two years, he ranks seventh among receivers in PFF WAR (1.01). The scary part? Nacua is still getting better, building on an already elite level of production and efficiency."

Nacua is ranked higher than Texans' Nico Collins and Cowboys' CeeDee Lamb after powering the Rams to the playoffs, following injury.

Nacua joins Jared Verse, who was ranked 47th on PFF's list of the top 50 players in the NFL.

Nacua has been continually praised by coaches and teammates throughout OTAs and minicamp.

“Yeah, what I've seen from him is I think a guy that's just continuing to work on his craft and get better," stated Rams OC Mike LaFleur.

"I've been really impressed with where he was when he came back for phase one. He's always going to put in the work, but I think he was better in phase one this year than he was the year before and just like he was obviously when we first drafted him a couple years ago. So for him, just getting into the best physical shape that he possibly can so he can go have the best possible year he can. That's all these guys. That's what we're doing right now, building foundations not just mental, schematic, not just relationships, but physically so that these guy scan go into the summer in the best shape possible, continue that trend because that's a scary 40 days for anybody so that when they come back in August, they're in tip top shape, ready to attack it, build to it and then get to September.”

"It's just now he knows exactly what he's doing, right? I don't see, I would say, too big of a difference from last year. I think he’s always been a pretty confident guy. We all saw what he did his rookie year. He's naturally just a leader just by the way he goes about it, his process and himself and you guys see the infectious smile that this guy always has. He's in a good spot and we're lucky to have him.”

High praise for the playmaker.