Puka Nacua. Energizer bunny. BYU, 2022: 48 catches all season. Rams, 2023: 39 catches in four games, the 39th an overtime game-winner.
Puka Nacua in his first 4 games: • 39 receptions • 501 receiving yards • 3 games with 100+ rec yds Each is the most in a player’s first 4 games in #NFL
history.
I guess Stafford can make the players around him better.
Puka is going to be one of those players where every team, not named the Rams, tell themselves “I should have f******” drafted him". If he can continue to stay healthy that kid is going to be special.
I don’t know much about Nakua honestly.
Just remember what Stafford did with Golladay.
Or how about what Stafford did with Mighty Mike Furrey
Furrey was playing for the Browns during 2009–Stafford’s rookie season:
Jon Kitna was Martz’s QB at that time.
Projected over the course of the season at current pace…
166 receptions for 2125 yards and 4 TD’s. Pretty sure he will be given the "kick it into Lake Michigan " treatment from defensive coordinators in the very near future.
My OROY bet at +15000 is starting to look pretty tasty. Wish I’d have laid down more than $10, but I try and restrict myself on the long shots lol.
Its going to be tough to beat out Stroud at this point, especially if he keeps up what hes currently doing.
I watched some of that game yesterday. It was our local broadcast game. Puka is a really good reciever. He looks a little like Kupp the way he can manipulate defenders and find the zone. Dude is always open. Rams got a good one
I know he’s really ■■■■■■■ things up for me
Golladay, Tate, Burleson, Jones Jr. And so on
His targets are likely to drop precipitously once Kupp returns.
OTOH, suddenly Kupp (3rd rd), Puka (5th rd), and Tutu (2nd rd) look like a pretty special group for the Rams.
God bless Stafford …
How many 300+ yard games this year already?
On the other hand, he will likely see much lighter coverages than he has the past 3 weeks.
Yeah, Staff just threw another 1k+ to his career #'s!
Still will hurt his numbers. Nacua literally leads the league in targets right now w/52 - 13/game. Which is a ridiculous number. By comparison, Kupp literally led the league in targets in 2022 at a shade under 11. (Stafford definitely likes his #1s!) Now Kupp is coming back.
So, yeah, Puka might catch a larger share of his targets, but the denominator is gonna fall a bunch.
If Stafford trusts a WR, he will go to him over and over and over again. We have seen that many times in his career, sometimes to a fault to be honest.
The offense should be much more balanced once they get Kupp back.
We still have their 1st round pick right!?
Probably so, but Nacua will continue to play the Woods role in that offense, and if you remember, before that crazy breakout season from Kupp, they actually went back and forth for a few years on who got the most targets/yards/etc… Stafford’s arrival coincided with Woods missing most of the offseason then tearing his ACL. The Rams defense is also substantially worse than it has been for years.
I don’t think Puka will beat Kupp for targets or anything, but I think they’ll be throwing a lot this year, and staying around 10 per game should be doable.
I also think Kupp could be eased in. I mean a month ago he was at the Mayo Clinic looking at nerve damage. He’s already re-injured it once, it happening a 2nd time wouldn’t be shocking.
My point is that while I think you’ll see a definite hit to his targets, I still think he’ll be really, really productive. Maybe he tops out at Woods’s numbers in 2018/2019/2020, but that’s still a hell of a receiver.
Got him with the last pick in my Dynasty draft. Yes, I’m bragging.