When it comes to the Los Angeles Rams, the perception remains that the team is bursting with youth on special teams and defense, but steeped in sage veteran leadership on offense. It’s true that the team still boasts RT Rob Havenstein, TE Tyler Higbee, and QB Matthew Stafford from the offense that persevered for the win in Super Bowl LVI. The reality is that the offense has undergone sweeping changes as well.
It’s just that the changes on offense have been built on elite performances of young players that resemble veteran production. Also factoring into the transition is the matter of veterans paying it forward. When the Rams drafted BYU rookie WR prospect Puka Nacua in Round 5 of the 2023 NFL Draft, he was welcomed and mentored by veteran WR Cooper Kupp.
It was more than a matter of teammates being buddies. Kupp practically downloaded all of his veteran wisdom into Nacua from the get-go. If you recall, it was rookie Puka Nacua who suited up in Kupp’s place for the first four games in 2023. And so, Kupp was ensuring that Nacua would become a worthy understudy for that role in the offense.
Nacua was superb. In those first four games of 2023, he averaged 10 catches on 14 targets for 125 yards and 0.25 touchdowns. Now, keep in mind that these were his first four games in the Rams offense. He was so good that, upon Cooper Kupp’s return to the active roster, veteran WR Van Jefferson requested to be traded because he understood that he would be benched in favor of Nacua.
Standing 6-foot-2 and tipping the scales at 212 pounds, Puka Nacua is an ideal size for his style of play at the wide receiver position. He is strong and muscular, amplifying his physical style of play. As soon as he secures the football, he becomes a nightmare to tackle, adding impressive numbers of yards after the catch. That is a trademark of all successful Rams’ receivers.
Perhaps most of all, the Rams rely on Nacua to block like a tight end, which he does willingly and enthusiastically. Because he toggles so easily from blocker to pass catcher, the Rams can exploit defenses on virtually every play from the same baseline formation. And with Nacua on the football field, the Rams’ rookie proved to be unstoppable.
But, what about 2024?
Nacua’s 2nd verse, same as the 1st
In many ways, the greater test for a rather successful rookie who makes a name for himself on offense is his second season. Houston Texans star rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud regressed in 2024. He fell from 4,108 yards, 23 TDs, and just five interceptions in 15 games in 2023 to 3,727 yards, 20 TDs, and 12 interceptions in 17 games in 2024. No, I’m not suggesting that Stroud is a bust. It’s simply the fact that NFL defensive coordinators are more effective at stopping effective offensive weapons after seeing him.
While Puka Nacua was limited to just 11 games in 2024, he did not suffer a similar setback. His catch rate skyrocketed from 65.6 percent in 2023 to 74.5 percent in 2024. His yards per target remained steady at 9.3 yards. His yards per game rose from 87.4 YPG in 2023 to 90.0 YPG in 2024. And his receptions per game rose from 6.2 catches to 7.2 catches.
His 2024 performance was only limited due to the fact that he suited up for 11 games, rather than 17 games in 2023. He still managed to put up 79 catches out of 106 targets for 990 yards and three touchdowns. His star continues to rise:
The Rams’ offense tends to fixate on one receiver. The thing is, fans were able to see the team transition from targeting Cooper Kupp to Puka Nacua in 2024. In the final eight games that Nacua played, he averaged more than 11 targets per game and more than eight receptions per game. Conversely, over that same span of games, Cooper Kupp averaged just 6.4 targets per game and just over four receptions per game.
It’s no small feat to be a young offensive star on the Rams roster. But that is exactly the track that Nacua was navigating. And after breaking the rookie barrier to find himself earning a full workload in the Rams offense, Nacua’s offensive prowess continued to mandate that the team keep feeding him the football. Unfortunately, that elevated role in the offense had to come from somewhere, and it came at Cooper Kupp’s expense.
The student had surpassed the teacher. From that point in time, the wheels were set in motion for the team to make a touch but necessary decision. The Rams would run with Puka Nacua in 2025.
The legend of LA’s Puka Nacua begins
The city of Los Angeles, California, is awash with celebrities, red carpets, movie premiers, and paparazzi. But the same city has become the West Coast epicenter of elite professional sports figures that rival those competing on the East Coast. And the closed circle of elite athletes who compete for Los Angeles professional sports teams have warmly welcomed WR Puka Nacua to join them:
Nacua is not the new face of the Los Angeles Rams offense. He has established himself as one of the fundamental leaders of an offense that continues to aim at winning Super Bowl LX. And his physical style of play has produced 2,476 yards and nine touchdowns in 28 games. By many angles, his 2025 performance should be incredible if he can stay healthy for 17 games. If he stays on par, he should end 2025 with over 1,500 receiving yards and five touchdowns.
He may be just 23 years old, but he is already keeping company with some of the best receivers in the NFL of any age. It remains a safe bet to presume that Puka Nacua’s best years of football are ahead of him:
So, how will the offense change in 2025? Unlike 2024 with a cast of Cooper Kupp clones, the Rams’ wide receiver room boasts tremendous range and variety of skillsets, perhaps the most diverse group of HC Sean McVay’s tenure. The offense boasts the physicality, precision route-running, and yards after the catch skills of Puka Nacua. The offense boasts the speed, elusiveness, and deep-ball threat of WR Tutu Atwell. And now, the same offense boasts the incredible separation, route-running, and unstoppable veteran WR Davante Adams.
And the Rams have second-year powerhouse Jordan Whittington waiting in the wings, ready to blend into the rotation in 2025 as well.
The Los Angeles Rams offense is no longer designed to be one-size-fits-all. Where the receivers are concerned, the team has transformed from a mini putt putt golf course into an entire 18-hole golf course complete with an entire arsenal of irons and woods for any situation on the course. This is no longer a team that is entirely dependent upon motion and play-action passing to create separation.
The Rams are placing bets on Puka Nacua in 2024, and wisely so. He has exceeded expectations in his first two NFL seasons. Now it’s up to him and his ability to dominate NFL secondaries that will lead the Rams in 2025. A healthy Nacua will be among the NFL’s top receivers in 2025. With that in place, the front office can seek complementary pieces to add to the offense in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft.
As always, thanks for reading
