It's not even training camp but Rams' secret weapon is painfully obvious

The Los Angeles Rams offense did not boast a single wide receiver who broke the 1000 receiving yards plateau last season. If you continue to dig deeper, you'll discover that no returning Rams receiver got into the end zone more than three times last season. And if the Rams have any hope of putting points on the scoreboard, let alone more points on the scoreboard, this offense is overdue for some drastic changes.

Scoring touchdowns is not one of the goals for the LA Rams in 2025. It's the only goal for this team in 2025. The team may not put up six points every time the offense snaps a football, but it will be trying to do exactly that.

So, what can this team do to accomplish that vital objective? For starters, it means that the offense will need to unleash its secret weapon.

Who can the Rams rely on in 2025?

Sometimes the answer that nobody recognizes is staring them in the face. With the team's willingness to part ways with veteran wide receiver Cooper Kupp, the mantle of top receiver falls to third-year wide receiver Puka Nacua. Free agent WR Davante Adams is too new to the offense to be more than a complete bonus on game day. Veteran WR Tutu Atwell is simply a necessity for an offense that had already parted ways with three other veterans, including Kupp, Demarcus Robinson, and Tyler Johnson.

And second-year wide receiver Jordan Whittington, while delivering as much as he could with a limited number of targets, simply has not risen to the role of a weekly productive receiver.

But if you are the type of fan who needs hard statistical evidence to believe what your eyes are telling you, then you are in luck. The latest feature from Pro Football Focus's Lauren Gray should arm even the most skeptical Rams fan into believing that Puka Nacua is the go-to guy in 2025.

The article does not argue that Puka Nacua is an elite wide receiver. Instead, it statistically breaks down the top performers among all NFL wide receivers for several key roles that a receiver is expected to perform. In the article, Nacua is only one of two receivers to appear in multiple roles as one of the NFL's top three receivers. Washington Commanders wide receiver Terry McLaurin is the other, but he appears twice among the top five receivers.

Nacua is statistically a master of screens and intermediate routes, while McLaurin has mastered intermediate and deep routes. While Nacua does not appear to be tops at short yardage or deep yardage routes, he is quite capable of delivering there as well. It's simply that in PFF's record keeping, he did not crack the top performers in those categories.

Despite the admirable article, the Rams need to do more to harness Nacua's talents in 2025. While he scored six touchdowns in 2023, he only got into the end zone three times in 2024. Perhaps that will change with the absence of Kupp. But he won't be alone.

Despite playing in two different offenses in 2024, and for only 14 games, veteran wide receiver Davante Adams was able to score eight touchdowns. But with QB Matthew Stafford's willingness to thread the needle, you could raise expectations for Adams to score 10 or more touchdowns in 2025. So Nacua will help this offense do quite well if he can score seven or more touchdowns this year.

He will exceed that.

It's not even training camp, but the Rams' secret weapon on offense is painfully obvious. Davante Adams will give the Rams new dimensions when it comes to scoring. But Puka Nacua is about to put up career highs in touchdowns, and flirt with a career-high in receiving yards.

As always, thanks so much for reading.

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