Puka Nacua earns major NFL honor ahead of a potentially huge 2025 season

It's almost mind-boggling when you realize that Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua is averaging over 1,200+ receiving yards per season, while only averaging 14 games per season to do so. The Los Angeles Rams selected Nacua in Round 5 of the 2023 NFL Draft, and he has done nothing but wow the NFL since arriving.

Even after an injury limited him to just 11 games and 990-plus receiving yards last season, he still impressed NFL powers that be to make the Top-50 players in the NFL for 2025. Nacua comes in as the 41st best NFL player, making him the fourth Rams player to be named in the NFL's Top 100 list.

And if you think he is not ready to play, you simply need to check out this jaw-dropping angle of Nacua catching a Jimmy Garoppolo pass. And then imagine him catching passes from Matthew Stafford again. Perhaps the NFL was too conservative?

That honor has added one more feather to the cap of the Rams football team, and makes three top 100 players on the Rams offense. So far, Rams players have been honored among the Top 100 NFL players as follows:

• 41- Puka Nacua
• 53 - Jared Verse
• 59 - Matthew Stafford
• 85 - Kyren Williams

So then the interest becomes whether Puka Nacua can deliver on his high ranking in 2025 or not.

Puka Nacua will confirm elite status in 2025

The most fascinating element to Nacua's performance so far has been his dependability to get open and put up yards. In fact, the only NFL defense that limits his production is durability. If he plays, he produces. So the key to how well he plays this season will be how healthy he can be.

There are several reasons to believe he'll stay healthy.

As soon as the Rams signed veteran WR Davante Adams, the team boosted Nacua's durability in two ways. The most obvious way is to put Adams on the football field simultaneously with Nacua. In his first joint scrimmage in a vanilla offense, the veteran shredded the Cowboys secondary.

But even as teams redeploy defensive backs to contain Adams, he has spent all training camp mentoring Nacua and other wide receivers by giving them tricks of the trade, creating separation. And that will continue to show up throughout the season.

Puka Nacua only needed 11 games to flirt with 1,000 yards. This season, 1,500 receiving yards is a reasonable goal. And with his mastery of YAC (yards after the catch), the offense could be one of the front-running units this season. As always, thanks for reading.

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