Rome Odunze 'absolutely chasing' Rams Puka Nacua record absolutely doomed

Nobody expected former BYU wide receiver Puka Nacua to excel in the NFL, not even the LA Rams, coaches, draft scouts, or even personnel executives. This was not simply the outcome of a highly talented, disciplined, and gritty rookie receiver bursting into the league. The 2023 NFL rookie season for Puka Nacua was the result of many divergent forces coming into alignment in the right way at just the right moment to give him the opportunity to set the NFL All-Time Rookie Receiving records.

And those forces may not align for a very long time. Truth be told, they may never align again in our lifetime.

The fact is that rookies on any football team struggle to click with their quarterback, and that becomes the problem. Without established chemistry, quarterbacks, offensive coordinators, and head coaches have far too many options at their disposal to focus much of the offense through an untested rookie. Even if the guy is ultra talented, the amount of work, physicality, and attention that successful rookies attract shuts them down before they ever really get going.

Even though NFL rules for receivers have promoted more opportunities in the passing game for NFL offenses, the Top 25 rookie receivers in terms of All-Time NFL Rookie Receiving Yards are not entirely dominated by modern-era rookies. In fact, the range of years for rookies appearing on the list runs from 2023 (Puka Nacua) all the way back to 1960 (Bill Groman).

Only seven of the record holders who appear on the list have entered the NFL in the past five seasons. Going from bottom to top, let's list the rookie WRs and the quarterbacks who threw to them to achieve that stellar production:

Year	Rookie	Receiving Yards	Quarterback	Team	Place
2021	Kyle Pitts	1,026	Matt Ryan	Atlanta Falcons	25th
2022	Chris Olave	1,042	Andy Dalton	New Orleans Saints	22nd
2019	A.J. Brown	1,051	Ryan Tannehill	Tennessee Titans	19th
2022	Garrett Wilson	1,103	Zach Wilson/Joe Flacco/Mike White	New York Jets	14th
2020	Justin Jefferson	1,400	Kirk Cousins	Minnesota Vikings	4th
2021	Ja'Marr Chase	1,455	Joe Burrow	Cincinnati Bengals	3rd
2023	Puka Nacua	1,486	Matthew Stafford	Los Angeles Rams	1st

As you can see from the data table above, while the rookie wide receivers seized their place in the NFL All-Time Rookie Receiving Yards Record list, their campaigns towards those records were aided immensely by the quality of the quarterback throwing the ball their way. With the exception of New York Jets rookie WR Garrett Wilson, who caught footballs from a quarterback committee, all rookies on this list benefitted from the passes of a savvy veteran.

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