Two seasons before Puka Nacua joined the Rams, Cooper Kupp made NFL history.
In 2021, Kupp won the so-called triple crown of receiving, was named NFL offensive player of the year and won the Super Bowl LVI most-valuable-player award.
Not that Nacua, a junior at Brigham Young at the time, monitored Kupp’s statistics.
“Sadly, I don’t recall too much,” he said. “I never was a fantasy player so I never caught the buzz either.”
Four games into this season, the NFL is abuzz about Nacua.
Nearly three quarters of this season are still to be played, but if the Rams keep winning and Nacua keeps producing, the third-year pro could be on a track similar to Kupp’s historic season.
Nacua has 42 catches for 503 yards — both league highs — and one touchdown catch for a Rams team that is living up to billing as a Super Bowl contender.
Through four games of the 2021 season, Kupp had 30 catches for 431 yards and five touchdowns. He finished with 145 receptions for 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns.
Nacua can continue his torrid start on Thursday night when the Rams play host to the San Francisco 49ers at SoFi Stadium in their NFC West opener. The 49ers (3-1), who have defeated the Seattle Seahawks (3-1) and Arizona Cardinals (2-2), sit atop the division.
Nacua goes into the game coming off a performance that earned him NFC offensive player of the week honors.
In last Sunday’s 27-20 victory over the Indianapolis Colts, Nacua caught 13 passes for 170 yards and a touchdown.
“His play style rubs off on everybody on our team, not just the offense,” quarterback Matthew Stafford said. “I think our defense looks at him like, ‘Shoot, we’ll ride with that guy all day.’”
Coaches and defensive players, including edge rusher Jared Verse, agree.
“When I’m watching this dude, I see the ball up in the air and with most players, I’m like, ‘Damn, is he going catch it?’” Verse said, adding. “Puka had a crazy catch on a Sunday and I looked at [edge rusher Byron Young] like, ‘Yeah bro, we can sit back down. It’s a first down. We’re good.’ You just know he is going to make a play every chance he gets.”
Fast starts — and finishes — are nothing new for Nacua.
As a rookie in 2023, he caught 39 passes for 501 yards and one touchdown in his first four games. He went on to establish rookie records with 105 catches for 1,486 yards and six touchdowns.
Last season, despite playing in only 11 games, he caught 79 passes for 990 yards and three touchdowns.
With the departure of Kupp during the offseason, and the arrival of three-time All-Pro receiver Davante Adams, it appeared that Nacua’s targets would be reduced.
But that has not been the case: Stafford has targeted Nacua 50 times, Adams 35. Other receivers have a combined 48 targets, including Tutu Atwell, who caught the winning touchdown pass against the Indianapolis Colts on only his fifth target of the season.
“Me coming in, you never know how that’s going to affect somebody’s targets,” Adams said after Atwell capitalized on his opportunity, “and obviously it hasn’t affected Puka’s, and we love that.”
Nacua, 6 feet, 2 inches and 212 pounds, has been especially effective using his speed and strength to gain yards after catches. According to ESPN, his 170 yards ranks second among receivers behind Pittsburgh’s DK Metcalf, who has 189.
“There’s a feel that he has on game day that, man, this guy’s taking his game to a different level,” Rams coach Sean McVay said of Nacua. “I don’t even think you can appreciate it when you are watching it on film unless you are physically present or actually trying to feel what that feels like in the moment.”
In three games against the 49ers, Nacua has 26 catches for 285 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for a touchdown.
“He’s full speed all the time,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters, “running through people, attacking edges, and the same way he runs through that football and catches it.”
Nacua has said that he does not second-guess playing with a physical style.
So he is looking forward to playing the 49ers, who have annually been one of the Rams’ most physical opponents.
“That is a characteristic of their defense that they hold a lot of pride in,” Nacua said. “I think that’s an identity that we’ve been working on this year. It’s going to be fun to be out there on Thursday and showcase what we have.”
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