Puka Nacua.
It’s a cool name that was well-known to and appreciated by BYU coaches, players, fans a year ago. For good reason. He almost always was the best player on the field. One of them, anyway.
Now, it’s a cool name not just well-known to NFL coaches, players and fans, it’s a name feared by them. For good reason. He almost always is the best player on the field. One of them, anyway. He certainly is respected by everyone associated with the Detroit Lions, the team that on Sunday night will try to do in the playoffs what few Los Angeles Rams opponents achieved during the regular season — stop the young receiver from hurting them.
Good luck with that.
It’s a huge ask, a huge goal for a Lions defense that has been torched at times this season by great receivers. And that’s precisely what Nacua is, having broken rookie single-season records for receptions (105) and yards (1,486). Over the last month alone, Nacua hauled in 32 catches for 562 yards and three TDs. As a result, he was named the NFC’s offensive rookie of the month. He’s also in the running for NFL offensive rookie of the year.
Those are accomplishments and considerations that would have surprised even the most ardent of BYU folks. I mean, the kid was always good in Provo (Cougars offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick recognized, acknowledged and sung his praises no end), but thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis good?
Nobody saw that, not even Nacua himself.
Not the Rams, either. If they had, they wouldn’t have waited until the fifth round of the draft to select him with the 177th overall pick. A video of Rams general manager Les Snead and coach Sean McVay discussing “BYU,” as they referred to Nacua in a meeting before taking him, has circulated online, the Rams releasing it likely because it indicates firsthand the brilliance of those guys for correctly guessing that Nacua was a presence they wanted and could benefit from on attack.
Benefit, they did. He led a strong Rams receiving group in receptions in his first season.
Nacua was named second-team All-Pro by the Associated Press on Friday.
This is one of those cases, though, that can give encouragement to fresh-faced players who have big aspirations to reach a talent level that others doubt. Nacua was an absolute star at Orem High School, setting records, following that with a short stint at Washington before transferring to BYU. As gifted and significant as he was for the Cougars, injuries sometimes troubled him. Despite that, as mentioned, he was clearly an exceptional athlete.
But pre-draft projections at the NFL level were limited, throwing a soggy blanket over his intentions. Reading through some of the scouting reports on Nacua now are a laugh a minute. One projection described him as an “average backup” or a “special-teamer.”
That report said he “will struggle to elude NFL press coverage,” that he “lacks instant acceleration to separate,” that his “upright route running makes him easy to redirect,” that he “does not have the long speed to keep corners from squatting,” and that he has “occasional issues with focus on downfield targets.”
On a standard grading system that listed the perfect prospect at an 8.0, a perennial All-Pro at 7.3 to 7.5, a Pro Bowl talent at 7.0 to 7.1, a year-one starter at 6.7 to 6.9, on down the line, Nacua was ranked a 5.8, as a receiver that would be fortunate to play special teams and/or crawl to be an NFL scrub.
Well. He’s done a bit better than that.
Nacua brought to the Rams exactly what they needed, one more star receiver to join others, such as Cooper Kupp, in an offense that requires and depends on its wideouts to do more than run crisp routes and snag the ball. It asks them to block defenders, to sacrifice themselves for the benefit of others. And Nacua has filled that role, along with the glossy stats, in a way that has endeared him to his coaches and his teammates. Plus, the guy is just a straight-up likable dude.
After he broke the rookie records last week, he said: “I can’t stop smiling,” and then he laughed. “It takes all 11 [players], and they should all feel that award just as much as I am.”
He was asked if all the attention he’s garnered has been overwhelming, he said, “Definitely. … It’s definitely weird. Not normal. … It’s more of a blessing than anything.”
Nacua talked about his family, his mom, his brothers, his dad, Lionel, who passed away when Puka was a youngster, saying he thought he, hoped he, was watching and grinning from somewhere in the great beyond.
Pretty hard not to like this humble, grounded, grateful, talented kid.
When Nacua was drafted by the Rams, he forthrightly asked coaches to allow him to meet up with them to better learn McVay’s complicated offense. He studied it as though he were back in college, taking a mandatory class, one he had to pass, and let’s say it like this, coaches were impressed. They were more impressed when they saw what Nacua could — and was willing to — do on the practice field. He and they were rewarded right from jump, as the regular season started. And as it ended, qualifying as they did for the playoffs.
“You can see he’s physical, tough, no fear,” McVay said earlier. “He’s a guy who has great, aggressive hands. … I’m a huge fan of him.”
Easy to be. Easy to see — now.
As soon as Nacua broke the rookie records in that last regular-season game, McVay paid him and his value to the Rams, as they head into the postseason, the ultimate compliment by his immediate reaction. From the sideline, he waved his arm and yelled, “Now get him out!”
One single conclusion is both heartening and absolute: Puka Nacua, the receiver with the cool name and the stellar game, is closer to an NFL MVP than he is to an average backup. And the Rams — and everybody else — know it.
