Puka Nacua

Los Angeles Rams·#12UNDERPAID

Pos WRHt 6'2"Wt 216 lbExp 3 yrCollege BYU

Updated September 22, 2026

WR rankings →

Model Score

99.0 MODEL

2023

87.7

2024

93.0

2025

99.0

How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →

Puka Nacua Injury StatusQuestionable

Puka Nacua is listed Questionable (Hip), reported Sep 20. Source: the official NFL injury report, refreshed daily.

Puka Nacua Stats This Season · 1 games

Rec

Rec Yds

Rec TD

Targets

74.0

Yds/Gm

12.4

Fantasy PPG

Advanced Metrics EPA & Next Gen Stats

0.421

EPA / target

1.6 yd

Avg separation

5.2 yd

Avg cushion

4.9

YAC over exp

55.6%

Catch %

Draft & College

Round 5, pick 177 · Los Angeles Rams · 2023

BYU (FBS Independents)

Taken

#177

where he actually went

Consensus board

167th

average of the public big boards that spring

Our college model

#87

among WR in our college data

He went about where consensus had him.

In college · 2021-2022 · 19 games

88 rec, 1,373 yds, 10 TD, 15.6 yds/rec

Covers the college seasons in our data, which does not always reach back to a player's first year.

Comps

College career

his college career vs theirs

Keshaun Singleton84%Deion Branch81%Emeka Egbuka81%

STM Take

Nacua at STTM #1 tier 1 in 2025 is the league's most efficient receiver by per-game production (career 95.3 yards per game is an NFL record). Three straight tier-1 finishes from a 5th-round pick and a 2025 first-team All-Pro confirm the rookie year wasn't a Sean McVay halo. The 313 career catches for 4,191 yards in three seasons puts him on pace to be a generational producer.

Nacua was born in Las Vegas to a Samoan-German mother and Hawaiian-Portuguese father, grew up in Provo, and holds the Utah state high school records for receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. He played at Washington for two years before transferring to BYU, and the Rams took him 177th overall in the 2023 NFL Draft. He set the NFL rookie records for receiving yards (1,486) and receptions, made two Pro Bowls, and was named first-team All-Pro in 2025 after leading the NFL in receptions. He owns the NFL record for career receiving yards per game at 95.3.

Strengths

Career 95.3 receiving yards per game is the NFL all-time record; the efficiency case has no comparable in the field.
2025 NFL receptions leader and first-team All-Pro at age 24; the trajectory is still climbing.

Concerns

Pre-Stafford passing-game ceiling is the cap; if LA's QB room ages or injures out, the workload-driven floor is exposed.
5th-round pick origin still means the Rams hold leverage on extension talks; financial security is not yet locked in.

What to watch: Whether the 2025 first-team All-Pro repeats; back-to-back AP-1 voting would put him in the tier-of-one with Justin Jefferson and Ja'Marr Chase.