I’M LEAVING ” Puka Nacua accepted $60Million contract to depart from the Los Angeles Rams

Puka Nacua’s Quick Ascent From Day 3 Draft Pick to One-Named Star

Understanding the inspiration from his family and the on-field traits that make the rookie receiver a player Sean McVay called the ‘missing piece’ in the Rams’ complex offense.

Before he embarrassed evaluators and made NFL history and honored his late father on international stages, Puka Nacua played Madden to unwind. He always used the newest iteration, and he often picked the same team—the Rams. He threw virtual passes with Matthew Stafford’s golden right arm, deployed Cooper Kupp all over and studied uniform combinations and the history they highlighted.

Which is funny, because Nacua hasn’t played Madden in months. He no longer needs the console-controller-screen combo to partake in Rams offensive football. He’s a rookie receiver in Los Angeles, catching Stafford targets, and he filled in for Kupp, who missed the season’s first month with an injured hamstring. Nacua’s younger brother asked him for the code to the new version the other day. He answered politely, because that’s him, the newest star in Hollywood, who never saw himself that way and never will.

Even now.

But … life is different, too. His brother should understand that Puka, of all Nacuas, has been busy lately, in the best way. The NFL draft, joining the Rams, securing a role, expanding that role and exploding into the mainstream sports consciousness—everything is changing. In the case of pick No. 177 last April, Puka hasn’t exceeded expectations so much as he has bludgeoned them with a sledgehammer before driving over them with a monster truck. He’s first-name-only famous, already.

It’s all happening, a lot of things, the kinds of things that don’t happen often, if ever, in the NFL. Sure, fifth- and later-round picks sometimes become starters, even stars. But Puka entered pro football’s evaluation incubator as a prospect known for a variety of skills rather than any one specialty. Many dinged him for his timed speed in events such as the 40-yard dash. In college, he played for two programs from 2019 to ’22, Washington and BYU; neither reached a major bowl game. The statistics he accumulated—107 catches, 1,749 yards, 19 total touchdowns—certainly didn’t project what happened in September, against better defenders, on grander platforms.