Sarah Barshop, ESPN Staff Writer December 22, 2023, 1:52 a.m. ET
Close
- Sarah Barshop covers the Los Angeles Rams for ESPN. She joined ESPN in 2016 to cover the Green Bay Packers for ESPN Milwaukee. She then moved to Houston to coach the Texans. She came to ESPN after working as a writer and editor for Sports Illustrated. You can follow her on Twitter @sarahbarshop.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. – After Los Angeles Rams rookie receiver Puka Nacua was drafted in April, his goals were simple.
“I was thinking about how I could block well enough to get on the field and whether I would be a special teams player and how I could figure that out,” Nacua said.
His focus wasn't on his yardage total for the season and “definitely not” on how he could get within striking distance of the record for yards by a rookie.
Editor favorites
1 relative
But with nine catches for 164 yards and a touchdown in Thursday night's 30-22 win over the New Orleans Saints, Nacua continued to put up numbers that put him in the conversation for Offensive Rookie of the Year, albeit behind a heavy favorite, the Houston Texans quarterback CJ Stroud. Nacua has 147 receiving yards in the Rams' final two games, tied for the most by a rookie in NFL history.
Rams coach Sean McVay said Stroud had a “great year” but Nacua would “get my vote.”
“He’s really special,” McVay said. “But the best thing about him is that he doesn’t worry about these things. All he cares about is being a great teammate and continuing to improve his game.” [I] I definitely love this team. And he's one of those guys that you really love.
Nacua has 96 catches for 1,327 yards and five touchdowns this season, including six games with at least 100 receiving yards.
This season, Stroud has completed 62.4% of his passes for 3,631 yards and 20 touchdowns. Despite playing in just 13 games, he ranks sixth among all quarterbacks this year. Stroud is currently in the concussion protocol and did not play in Week 15.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Nacua had his third game with 150 receiving yards on Thursday, becoming the fifth player in NFL history to do so in a player's first 15 career games. Bill Groman, who holds the rookie record for receiving yards, had four in his first 15 games in 1960.
And despite the individual success Nacua had on Thursday, when asked if he was in the running for OROY, he quickly turned to what the game meant for the team.
“I think it’s cool,” Nacua said. “It's funny when my family sends things in, but I don't think that's my main goal. It's been fun to be at every football game we've been in since we were able to come back from the bye.” And what Coach has been preaching are these games we play in December, where the playoffs are already for us have begun. So it was kind of fun to be in that playoff mentality. But that's definitely something I'm not used to. We're playing late into December, so we're finding ways to adapt to that. But it was a lot of fun.”