Rams receiver Puka Nacua had a record-setting rookie season. It came with a price. He got banged up during his first NFL campaign, but he found a way to power through it and keep playing.
During a Super Bowl week visit to PFT Live, we asked him how he felt after playing the longest season of his life, at the highest level of the sport.
“Old, like I aged 25 years,” he said with a laugh. “It’s been a really long year and then those 18 weeks just really lasted a long time, but it was nice to lay down on my bed and . . . not wake up at 6:00 in the morning and be like, ‘Alright, I gotta go hit the cold tub and the ice tub to start the body going.’ So I laid down flat, got all the extra pillows stuffed up between my shoulders and stuff was like, ‘I’m going to sleep in today.’”
One of the moments that might have aged him came when he was assigned to block Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence.
“We do a lot of crack toss stuff and I was involved,” Puka said. “Coach was like, ‘Yeah, you can go out there and get that one block done, Puka,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, Coach!’ And then we line up and I’m like, ‘Why did he grow seven more inches? What the heck?’ And then I went to go hit the block and it’s like in slow motion. I can remember so vivid. He grabbed both my wrists. Like left hand, right hand. Grabbed both my wrists and threw me like a rag doll five yards. And then it was a six-yard loss and I just remember, like, ‘Coach is gonna kill me. That was not how that play was . . . drawn.’”
Nacua saw Lawrence at the Pro Bowl Games, and he reminded him of the moment.
“I had to let him know because I was like, ‘I don’t know if you remember this, probably an everyday play for you,’ but I was like, ‘I pride myself in blocking. You threw me like I was a little kid.’ He was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I don’t really remember that.’ I was like, ‘Man, that makes me feel worse.’”
There aren’t many things Puka should feel bad about after his 2023 season. He was phenomenal, setting records for the most receptions for a rookie and breaking the record for rookie receiving yardage that dated back to 1960.
