Wide receiver Puka Nacua was a fifth-round pick out of BYU in the 2023 draft. He'd shown significant upside in college, but struggled to stay on the field due to injuries, and slipped as a result. But Rams general manager Les Snead looked past that and found another late-round gem.
Nacua burst onto the scene immediately as a rookie, tallying 10 catches and 119 yards in his NFL debut, and he kept on climbing from there. He finished the season with 105 receptions and 1,486 receiving yards, ranking fourth in the league, while starting in all 17 games. With the 2024 season on deck, Nacua is looking to build on his stellar campaign.
Here are five interesting stats from Nacua's record-breaking rookie season:
Nacua had the most rookie receptions and receiving yards in NFL history
The rookie receiving yards record held steady for 63 years before Nacua broke it last season. In Week 18, Nacua caught a six-yard pass that allowed him to surpass Bill Groman, who set the record in 1960. In that same game, he also broke the single-season rookie receptions record set by Jaylen Waddle in 2021.
"It'll say Puka Nacua [in the record books], but I wish it could say everybody," Nacua said after the game. "All 11 guys out there because it really takes all 11."
Nacua and CeeDee Lamb were the only two players to rank top five in intermediate and short receiving yards
An intermediate target is one that travels between 10 and 19 yards in the air, while a short target travels between zero and nine yards. Nacua's 509 receiving yards on intermediate routes ranked fourth in the league, and he received a 95.5 PFF receiving grade in that context. On short routes, he accumulated 609 yards and earned a 94.1 receiving grade.
Nacua's ability to create space with a short field and make people miss put him among the league's best wideouts.
Nacua had the second-most yards after catch (YAC) over expected (203.5) via Next Gen Stats
Only one player created more yards after the catch than Nacua did last season: Deebo Samuel (235.6). Samuel is considered the king of YAC, so that's elite company. Nacua being right behind Samuel and ahead of players like A.J Brown, George Pickens and D.J. Moore is a testament to how tough it is to bring him down.
Next Gen Stats uses a machine learning model to calculate expected measures from past data they get using tracking chips in players' shoulder pads. For YAC, they take four variables into account: location and speed, defender proximity, field position and game situation (down and distance).
Nacua broke the rookie record for most receptions in a game in his second pro game
It took Nacua just two weeks to etch his name in the NFL history books. After a 100-yard performance in his debut, Nacua caught an NFL rookie record 15 passes on 20 targets totaling 147 yards in Week 2 against the 49ers. It was a losing effort against the division rival, but Nacua gave the home crowd something to celebrate with his emergence. He even received two carries that went for four yards, bringing his totals up to 17 total touches and 151 yards.
Prior to that, the rookie record for most receptions in a game was 14 by Najee Harris, set in 2021. In terms of wide receivers, Deion Branch's 13 catches against the Chargers in 2002 was the most.
Nacua caught over 83% of his targets on play-action passes
Of Nacua's 24 play-action targets, Nacua caught 20 of them. With those catches, he racked up 366 yards on play-action passes, ranking sixth in the NFL. None of the other top 20 producers on play-action passes caught a higher percentage of balls than Nacua did.
24.6% of Nacua's yards were on play-action passes, despite the fact that only 15.7% of his targets came in that context. That's incredible efficiency. Nacua's vision and awareness help him take advantage of the space created by play-action fakes, and it showed last season.
