It won't be long before Rams players are back in the building for the team's offseason workout program, but some already know how they'll be approaching it when it comes to working on their skillsets.
When Julian Edelman asked wide receiver Puka Nacua on the Games with Names podcast what he had as an individual goal for this spring's OTAs, Nacua mentioned improving short-area quickness.
"My short-area quickness is definitely something we've been working with Coop (Cooper Kupp), and when we do some of our conditioning stuff, it's not necessarily – yeah, we have our sprint days where we're doing some of that stuff, but also it being like, on Tuesdays, when we do some of our conditioning stuff, we're here in our box, we're working our releases," Nacua said. "We've got the cones, these are your cutoff marks, quick feet or it's working a one-two release, get skinny and then this is our box, it can only work in this area."
Nacua further explained that in the Rams' offense, they do a lot of motions, so a lot of that is endurance. Where the short-area quickness comes into play is situations like being one-on-one with a defender on the back side of a formation and having an out route, as well as being able to separate at the top of routes.
"This out route's going to get thrown 10 times out of 10, because in the short-area quickness, when I get to my shoulder here and I'm at the top of the route, I'm one-two-ing it and I'm winning," Nacua said. "Short-area quickness, that also involves being at the line of scrimmage, but especially once we get into the top of the route, I need to separate at the top. The job as the receiver is to catch the ball no matter what, but also being like, alright, now if I can make my quarterback's job even easier, man, the success we could have if he doesn't have to pinpoint it, to put it to one spot, throw it in the area and I'll come down with it."
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford will appreciate that, even if the two already have strong chemistry dating back to the trust established when Nacua caught an NFL rookie single-game record 15 receptions for 147 yards in Week 2 of the 2023 season against the 49ers while being targeted a team-high 20 times by Stafford (the game which was the focus of the Edelman-hosted podcast featuring Nacua).
More will certainly be asked of Nacua this upcoming season, given the departure of Kupp. That responsibility is lessened to an extent with the arrival of Davante Adams, but not entirely.
Nacua has 184 receptions for 2,476 yards and nine touchdowns through 28 career games (all starts) in his first two NFL seasons.
The full Games with Names episode with Nacua can be viewed below, and is also available to listen to on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
