Puka

Nacua

Answering a taunting flag on Riq Woolen by immediately toasting him for a touchdown in the third quarter, Nacua continued his reign of terror against the Seahawks. It was, amazingly, his fifth game of the season and playoffs to go over 160 yards. He’ll enter next year as a surefire WR1 and almost undoubtedly one of the first three receivers off the board after his league-leading 129 catches for 1715 yards and 10 touchdowns. There is some fragility here in the sense that Matthew Stafford is (even more) old and Nacua takes a lot of punishment on the field, but it’s hard to bet against the No. 1 wideout in a Sean McVay offense not delivering the goods.

Nacua’s 56 receiving yards tied with Colby Parkison for the team high in Sunday’s win over the Bears. His 10 targets led all Rams players, but Nacua was unable to get much of anything going through the air after going for 10-111-1 in last week’s win over the Panthers. The third-year receiver’s biggest play of the game came on a third-and-six in overtime when he converted a first down on a 16-yard gain to help move the Rams within field goal range. Kicker Harrison Mevis would nail a 42-yard field goal four plays later to send the Bears packing, as Nacua and the Rams now prep for an NFC West showdown with the Seahawks and a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. Nacua went for a whopping 12-225-2 the last time the Rams played the Seahawks, and will hope to replicate some of those numbers next week in the Conference Championship game.

And somehow it could have been better, because his one incomplete pass was a 30-yard downfield pass towards the end of the first half that it hit him right in the hands. Had Nacua caught it, he had a fairly good shot at a third score. The favorite for offensive player of the year continued his grind, helping Matthew Stafford out by breaking up a late would-be interception and using his efficiency to erase some of the trouble Stafford and Davante Adams had getting on the same page throughout the game. Nacua seems destined to continue churning out Overall WR1 Games against whoever the Rams draw in the Divisional Round.

Nacua’s 10 catches in Week 18 made him the NFL’s receptions leader for the year, narrowly edging out Trey McBride in this same game. He also pulled ahead of Jaxson Smith-Njigba in receptions, though JSN somewhat easily led the league in yards. Nacua closed out the regular season as fantasy football’s WR1 overall for the year. Only Justin Jefferson has more receiving yards in the first three years of a player’s career. By every measure, Nacua is off to one of the greatest starts to a career in NFL history. Nacua will have more competition for targets in the Wild Card Round when Davante Adams returns, but that has yet to stop him from putting up monster numbers this year. Nacua will be the WR1 for next week’s slate of games.

It’s hard to believe McVay would risk the health of key players — including Puka Nacua and Matthew Stafford — with the Rams all but locked into the No. 6 seed in the NFC after Monday night’s devastating loss to the Falcons. Perhaps the team’s starters will get a few drives before the backups come in against Arizona. That would include Jimmy Garappolo at quarterback and maybe Ronnie Rivers at running back. Keep it locked to Rotoworld for updates on which teams will rest their starters in the regular season’s final week.

Nacua’s touchdown came late in the fourth quarter to draw the two teams to a tie after the Falcons led 21-0 at the half. A late field goal by Atlanta kicker Zane Gonzalez stymied the comeback attempt as the Falcons avoided a repeat of their disastrous Super Bowl LI loss to the Patriots. Nacua drew lockdown coverage from lockdown corner A.J. Terrell for most of the night, narrowly overcoming it all with a would-be circus catch down the sideline with six seconds remaining that would have had the Rams in field goal range for a potential game-tying kick as time expired. It was ultimately ruled incomplete as he failed to maintain possession with one hand going to the ground. The third-year receiver doubled down on his breakout sophomore campaign and he’ll look to pad his counting stats further when the Rams take on the Cardinals to end their 2025 regular season in Week 18.

It profiles as another smash week for Puka Nacua, who took advantage of Adams’ absence with 200 yards through the air in Week 16. The Rams will probably do just fine on offense given what they did against the league-best Seahawks defense on Thursday night. Still, it does cap a bit of Matthew Stafford’s touchdown upside for Week 17 to be without his goal line back.

Nacua had a controversial week off the field, but the 24-year-old was dominant on it once again. He scored what would have been a walk-off touchdown in overtime from 58 yards out, but the new rules allowed the Seahawks to answer back and win the game with a two-point conversion. Nacua has been phenomenal in 2025, and the Falcons stand very little chance of covering him in Week 17.

He added two rushes for eight yards. Luckily for the Rams, Matthew Stafford calmly followed up with a touchdown toss to Colby Parkinson to push the lead to two scores after Nacua briefly left with cramps. Nacua didn’t have a red zone target, but otherwise, nothing fantasy managers will want to point to with any derision here. He crushed on the outside, on the inside, and had the Lions corners in a blender all day. He’ll be on the WR1 line against the Seahawks next week assuming everything checks out with the cramps, and with Davante Adams (hamstring) potentially sidelined as well, Nacua will be a big favorite to lead the team in air yardage, targets, and catches.

No surprise here as Nacua is finishing up his third season as one of the top receivers in the league. Rapoport mentions a big money extension is a top priority for the Rams this offseason. The only question is whether he’s able to top Ja’Marr Chase’s $40.25 million average annual value.