Turf Show Times
There has been a lot of focus over the past two months on Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and his chances of winning his first MVP award. The reasons for that award taking precedence are obvious. However, while Stafford and his MVP case have been debated ad nauseam at this point, wide receiver Puka Nacua’s 2025 season has almost been forgotten.
The crazy part is Nacua’s 2025 season might be just as impressive as Stafford’s and it’s taken a back seat. Despite missing a game, he was the NFL receptions leader. It was the third time in Stafford’s career that he’s been the quarterback for the NFL receptions leader, joining Calvin Johnson in 2012 and Cooper Kupp in 2021.
Nacua also led the NFL in yards per route run with 3.85, while also leading in targets per route run with 0.37, and yards per game with 107.2. Nacua led the NFL in targets per route and yards per game while running a route on just 75.1 percent of the Rams’ dropbacks which ranked 43rd among wide receivers.
The dominance doesn’t stop there. Nacua’s 0.179 first downs per route led the NFL and he had nine “hero” catches according to Fantasy Points Data which tracks extraordinary catches. The next closest wide receiver had five. Nacua had nearly double the extraordinary catches as the next closest wide receiver.
With that said, Nacua is still a heavy underdog to win the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year. Jaxon Smith-Njigba is a -2000 favorite to Nacua’s +1300.
The Rams wide receiver didn’t lead the NFL in total yards, but had more receptions and tied Smith-Njigba in touchdowns. He also only finished 78 yards behind the Seahawks wide receiver despite missing a game. Again, Nacua averaged 107.2 yards per game.
To put Nacua’s dominance in perspective, he led the NFL with 115.9 receiving EPA per NFL Pro data. The next closest wide receiver was George Pickens at 82.7. The gap between Nacua at one and Pickens at two is more than Pickens and Alec Pierce at eight. Nacua had 0.89 receiving EPA per reception to Smith-Njigba’s 0.68. He also led in EPA per target.
Smith-Njigba certainly has an argument for Offensive Player of the Year, but it’s also hard to understand why the gap is so large. Even ESPN’s Bill Barnwell gave the edge to Nacua. Said Barnwell,
“Even while missing a game because of an ankle injury, Nacua did more than enough to earn this honor. Nacua led the league with a 98 in ESPN’s receiver scores, the third-best mark posted by any wideout in any season since 2017. And according to Next Gen Stats, the Rams star led the league in receptions over expected (18.7) and receiving yards over expected (449), owing both to excellent quarterback play from Matthew Stafford and a propensity for absolutely ridiculous catches, such as his one-handed catch on a fade for a touchdown against the Cardinals on Sunday.”
It’s another example of Nacua getting overlooked. The...
