Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua left Sunday night’s game against the Detroit Lions with a knee injury. He injured his knee midway through the second quarter after making one of his four catches, but he limped off the field and was originally listed as questionable to return.
Nacua briefly returned to the game, but he eventually left and did not return. On Monday afternoon, head coach Sean McVay told reporters that Nacua has a PCL sprain and that he will go on injured reserve.
Now that Nacua is going to miss a minimum of four games, let’s reassess the Rams’ wide receiver depth chart and who they could target in either a trade or as a free agent.
Rams’ WR Depth Chart After Puka Nacua’s Injury
The silver lining for the Rams is that Cooper Kupp, as Mike Tirico emphasized on the NBC broadcast, looked like how he did in his record-setting season in 2021.
The eight-year veteran had a game-high 14 catches for 110 yards and a touchdown on Sunday Night Football.
It’s interesting how Nacua’s record-setting rookie season in 2023 overshadowed Kupp’s solid bounce-back season last year.
Fully healthy coming into this season, Kupp is someone the Rams can rely on to step up in place of Nacua. Kupp can also do more than just step up with his ability to take over games like he did Sunday night against the Lions.
Another key development for the Rams on Sunday night was Tyler Johnson. A former fifth-round pick out of Minnesota in 2020, Johnson caught five passes for 79 yards, including a 63-yarder near the end of the third quarter where he caught a short pass from quarterback Matthew Stafford and put a defender on skates with a hard cut. That allowed him to run all the way to the Lions’ 23-yard line.
DeMarcus Robinson had four catches for 42 yards, and tight end Colby Parkinson had four catches for 47 yards.
This shows that there are still plenty of good, reliable weapons for Stafford to throw to even without Nacua.
Potential Trade Targets at WR for the Rams
The Rams have a roster that can, and should, contend for a playoff berth and NFC West title this season. If they stay competitive without Nacua, here are some possible wide receivers the Rams could trade for.
DeAndre Hopkins, Tennessee Titans
If you look at Hopkins’ stats over the last few seasons, you can conclude that he is still an impact receiver. With this trade, Stafford would be the best quarterback Hopkins has played with in his career.
He may be on the north side of 30 years old, but Hopkins had 75 catches last year with over 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns.
Davante Adams, Las Vegas Raiders
We’ve seen the Rams make blockbuster trades over the last few years, including trading for Stafford, so you can’t rule out general manager Les Snead making a deal for Davante Adams.
One of the NFL’s best wide receivers, Adams has four straight seasons with 100+ receptions and 1,100+ yards.
Top Free Agent WRs Available
While the Rams are not afraid to make blockbuster trades, they have paid the price for some of them as they lost a lot of draft capital.
Therefore, the Rams could go down the route of adding one of the best remaining free agent wide receivers if they don’t want to go through another cycle of trades and losing draft picks.
Here are some of the top free agent receivers Los Angeles could add to the mix.
Michael Thomas
Before Kupp’s record-setting season in 2021, Michael Thomas had a record-setting season of his own back in 2019 with the New Orleans Saints. That season, Thomas led the NFL with 149 receptions and 1,725 yards.
Even though he hasn’t come close to that level of production since 2019, Thomas would just need to be a WR2 for the Rams while Cooper Kupp gets the heaviest share of targets every week.
Hunter Renfrow
Hunter Renfrow played in five seasons with the Raiders, and he had over 100 receptions, 1,000 yards, and nine touchdowns in 2021.
Renfrow was a slot receiver with Vegas, but he can be a good depth piece in the event Kupp or another Rams receiver goes down this season.