Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua has garnered a reputation for being among the best bang-for-your-buck players in the NFL.
This is due to the fact that the 24-year-old star regularly provides All-Pro-caliber play while still in his rookie contract. Across his first 32 career regular-season games, Nacua has already tallied 2,979 receiving yards and 12 total touchdowns.
How Much is WR Puka Nacua Worth?
Standing at 6’2″ and weighing 212 pounds, Nacua was selected by the Rams with the No. 177 overall pick in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
According to spotrac.com, the WR signed a four-year, $4,084,977 contract with the Los Angeles Rams, including a $244,976 signing bonus, $244,976 guaranteed, and an average annual salary (AAV) of just over $1 million. In 2025, Nacua is earning a base salary of $1,030,000 and a workout bonus of just $9,450, while carrying a cap hit of $1,100,694.
Nacua has totaled 616 yards and one touchdown across 65 receptions so far on the year. He also scored a 45-yard rushing touchdown against the Tennessee Titans in Week 2.
The Rams currently have the 11th-ranked offense in PFSN’s NFL Offense Impact metric.
Nacua is earning less than fellow wideouts such as Arizona Cardinals WR Andre Baccellia, Cincinnati Bengals WR Kendrick Pryor, Carolina Panthers WR Dax Milne, Jacksonville Jaguars WR Austin Trammell, and many other virtually unknown players.
During Nacua’s rookie year he set the league record for receptions in a rookie season (105; subsequently surpassed by the Raiders’ Brock Bowers), receiving yards in a rookie season (1,486), receptions by a rookie in a game (15) and receiving yards by a rookie in a playoff game (181; subsequently surpassed by the Chargers’ Ladd McConkey).
Nacua’s rookie deal is customary for his specific draft slot. He’s in the midst of his third year of his rookie deal with the Rams and will be eligible for an extension in the offseason; naturally, considering his body of work thus far at the NFL level, Nacua is due for a massive raise in his next contract.
During his college days, Nacua played his first two years at Washington before spending his final two seasons at BYU. He led the Cougars in receiving yards in 2021 and 2022.
Rams Players’ Fantasy Outlooks for Week 7
Here’s what PFSN’s Kyle Soppe wrote about the fantasy outlooks of the notable Rams players for their Week 7 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars:
Matthew Stafford
If you removed clocks, we’d struggle to tell time, so with Puka Nacua compromised, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Matthew Stafford struggled to make the most of a seemingly perfect matchup.
Los Angeles was unable to stay on the field (under 23 minutes of possession), and that’s always going to kill the upside of a pocket-locked signal caller.
Stafford did what you’d expect and funneled 34.6% of his targets to Davante Adams, but this isn’t peak Adams, and without much depth around him, failure at this level (181 pass yards after throwing for 389 last week against a better defense) was likely to happen.
We will see about the status of Nacua for the London game this week, but I’m not the least bit tempted to call Stafford’s number regardless. Allen is on bye, and so is Lamar Jackson, but you’ve been filling the Jackson void for each of the past two weeks.
The streaming options are weak this week, but Aaron Rodgers (at CIN) or even C.J. Stroud (at SEA) coming off the bye could be sold to me.
Davante Adams
The Davante Adams situation could be one of the more interesting for Week 7, with Nacua’s status (foot) trending in the wrong direction for this London game ahead of the Week 8 bye.
On one hand, it’s easy to look at the target distribution from the first six weeks and pencil in Adams for a vintage performance. This season, the Nacua/Adams duo has combined for 57.6% of Los Angeles’ receptions and 60.1% of receiving yards. Even if you transfer one-third of the potentially vacated production to the WR2 in town, you end up with an overwhelmingly optimistic projection.
In theory, I could see doing that, but that’s not the approach I’m taking. Adams isn’t the player he once was, and the 47.3% catch rate is a clear indication of that. He’s settled into a more vertical role. While part of that could be the desire to leverage his playmaking abilities, I’m not ruling out the possibility that it’s the only way the 32-year-old can win these days, with quick-twitch routes less of an advantage.
If that’s the case, the increase in defensive attention figures to impact his fantasy stock more than an extra target or two.
We are picking nits. Three big-play receivers have cleared 22 PPR points against the Jags (Ja’Marr Chase, Collins, and Smith-Njigba), and Adams could, of course, add his name to that list. The former Packer has seen multiple end-zone targets in three of the past five weeks and is one of two players with a 20+ yard reception in all six weeks (the other: George Pickens).
Adams is a starter in all formats, whether Nacua suits up or not. That’s not the argument. I’m more saying that he doesn’t turn into an All-Pro should the best receiver in the sport be sidelined.
Kyren Williams
This offense is at risk if we assume Nacua sits (17 points against the gutted Ravens last week was proof of that). But we know that Kyren Williams will get his 15+ touches while being heavily featured in scoring situations, and that’s plenty to lock him into lineups.
He’s scored four times over the past four weeks and has had multiple receptions in five straight. The explosive plays may be few and far between, but Williams is picking up at least five yards on 41.1% of his carries this season, up from 36.4% in 2021, and enough to help him have access to an elevated floor.
He’s one of the least likely backs in my top 15 this week to give us a top-3 week, but the role in the red zone and my confidence in Matthew Stafford efficiently moving this offense give him a better chance to finish with a top-20 week than most in this tier.
