This NFL record could be in Puka's wheelhouse

Yahoo

11 hours ago

Puka Nacua re-wrote the record books as a rookie in 2023 and the Rams receiver is once again in a perfect situation to challenge NFL history again in 2025. No player has ever had 12 100-yard games in a season before, but a healthy Nacua is the exact right person to be the first. With Matthew Stafford's health improving by the day, and Sean McVay calling the plays, why not more Puka history being made this year?
I'm not just saying that Puka could have 12 100-yard games. If he and Stafford manage a healthy 17 games together, Puka Nacua will put up some numbers that football fans have never seen before. Here are a few reasons why:
1) Stafford's history of delivering 100-yard games in a season
The first reason to think that Nacua could have 12 100-yard games is the fact that Cooper Kupp and Calvin Johnson are currently tied for the NFL record of 100-yard receiving games in a season with 11 each. The only other player to do it is Michael Irvin in 1995.
Megatron had 11 100-yard games in 2012
Kupp had 11 100-yard games in 2021
After those three players, another nine players are tied with 10 100-yard games in a single season, including Torry Holt for the 2003 Rams.
Puka Nacua's 7 100-yard games in 2023 is the second-most in NFL history for a rookie, behind only Bill Groman's 9 in 1960. Harlon Hill, Odell Beckham Jr, and Justin Jefferson are the only other rookies to have seven alongside Puka. The 7 100-yard games in 2023 was the second-most for any receiver in the NFL.
2) Puka's prolific career to date
Since he entered the NFL, Puka is tied with AJ Brown for the second-most 100-yard receiving games in the league despite the fact that he missed six games in 2024:
Amon-Ra St. Brown, 13 games
Brown, 12 games
Puka, 12 games
Tyreek Hill, 11 games
CeeDee Lamb, 11 games
Ja'Marr Chase, 10 games
Justin Jefferson, 10 games
Given that Chase and JJ are considered the two best in the league, it's notable that Puka has more 100-yard games per start than either of them since 2023.
Puka has hit 100 yards in 43% of his career NFL games, a ridiculously-high mark.
Now consider this: Nacua also has games of 181 yards and 97 yards out of three playoff starts.
In addition to having 5 100+ yards games in his 11 appearances in 2024, Nacua also had games of 97 and 98 yards. He was basically 5 yards shy of having 7 100-yard games out of 11 starts in 2024. Which he also did with Cooper Kupp still playing in most of those contests, so even though he has to share the ball with Davante Adams in 2025, that may not be a problem here.
3) Longer season, more passes
Sean McVay and Stafford don't mind having a 'go to our best player and don't stop doing that' mentality. The Rams have a great duo with Nacua and Davante, but the depth at receiver is questionable and Adams is one of the oldest starting receivers in the league. If Adams misses any games, that will just focus more attention on Nacua.
Now you might be saying that's easier for the defense to shut him down, but it hasn't been the case so far:
Nacua had 501 yards in the first 4 weeks without Kupp in 2023, and those were the first 4 games of Puka's career
Puka continued to be elite after he returned from missing six games in 2024:
With 17 games on the schedule now, Nacua will have one extra opportunity to hit 12 100-yard games. It may only be a matter of him and Stafford not missing any of them.
4) Puka can join elite '4,000 yards in 3 years' club
Only three receivers in NFL history have hit 4,000 receiving yards in the first three seasons of their career combined:
Jefferson, 4825 yards (2020-2022)
Randy Moss, 4163 yards (1998-2000)
OBJ, 4,122 yards (2014-2016)
Nacua needs to have a monster season to get there, but he can do it.
Nacua has 2,476 yards in his first two seasons, which is the seventh-most in NFL history despite him missing six games last year. Only Jefferson, OBJ, Moss, Groman, Chase, and Jerry Rice have more.
So Nacua needs 1,524 yards in 2025 to reach 4,000. It's a lot, but it's hardly what I would call impossible: It's less than 50 more yards than Puka Nacua had as a rookie in 2023.
With that many yards, Puka will pass A.J. Green for the fourth-most by a player in his first three seasons of all-time.
If Nacua catches 105 passes in 2025, he will pass OBJ and Jarvis Landry for the 5th-most by a player through his first three seasons.
Nacua could also join Jefferson and OBJ as the only receivers in history to average at least 90 receiving yards per game in his first three seasons. Nacua is averaging 88.4 yards per game so far.
It's not about the yards, but…why not root for history?
Yeah, we know. It doesn't really matter if Puka Nacua sets some records that nobody really knows about anyway. But he could. He's capable, he has the talent and he's in the perfect situation for it, so why not hope for the best? Nacua has already made history, not just for being a rookie, not just for being a fifth round pick, but also for being a receiver of any kind. He's one of the best in the NFL today. He's one of the best the NFL has ever seen through two seasons before.
Could he be the best through three seasons too?