No player has caught more passes or been targeted more often than Puka Nacua in the first two weeks of this season. The fifth-round rookie has 35 targets, 10 more than anyone else who’s only played two games this season, and his 25 catches are five more than every other player.
As a result, he’s taken a lot of hits, probably more than any non-running back. Coming out of Week 1, he was dealing with an oblique injury. He remained on the injury report with that same ailment to start this week, though he’s still expected to play in Week 3.
Buy Rams TicketsSean McVay said Thursday that he wants to be cognizant of Nacua’s workload so as not to get him hurt. After all, it’s a 17-game season and there’s a long way to go.
“Yeah, I think you want to be smart about that and that’s absolutely something that you think about,” McVay said. “The way that the game unfolded, and he’s done an excellent job through the first couple weeks, but it’s like anything else you look at the first two weeks and not exclusive to Puka, there’s a couple other guys that we’ve looked at. You say, okay, where are some of those spots to be able to maybe supplement their workload a little bit and be cognizant of some of those things to be mindful of the 17 games that we’re guaranteed.”
Nacua has played 132 snaps in the first two games, or about 82% of the snaps on offense. His workload has been heavy up to this point and it’s reasonable to think the Rams might lighten it a little bit.
Whether that means fewer snaps or fewer targets is unclear, but McVay doesn’t want to put his most productive player in positions where he’s constantly taking shots – though that is almost the nature of being a slot receiver who works over the middle often.
Nacua’s workload could naturally shrink a little bit when Kupp returns, potentially in Week 5, but in the meantime, it’ll be worth monitoring how the Rams handle the rookie’s health and target share.
