Puka Nacua could have looked at his record-setting rookie season and rested on his laurels.
Nacua knew better, though, and instead of coasting into a complacent offseason, he did the opposite, latching on with teammate Cooper Kupp. After all, who better to learn from than the Super Bowl LVI Most Valuable Player?
“The first thing I wanted him to do is hold on to Cooper Kupp’s coattails and train with him and do everything he does,” Rams receivers coach Eric Yarber explained to ESPN. “And he took that to heart.”
After an offseason spent training alongside his elite teammate, Nacua is turning heads inside the Rams’ facility once again.
“His body is totally different,” Yarber said. “He looks just like Cooper. He’s lost so much body fat and gained so much lean muscle, which enabled him to move more efficiently now. And he has better body control. But he did exactly what I said. And you’re seeing some of the results right now.”
In Sarah Barshop’s piece for ESPN, she detailed just how closely Nacua followed in Kupp’s footsteps, including 6 a.m. workouts that initially were so difficult, they often resulted in Nacua vomiting on Kupp’s lawn during the first week. Eventually, though, Nacua worked his way toward Kupp’s standard, earning commendation from his veteran teammate.
“He kept coming back, he kept showing up on time, ready to go, great attitude, ready to get to work,” Kupp told Barshop. “And I think that speaks a lot too about the guy that Puka is, pushing through some really tough stuff early on and then being able to just kind of take it in stride and grow.”
Nacua continued to mirror Kupp throughout the offseason, adjusting his diet significantly and dropping roughly 10 pounds. Now, he’s moving better and seems to be in better control of his body, which should produce even better results in his second season.
“I’ve just seen him work on his weaknesses,” Yarber said. “Some of his weaknesses were his body control. He’s learned how to control his body and he learned how to fall, learned how to torque his body, and he learned how to cut off the correct foot all the time.
“But he’s more fundamentally sound now.”
There is plenty of additional detail and excellent reporting found in Barshop’s piece, in which she delves into the complexities of Nacua’s first offseason as a pro. The average Rams fan should be thrilled to read that their breakout receiver has worked hard to put himself in an even better position to produce entering Year 2.
If a 105-catch, 1,486-yard, six-touchdown campaign is now the benchmark for Nacua, the sky is truly the limit going forward — even if he’ll attract more attention now that he’s no longer taking the field as an unknown commodity.
In fact, his offseason work should serve as the perfect counter to the additional attention he’ll receive in 2024. With Nacua’s demonstrated ability to stay grounded amid the praise, the Rams have every reason to feel incredibly optimistic about the future of the former fifth-round pick. Perhaps this is what Los Angeles needs to ensure it builds on a surprise playoff run that ended in a Super Wild Card Weekend loss to Detroit.
“There was obviously a lot of accolades that came with the production that he had, but that’s accompanied with an authentic humility,” coach Sean McVay said.
“I’ve seen a guy that’s really continuing to become even more of a pro. Taking care of his body, getting on a more disciplined diet, the way that he’s come out here and worked hard, the way that he’s just so receptive to coaching, but also earning that confidence.”
