Game day update: The Rams expect Puka Nacua “to be able to try to play” on Sunday, per Adam Schefter.
The Los Angeles Rams offense finally hit its stride last week with wide receivers Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua back in the lineup. In their return to the offense, the wide receiver duo combined for 12 catches for 157 yards and a touchdown. Despite starting the season 1-4, the Rams have since won two straight. They have an important division matchup in Week 9 on the road against the Seattle Seahawks and will hope to have both wide receivers available.
Puka Nacua injury status
According to The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue, Nacua will be listed as questionable with a knee injury heading into Sunday. The Rams wide receiver has been dealing with a knee injury going back to the summer. He suffered a burst bursa sac in training camp and re-injured it in Week 1 that put him on injured reserve. Nacua returned last week and re-aggravated the injury during Thursday’s practice.
The silver lining is that no structural damage was done and therefore Nacua should not miss any significant time. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said on Friday,
“Puka Nacua is going to be fine. My understanding after talking to several sources, no major injury, not much of an issue going forward…they are going to leave the door open for him if it is possible.”
Nacua will likely be a game time decision and be a player to monitor on Sunday. The Rams will play the Seahawks in the later window of games at 4:25 p.m. ET.
What Puka Nacua injury means for fantasy football
When Puka Nacua has been on the field this season, he has shown why he was a popular second-round pick in fantasy drafts. Last week, Nacua was the WR15 as he had 18.1 PPR points. The issue with Nacua has been injuries and being available.
As it was seen last week, if Nacua does play, it should be expected for him to get a full workload. The Rams are in a ‘now or never’ part of their season. With an important division game against the Seahawks, they aren’t going to mess around and have Nacua on any sort of snap-count. If Nacua plays, he’s going to be a featured player in the offense.
However, the Rams are still going to play it smart with him. Rams head coach Sean McVay said on Friday,
“I wouldn’t bet against this guy. My expectation is he’s going to do everything in his power to be ready to roll and that’s the mindset that we have. We’re going to be smart with him, get him turned over and try to get that knee feeling as good as possible for gameday.”
In the case that Nacua can’t go, Kupp would be the main beneficiary from a fantasy perspective. There’s no denying the connection that Matthew Stafford and Kupp have had over the last four years. Kupp is the wide receiver that Stafford trusts the most, especially if Nacua wasn’t playing.
Other players to keep an eye on here would be Jordan Whittington and Tyler Johnson. The Rams have used Whittington in the Nacua role in the offense this season. In Weeks 4 and 5, the rookie out of Texas combined for 13 receptions for 151 yards and was the WR24 in those two weeks. However, Whittington missed last week with a shoulder injury and is once again listed as questionable against the Seahawks.
Back in Week 2 with Nacua out of the lineup, Johnson got 87 percent of the team’s offensive snaps. The Rams have specific roles for each wide receiver position. If Nacua isn’t able to play, Whittington would be the first player to slot into that role with Johnson the next player on the depth chart.
