Rams News: Rival Wideout Hoping to Shatter Puka Nacua's Rookie Season Records

[Elmgrovegnome]

Rams News: Rival Wideout Hoping to Shatter Puka Nacua's Rookie Season Records
Does Nacua's record have competition?

Will anyone break Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua's rookie receiving yards record? Nacua had an outstanding rookie campaign in 2023, breaking the all-time rookie receiving yards record with 1,483 yards. This surpassed Bill Groman's record of 1,473 yards, which had stood since 1960.
The question is if anyone from this year's outstanding class of rookie wide receivers — featuring players like Marvin Harrison Jr., Brian Thomas Jr., and Malik Nabers — can top what Nacua did.

One player determined to pass Nacua is Chicago Bears rookie WR Rome Odunze. Odunze, who was the No. 9 overall pick this year, stated last week that he has his eyes set on that record, among others.
“That rookie season record, I’m absolutely chasing that,” Odunze said. “Of course, [I’m] chasing those records and that’s important. I’ll hopefully leave the Bears organization better than I found it. If I have my name on some of those records, that’s just one facet of doing so.”
Of course, surpassing what Nacua accomplished will be no easy feat, no matter how accomplished a prospect Odunze is. The other additional challenge Odunze faces is he will be splitting targets with two other great receivers, D.J. Moore and Keenan Allen. Nacua was able to capitalize on seeing more targets and yards with Cooper Kupp injured at the start of the season. This is not expected to be the same situation for Odunze, who has two established receivers aside him.

Aside from the competition for targets and receptions, going for 1,400 yards is no easy feat. Only four rookies have done it in the history of the NFL — Nacua, Groman, Justin Jefferson, and Ja'Marr Chase. Even in a pass-heavy NFL, just five receivers topped that mark last year including Nacua, Tyreek Hill, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Cee Dee Lamb, and A.J. Brown.
What does work in Odunze's favor is that he went for 1,640 receiving yards in his final season at Washington, which he did in two fewer games than he'll play in the NFL. The NFL level of defenses is of course much higher, but there is good reason for Odunze's belief in himself.

Rams News: Rival Wideout Hoping to Shatter Puka Nacua's Rookie Season Records

Will anyone break Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua's rookie receiving yards record? Nacua had an outstanding rookie campaign in 2023, breaking the all-

www.si.com

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Some of these new kids lack humility.

Good luck Rome. You will be sharing receptions with some top targets. Caleb’s arm may fall of if he completes enough passes for you to pass Nacua’s record.

 

[RamsOfCastamere]

Good luck getting more targets than DJ Moore and Keenan Allen.

 

[Flint]

Puka was lucky enough to have Stafford and Kupp and McVay to help him be a player who could set records in his rookie year. Having a rookie qb and a rookie wideout doesn’t seem like a situation where you’ll have records being set. It’s good that they have confidence but they also don’t know what they don’t know. Just cuz Caleb went #1 is no guarantee that he’s going to light it up.

 

[Ramstien]

Puka set the standard that all rookie receivers will now be chasing for some time to come.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Puka set the standard that all rookie receivers will now be chasing for some time to come.

That’s the way I see it. This is a TOUGH record to break.

 

[Merlin]

Good luck getting more targets than DJ Moore and Keenan Allen.

Agreed. Puka benefitted from Kupp being out and not being himself upon return. Touches and focus in the scheme are big elements in that level of season.

That said they would be smart to scheme a lot of touches to Odunze even if he struggles to bump either of those guys as an early read in most plays. Getting him going would be very wise for the Bears. Of course it is the Bears.

 

[HE WITH HORNS]

That's going to be a tall task with their QB on his back half of the time. Wasn't their Oline among the worst last year?

 

[majrleaged]

If he had a Stafford quality QB and one of the other 2 wr go down, maybe. Oh and a McVay quality OC. So no fucking way.

 

[OldSchool]

Every rookie WR should strive to break his record. And if one of them ever breaks it the next sets will hopefully want to break that record. Don't draft somebody who doesn't strive for greatness.

 

[sloramfan]

um.... we seem to be forgetting something special about Puka....

YAC!!!!

good luck with that you asshole....

go rams

slo

 

[RamsSince1969]

The Cheapskates have a rookie with champagne wishes and caviar dreams. How nice.

 

[kurtfaulk]

.

Who here thought puka would break the rookie record this time last season?

Not one single person. We were happy if he could contribute any any way.

I didn't pick him in any of my dynasty fantasy teams because I thought he would be a non factor and Van would step up. How stupid am I? Van turned into the invisible man after dropping a simple catch on a long ball in the first game of the season.

So if Rome has the same desire and skill as puka there's no reason he can't do it. Moore is ok and Allen may fall off a cliff. You never know in football.

Just on a side note, boy did the Rams whiff when they didn't pick Allen in the draft. I'm sure they picked some wr that sucked instead. But would Allen have been as good if the Rams had picked him way back? They were a train wreck back then.

.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Puka had a rare situation to help his records happen.

He had an accurate veteran QB, who is like a professor and has a tendency to lean on his favorite target.

The teams top receiver was injured. The other receiving options weren't great. The top receiver was the best receivers coach that he could have asked for. It was a bit of a perfect storm.

 

[blackbart]

With a rookie QB and most like not having a role in the offense that will afford him the number targets required to achieve that lofty goal, meh.

Go for it, the standard is high.

 

[fanotodd]

.

Who here thought puka would break the rookie record this time last season?

Just on a side note, boy did the Rams whiff when they didn't pick Allen in the draft. I'm sure they picked some wr that sucked instead. But would Allen have been as good if the Rams had picked him way back? They were a train wreck back then.

.

That was the year the Rams spent a 2nd and a 1rst to move up for Tavon Austin. Not only did they miss out on allen, but guys like cordelle patterson, deandre hopkins, and our beloved Robert Woods were all drafted after Austin.

Ouch!

There’s a lot of years of production from those guys. Even patterson turned out to be an elite return guy, which was the only real production the Rams ever got from Austin—and several of those returns were called back!

 

[kurtfaulk]

That was the year the Rams spent a 2nd and a 1rst to move up for Tavon Austin. Not only did they miss out on allen, but guys like cordelle patterson, deandre hopkins, and our beloved Robert Woods were all drafted after Austin.

Ouch!

There’s a lot of years of production from those guys. Even patterson turned out to be an elite return guy, which was the only real production the Rams ever got from Austin—and several of those returns were called back!

Ouch indeed.

I remember nobody thought about tavon because the Rams would have to trade up to get him and their coach was Jeff Fisher. And wrs like Hopkins and Allen could be had without moving at all.

The dread I felt when the Rams moved up was real when they picked tavon. However after the initial disappointment I was fully behind tavon because he was a weapon. Just not sure that fisher knew how to use him. And that was answered early in his rookie season when they had no idea what to do with him. It got better as the season rolled on when he was a threat to score whenever he touched the ball.

A mediocre second season turned into a fantastic third season when he was at his best. Not a great wr but just dangerous with the ball in his hands. Then he got paid and that was the end of tavon as a football player.

So the Rams got about 6 games in his rookie season and a full year in his 3rd season where tavon was the dangerous player they drafted.

Not a great return from what they invested in him.

.

 

[Tano]

Ouch indeed.

I remember nobody thought about tavon because the Rams would have to trade up to get him and their coach was Jeff Fisher. And wrs like Hopkins and Allen could be had without moving at all.

The dread I felt when the Rams moved up was real when they picked tavon. However after the initial disappointment I was fully behind tavon because he was a weapon. Just not sure that fisher knew how to use him. And that was answered early in his rookie season when they had no idea what to do with him. It got better as the season rolled on when he was a threat to score whenever he touched the ball.

A mediocre second season turned into a fantastic third season when he was at his best. Not a great wr but just dangerous with the ball in his hands. Then he got paid and that was the end of tavon as a football player.

So the Rams got about 6 games in his rookie season and a full year in his 3rd season where tavon was the dangerous player they drafted.

Not a great return from what they invested in him.

.

Yeah after Tavon got paid, he would not take a hit. There were many times that if he turned inside on jet sweeps that he would have gotten quite a few yards but he always ran outside after getting paid and going out of bounds.

He was pretty much worthless once he got paid.

 

[kurtfaulk]

Yeah after Tavon got paid, he would not take a hit. There were many times that if he turned inside on jet sweeps that he would have gotten quite a few yards but he always ran outside after getting paid and going out of bounds.

He was pretty much worthless once he got paid.

He drove me batty in McVay's first season. Like you said there were so many times he ran the jet sweep and you could see some space for him to make some yardage but he never took it. If that was tavon in his rookie season I'm betting half of them would have been tds.

Mcvay gave him away for a bag of chips in the offseason.

.

 

[muggmeister]

No chance in hell for Odunze. Marvin Harrison Jr on the other hand is already the alpha dog in the Cards otherwise mediocre receiving corps. He should see a ton of targets right out the gate, would not surprise me at all if he beat both Puka records, although I would hate for that to happen.