Should I Start Puka Nacua?

Thursday, September 10, 9:20 PM

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua caught five of his nine targets for 74 receiving yards during Thursday's Week 1 loss against the San Francisco 49ers in Australia. The final output is nothing to scoff at, but it didn't quite live up to the standards that Nacua set during his elite campaign last year. He tallied 12.4 PPR points on Thursday, as opposed to his average of 23.4 PPR points per game in 2025. Along the way, Nacua finished as the overall WR1 last year, and he'll hope to defend that title in 2026. The good news for Nacua's manager is that Thursday's modest performance wasn't exactly his fault. He made some great plays, including a big 41-yard catch-and-run in the first quarter, and his fantasy output would have been higher if not for the iffy quarterback play of Matthew Stafford (and the offense's performance as a whole). We still view Nacua as a high-end WR1 for the rest of the season.