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The usual NFL player goes into his third season in the hope of the “jump year” where the next production step is taken to prove his value to his team, which ultimately results in a hopeful contract extension.
But there is also the rare group of third-year players, who are clearly NFL stars from the start-to franchises would love to stay on board and continue to build around.
For Los Angeles Rams, it is a broad recipient Puka Nacua, NFL’s current leader in receptions (52) and receiving yards (588) for week 5 of the 2025 campaign.
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Puka Nacua from Los Angeles Rams runs down the field in the second half of a NFL football match against San Francisco 49ers at Sofi Stadium on October 2, 2025 in Inglewood, California. (Brooke Sutton/Getty Images)
Nacua burst out on stage in 2023 when he broke the rookie rookie who received Yard, who received yards, with 1,486 after caught 105 passports from Quarterback Matthew Stafford. He was just shy at 1,000 meters in 2024, after injuries held him out in six games, but the third -year star out of Byu is again in the elite category of recipients grabbing Gridiron every week.
Nacua was a diamond in the rough when Rams thrown him off in the fifth round of 2023, but the diamond shines light in Los Angeles. And although he is not the typical third -year player in the hope of taking this jump, Nacua told Pakinomist Digital that he has a similar mindset.
This is essentially the floor of what he wants to do in the NFL.
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“Hundreds of percent,” said Nacua, who also discussed his new journey with Invisalign when asked if he feels like he’s just got started. “I just think the opportunity I have, I am blessed to be around great people. I am blessed to start my career with Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp and Sean McVay. It’s NFL royalty right there, so the opportunity to get better every single day because of the people around me, it’s been such a self -confidence boost and such a motivation in offseason.
“There is a statement that needs to be made to myself in the improvement I can make every year, and it’s fun to be able to go out there and perform at the level we’re on right now and to be on the same page as Matthew because I think our success – we’re on the same page right now and we have the ability to keep getting better.”
Nacua knows that without his report with Stafford, the State Lines and League Register would not be jawing. He also mentioned Kupp, the new Seattle Seahawks recipient, which was traded with this season mainly because of the emergence of Nacua as the team’s top recipient.
But part of Kupp’s heritage with Rams is still living on a fun meeting before practice during the week they like to call “The Breakfast Club.” Stafford and Kupp meet in the early hours every morning before the game day to prepare for their next opponent. While there is no formal invitation, Nacua began to get involved in it during his rookie year, and now he is the alpha recipient in the room with teammates and coaches.
Matthew Stafford and Puka Nacua from Los Angeles Rams speak in the first quarter of a game against Houston Texans at Sofi Stadium on September 7, 2025 in Inglewood, California. (Harry How/Getty Images)
“To be Able to be there when Cooper’s there in the Morning, to Hear the Understanding and the Communication That Went On Between Those Two. Now, The Standard That Was Set Before Me, I’m In The Meetings Now and I’M HAVE THAT CONVERSATION WITH MATTHEW. The conversations we have that aren’t about football.
And you can’t look at what Nacua is doing this season without giving the honor to his new recipient counterpart, Davante Adams. Like Stafford, he is another girl’s father who has put blood, sweat and tears in this game and knows what it takes to stand out from the rest of the package.
Nacua quickly learned what type of influence Adams would have on her game.
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“He has such a different mindset and mentality and the power he moves with on the football field, you can feel it,” he said of Adams.
Nacua was used to being the first to go during exercises, but that changed quickly when Adams joined the crisis.
“I asked him to be the first guy to take the first reps in all exercises because I could feel when he went behind me,” Nacua said, laughing. “I’m running my routes and I’m like ‘you, the earth is shaking behind me.’ I try to see his reps so I can learn.
Between breaking down movies with Stafford and McVay and softening in everything Kupp and Adams have been able to teach him simply by practicing and playing together, Nacua has evolved into one of the game’s best in his position.
For Nacua, this is only the start.
Puka Nacua of Los Angeles Rams responds over the second quarter to Indianapolis Colts at Sofi Stadium on September 28, 2025 in Inglewood, California. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Look good, feel good, play well
The line above is one that Nacua tries to live on on the field, even though he enters his notorious “dark place” on the game day.
But the Rams recipient refers to himself as a “big energy guy and a smiley guy off the field”, especially now that he started his Invisalign Aligners at the start of the season. As he crushes it in the box for five weeks, he revealed that it’s been five weeks since he started carrying his alerts.
“I’m in the plan right now, we are staying in melody and they help me sleep well. They also give me so much confidence when I go out there on the field. I smile. I like to be a big energy guy and a smiley guy off the field. But on the football field, I think it looks pretty good when I mean I am mugging out there.”
