RADIO
Puka Nacua 2024 Outlook: Looks to Build on Strong Rookie Season
7 months agoPuka Nacua was one of the biggest steals in fantasy football last season. With Cooper Kupp sidelined for the first four weeks of the season, the BYU rookie saw 52 targets in his first four NFL games. In Week 2, he caught 15 balls for 147 yards on 20 targets. Despite scoring just one touchdown in those games, he was WR4 on a per-game basis through Week 4 with 23.9 PPR fantasy points per game. Playing with Kupp from Week 5 on, Nacua was the WR12. He still saw 8.5 targets per game and hit the 100-yard mark in four games of 13 games playing alongside Kupp. When you look at Nacau and Kupp's yards per route run (YPRR) last season, Nacua was 6th among wide receivers with a 2.72 YPRR while Kupp was 32nd among wide receivers with a 1.99 YPRR. This is significant because Kupp was 1st in that metric in 2021 (3.33) and 7th in 2022 (2.61). At 30+ years old, it appears Kupp has handed the torch off to the much younger Nacua. That hand-off should only continue in 2024. Consider Nacua a top-10 wide receiver with top-5 upside with some expected positive touchdown regression after scoring just six on 160 targets as a rookie. Update: Nacua is considered "week-to-week" with a possible PCL sprain he sustained in training camp.
