Nacua vs Davante
By: Jake Rajala
The Los Angeles Rams drafted Puka Nacua in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. He has been nothing short of special. The Rams also welcomed a new, elite WR by the name of Davante Adams this off-season. With that said, a fascinating question arises: who is the WR1? Well, I’m going to unfold the resume and outlook for each WR and conclude which WR has the upper hand.
Puka Nacua
Puka came into this league with a massive chip on his shoulder. All he did as a rookie was catch 105 passes for 1,486 yards. This helped him earn second-team All-Pro honors. Last season, he recorded 79 grabs for 990 yards. The issue was that he only played in 11 games! He was on pace for 1,530 yards! PFF gave him a grade of 92.8! This was first in the league! He only had 129 catches. He was on pace for 163 targets, which would have placed him third in targets in the league.
Tae
Don’t sleep on Davante Adams, also known as Tae, in 2025. Sure, he may be 32 years old. However, he hasn’t slowed down. He had 1,053 yards and eight touchdowns. He did this while missing three games. He also played with an abysmal Raiders passing attack for a few games. Hence, he was playing with little to no help for six games. In 2023, Tae was fifth in targets, while Puka was sixth in targets.
In the end, I believe that Puka has the edge. Not only would he have many more targets than Tae if he stayed healthy, but PFF nicely notes that Puka is Top-5 against man coverage and first against zone coverage! With that said, Puka has missed games on numerous occasions in college. This isn’t an unfamiliar look for him. I would say that Tae is on his tale, especially with him being in the best situation he’s ever been in. So, if Puka gets hurt for a significant amount of games for another season, I’d expect that Tae will finish with more production than him.
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