The Los Angeles Rams designated wide receiver Puka Nacua for return from injured reserve. Nacua has been out since Week 1 of the 2024 season with a knee injury.
Nacua returned to practice this week and his designation to return opens up the 21-day window for the Rams to determine whether or not to activate him off injured reserve.
Nacua re-aggravated a preseason knee injury in the Week 1 loss to the Detroit Lions and was initially estimated to miss at least six weeks. It appears that Nacua didn’t suffer any setbacks as his designation to return is in line with the initial prognosis.
If Nacua is eventually activated off of injured reserve, Los Angeles’ offense might finally be able to get on track. Head coach Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford have been forced to lean on receiving options like Tutu Atwell, Colby Parkinson and Jordan Whittington and while three have flashes in certain moments, they are nowhere near the same level of player and receiver that Nacua is.
Coming off of a historic rookie season where he broke multiple receiving records, the expectations were sky-high for Nacua entering his sophomore season in the NFL. However, the injury to his knee in preseason and the start of the regular season ruined any sort of hopes of him replicating the production he had last season.
Regardless, now the team will get a chance to evaluate him on the field before determining whether or not to activate him off of injured reserve. Nacua was estimated as a limited participant in the team’s Tuesday walkthrough, but more information should become available when they actually practice on the field.
At 2-5, the Rams face an uphill battle to make the postseason though they could talk themselves into a run if they manage to beat the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday Night Football. Stringing together some wins would go a long way in determining whether or not make it makes sense to invest in the roster or start looking toward next season.
Rams have made trade calls about Cooper Kupp
If the Rams ends up losing to Minnesota, they would drop to 2-6 and need to seriously consider moving players to add draft capital. One name that surprisingly came up was Cooper Kupp who has been out the past few weeks due to an ankle injury.
Moving a player like Kupp would signal the franchise is ready for a rebuild, so this situation is worth closely monitoring.
