After several off-the-field issues, Los Angeles Rams star wide receiver Puka Nacua checked himself into a rehab facility this past March.
Before the team’s regular-season opener against the San Francisco 49ers, Nacua opened up about some of the issues he had with alcohol to Netflix’s Elle Duncan, via ESPN:
“I was never one to share my fears, my worries,” Nacua, 25, told Duncan. “I was always finding different ways to escape from that tension, that stress.
“I think one, alcohol was definitely a thing for me. Just kind of drowning myself so that the issues and the stress that I was feeling never had the opportunity to be addressed.”
Nacua is dealing with a lawsuit after allegedly biting a woman on New Year’s Eve. He also made headlines last season by joining a livestream before a game and unknowingly performing an antisemitic dance.
Nacua now believes he is in a better place and wants to keep improving as a person:
“I was able to have open and honest conversations,” he told Duncan.
Nacua added that he sees brighter days ahead after the “darkest times I’ve had in my life.”
“I’m looking forward most to becoming a person that I think my son will be proud of … and as my son gets older, I can share some of the things that I’ve learned from the mistakes I’ve made,” he said.
The Rams stood by Nacua during his tumultuous offseason and also think the best has yet to come for him. He got off to a good start by catching five passes for 74 yards in Week 1 and will look to build on that when L.A. hosts the New York Giants this week.
Nacua is coming off a career year and hopes to secure a long-term contract extension with the Rams before potentially reaching free agency.p
Sean McVay not sure when Myles Garrett will return to Rams
The Rams are facing the unfortunate reality of being without star pass rusher Myles Garrett for at least the next four weeks as he is set to undergo right knee surgery.
With Garrett heading to injured reserve, he won’t be available to play in the Rams’ next four games against the New York Giants, Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo Bills.
The earliest he could possibly return is Week 6 against the Arizona Cardinals, but head coach Sean McVay doesn’t want to definitively say that he will be ready to play that day.
