After releasing Cooper Kupp, the Los Angeles Rams will enter the 2025 season counting on Puka Nacua to lead the offense.
The transition from Kupp to Nacua as the No. 1 target in head coach Sean McVay’s offense started in earnest at the end of the latter’s rookie season, and that trend continued in 2024. Nacua earned Matthew Stafford and McVay’s trust in the passing game and thus started to see the bulk of targets.
Even with Davante Adams now in tow, Nacua will be the primary option on passing downs and with that comes great responsibility. He will be entering his third year in the league and seems poised for superstardom with all the opportunities coming his way.
However, in an appearance on the Join The Lobby podcast, Nacua revealed when he wants to retire from playing football:
“I know I want to retire at the age of 30. I’m 23 right now, I’m going into Year 3 – it wouldn’t even be 10 years. It’d be maybe seven or eight. I think of Aaron Donald, to go out at the top, I think it would be super cool. But also, I want to have a big family. I want to have at least a starting five. I came from a big family so I need five boys, for sure. But also, like, I want to be able to be a part of their lives and be as active as I can with them. The injuries are something you can’t control (as) part of the game, so you never know. Hopefully, the rest of the career can go healthy, but you have shoulder surgery, you have knee surgery, you have ankle. By the time my kids could be 18, I could be barely walking if you play the game and sustain all the injuries and stuff like that, but I want to retire early.”
It’s honorable for Nacua to be thinking about his plans after football so early into his career, so it speaks to his maturity level and what he wants out of life long-term. There are always bigger things than playing sports, and it sounds like he has identified his family as a reason for hanging up his cleats sooner than most would expect.
Puka Nacua switches jersey number to 12
Puka Nacua has seemed to embrace change rather smoothly considering his mentor and friend Cooper Kupp was released earlier this offseason. Not only will the offense look different on the field, but so will Nacua as he switched his jersey number to 12.
