Puka Nacua

Nacua is the Rams' No. 1 right-side receiver and the clear focal point of the passing game. Through four games in 2026 he has 52 targets, 13.0 per game, and has turned them into 37 catches for 417 yards. That production is built on volume and short-area work rather than downfield shots. His 204 air yards work out to roughly 3.9 per target, and his 11.3 yards per reception is the lowest of his career. He adds a little on the ground, with 3 carries for 11 yards, but the profile is about how often the ball finds him.

Per game, this season looks a lot like his 2025 breakout. Last year he averaged 10.4 targets, 8.1 catches, 107.2 yards and 23.4 PPR points across 16 games, finishing as the PPR WR2 overall. This year he is at 9.3 catches, 104.3 yards and 23.0 PPR points per game, so the output has held steady even though his air yards have dropped from 65.6 to 51 per game. His only comparable low-aDOT season was 2024, when he had 472 air yards in 11 games. He still averaged 18.8 points that year, but with fewer targets per game (9.6). The current target rate is the highest of his career. The 43rd-place PPR rank reflects a four-game sample against full-season totals and says little about his weekly standing.

The gap between his 23.0 points per game and Clutch Edge's 25.8 projection comes mostly from touchdowns. Nacua has 1 receiving score this season after 10 last year, yet his red-zone usage hasn't changed: 4 red-zone targets in 4 games, matching his 16 in 16 games in 2025. If those looks convert near last year's rate, the scoring should rise. The yardage and receptions alone have given him a high floor in PPR and full-PPR DFS formats.

Two things would change the read. If the target rate slipped back toward his 2023-2024 range of 9.4 to 9.6 per game while the depth of targets stays this shallow, his ceiling would shrink, because he is not currently making up for lost volume with big plays. If his air yards rebounded toward 2025 levels on this same 13-target workload, his week-winning upside would grow. For now he projects as the No. 4 option overall, and the volume makes him a lineup anchor rather than someone to fade.

Written by a language model from the stat lines below. Numbers from Sleeper; the 2026 line is the season in progress.