{"id":347109,"date":"2026-06-07T14:05:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T08:35:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=347109"},"modified":"2026-06-07T14:05:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T08:35:46","slug":"record-setting-extension-still-expected-for-wr-puka-nacua","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/07\/record-setting-extension-still-expected-for-wr-puka-nacua\/","title":{"rendered":"Record-Setting Extension Still Expected For WR Puka Nacua"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As a rookie fifth-rounder out of BYU, Puka Nacua<\/strong> exploded onto the scene in what appeared to be the debut of 1 the NFL\u2019s next great receivers. Injuries in his sophomore season and a couple of off-the-field concerns have put a speed bump in Nacua\u2019s path toward a second contract, but in response to SportsBoom\u2019s Jason La Canfora, a record-setting extension<\/a> for the Rams wide receiver is seen as a foregone conclusion.<\/p>\n

<\/a>The argument for such an agreement is a straightforward one. Despite being the twentieth wide receiver taken within the 2023 NFL Draft because the last pick of the fifth round, Nacua was the just one to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards as a rookie, blowing past that mark with 1,486, the fourth-highest total within the league that yr. Though Houston\u2019s C.J. Stroud<\/strong> walked away with Offensive Rookie of the 12 months honors, Nacua was named a second-team All-Pro and Pro Bowler in his first yr of NFL play.<\/p>\n

Though a five-game absence early into 12 months 2 limited him to only 11 games, Nacua\u2019s per game averages had him heading in the right direction for profession highs in receptions and receiving yards. Even with one missed game last yr, Nacua delivered on that momentum, setting recent profession highs with 129 receptions (most within the NFL), 1,715 receiving yards, and 10 touchdowns. With a league-leading average of 107.2 yards per game, the one thing that prevented him from leading in catches and yards was that one missed game.<\/p>\n

Now a first-team All-Pro, Nacua\u2019s outrageous, consistent production should guarantee that he’ll follow within the steps of the one receiver to out-gain him last yr after Seattle\u2019s Jaxon Smith-Njigba<\/strong> signed a four-year, $168.6MM extension that made him the highest-paid wide receiver within the league in March. Sometimes, an inability to remain on the sphere can hurt a player\u2019s possibilities to land an enormous contract, but Nacua\u2019s return to excellence after getting back from injury and his continued improvement after the very fact have dispelled any notion that injury would factor largely into any contract discussions.<\/p>\n

What has been seemingly harming Nacua\u2019s progress towards a brand new deal is a series of questionable off-field decisions. Through the season, Nacua violated team policy by live-streaming within the team\u2019s locker room following a win, prompting some teammates to confront him. A number of weeks later, Nacua appeared on a livestream and drew scrutiny for seemingly performing an antisemitic gesture \u2014 though he claimed to don’t have any knowledge of its offensive nature \u2014 and criticizing league officials, an motion that caused the NFL to tremendous him $25K.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Then, early into the offseason, Nacua was the topic of a civil lawsuit stemming from a claim that he made quite a few unprovoked antisemitic statements to a lady before allegedly biting her repeatedly on the shoulder. Nacua denied the allegations but checked himself right into a luxury rehabilitation center in Malibu shortly after. Nacua has since returned to normal team activities as a \u201cfull participant,\u201d but his off-field decision-making could factor into the terms of his potential future extension.<\/p>\n

As Nacua was putting a bow on his 2025 campaign, reports indicated that extending the fourth-year receiver can be a priority for Los Angeles. Within the aftermath of the news of his civil lawsuit, though, the team\u2019s focus looked as if it would shift from extensions to additions.<\/p>\n

The Rams may determine there\u2019s something they should see from Nacua before they will feel comfortable signing him long-term, but nevertheless long that takes, La Canfora seems certain it should get done, even when it’d require the team to make use of some contract language that can protect the franchise within the event of any further off-field issues.<\/p>\n

The Rams appear to have a generational talent within the constructing with a chance to maintain him in LA for a very long time. It\u2019s grow to be apparent that that future may include a certain level of risk outside of the constructing, but it surely doesn\u2019t appear that risk might be enough to discourage a record-setting deal from occurring.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a rookie fifth-rounder out of BYU, Puka Nacua exploded onto the scene in what appeared to be the debut of 1 the NFL\u2019s next great receivers. Injuries in his sophomore season and a couple of off-the-field concerns have put a speed bump in Nacua\u2019s path toward a second contract, but in response to SportsBoom\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":347110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[4136,2903,49332,49331,30195],"class_list":["post-347109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-expected","tag-extension","tag-nacua","tag-puka","tag-recordsetting"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347109"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":347112,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347109\/revisions\/347112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}