Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua reels in a pass during the team’s practice at Loyola Marymount on July 29, 2026. (Photo by Kai Dizon/SCNG)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua evades defenders during the team’s practice at Loyola Marymount on July 29, 2026. (Photo by Kai Dizon/SCNG)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua falls to the ground during the team’s practice at Loyola Marymount on July 29, 2026. (Photo by Kai Dizon/SCNG)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver CJ Daniels is grabbed by a defender midroute during the team’s practice at Loyola Marymount on July 29, 2026. (Photo by Kai Dizon/SCNG)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver CJ Daniels completes a catch during the team’s practice at Loyola Marymount on July 29, 2026. (Photo by Kai Dizon/SCNG)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua runs his route while eyeing Matthew Stafford during the team’s practice at Loyola Marymount on July 29, 2026. Nacua’s helmet reads “CHOOSE LOVE.” (Photo by Kai Dizon/SCNG)
Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay walks across the field during the team’s practice at Loyola Marymount on July 29, 2026. (Photo by Kai Dizon/SCNG)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Davante Adams is circled by three defenders during the team’s practice at Loyola Marymount on July 29, 2026. (Photo by Kai Dizon/SCNG)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua attempts to evade a defender during the team’s practice at Loyola Marymount on July 29, 2026. (Photo by Kai Dizon/SCNG)
Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (left) high fives wide receiver Davante Adams during the team’s practice at Loyola Marymount on July 29, 2026. (Photo by Kai Dizon/SCNG)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua runs with the ball tucked during the team’s practice at Loyola Marymount on July 29, 2026. (Photo by Kai Dizon/SCNG)
LOS ANGELES — No one received cheers as loud or consistent as Puka Nacua during the Rams’ practice Wednesday at Loyola Marymount University.
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Neither Matthew Stafford, Myles Garrett nor Davante Adams had their names screamed from the bleachers, grown men professing their affection for them or children desperately pleading for an autograph, quite like the 25-year-old wide receiver.
But looking at Nacua, it seemed like the world was quiet – except for the sounds within the white lines.
He may have kept his helmet on for the entirety of practice.
He wore it as he stretched, even when Adams didn’t, just yards away. It didn’t come off when the two-time Pro Bowler went to wipe sweat from his brow – instead fitting a rag through the opening of his mask. He even kept his helmet on while he waited on the sidelines, sometimes shoulder to shoulder with teammates who had taken theirs off.
Wearing a blue-tinted, reflective visor, despite rarely, if ever, doing so in the regular season, Nacua was like a race horse with blinders – he kept his head down and ran his routes.
“The game of football is a safe place for me, and I enjoy that,” Nacua said Wednesday.
After failing to corral a pass from Stafford, Nacua just put his head down and kept moving.It wasn’t until practice was over that the Guardian Cap-equipped helmet finally came off, revealing the bright smile that used to seem unequivocally loved across Los Angeles ever since the Rams selected Nacua in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL draft.
But no smile can truly part the clouds that loom over Nacua off the gridiron.
He’s been in an ongoing lawsuit since March, charged with gender violence, assault and battery, and negligence. He’s been accused of antisemitism more than once. He checked into rehab in April.
“There’s definitely trying to take accountability for the things that I know that I can continue to change,” Nacua said. “Being a father is something that has changed my life, but then also just becoming a better person. … There’s my therapist, I feel like we have a really good connection, and just the ability to communicate in different ways and to use the safe space that I have out here and finding ways to the other places that are a safe space.”
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Some have added that the flue of controversies come at a particularly unfortunate time, with Nacua entering his contract year. Others argue the Rams may have not stuck with Nacua had he not been the team’s receiving yards leader in two of the past three seasons.
Regardless of timing and reasoning, head coach Sean McVay continues to have the wide receiver’s back.
“I’ve been really proud of what he’s been doing and how he’s taken accountability for some of the things that we can learn from,” McVay said. “I want to just be able to see him continue to be that positive influence both on the field and off the field, and he’s taken those steps. … He’s continuing to mature as a man. I love him, I love his heart, and I love the growth that he’s had, and we’re with him every step of the way.”
And Nacua continues to command the Rams’ wide receiver room with alongside six-time Pro Bowler Adams. Players like rookie wideout CJ Daniels look up to them.
“I got a great room to learn from, Davante and Puka,” Daniels said. “Yeah, there’s a lot of things that gets brung up outside getting all the success and credit that he does, but he comes to work each and every day. I just try to mimic a lot of the things that he does on the field and implement it into my game.”
Daniels, a 2026 sixth-rounder drafted from Miami, added that Nacua’s success with the Rams as a fifth-round selection three years ago adds to the belief he has in himself and the organization.
Where Nacua will be in season, or even where he’s likely to be, is still up in the air.
But for now, reeling in completions is exactly where he wants to be.
“I think of all the guys that have reached out in this offseason to be there by my side,” Nacua said. “When we’re here in the meeting rooms, just the level of connection I feel like I have with all the guys out there – (it) never crossed my mind that I don’t want to be out here with these guys.”
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