Inside Puka Nacua's NFL-leading start to 2025 season: Stats, analysis behind Rams star WR's chance for history

Nobody in the NFL is off to a better start to the 2025 season than Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua. Through four games, Nacua leads the league in both catches (42) and receiving yards (503). He has eight receptions and 101 yards more than the next-closest player, Seattle's Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Nacua leads the NFL in first downs, yards per route run and explosive plays -- basically everything except receiving touchdowns. (He has one in the early going.)

The start represents not just a continuation but step forward from what Nacua did in his first two seasons. Nacua set a then-rookie-record 105 catches during his first year in 2023, and he racked up an incredible 1,486 receiving yards. He missed time last year but improved on his per-game averages in both receptions (6.2 to 7.2) and yards (87.4 to 90) despite leaving multiple games early due to injury.

This year, he has taken things even further, averaging 10.5 receptions for 125.8 yards per game. If he keeps up those paces, he'd smash the league records in both categories and become the NFL's first-ever 2,000-yard receiver. We're not going as far as predicting that he's going to do just that, but if he stays healthy and the Rams keep using him the way they have been both this season and throughout his career, he has a chance to challenge for an all-time season.

The first thing to know about the Rams is that they want to get the ball to Nacua in the middle of the field. This is typical of offenses under Sean McVay- and Kyle Shanahan-style offenses, which feature tons of crossing patterns and other in-breaking routes designed to take advantage of defenses that get stretched vertically by players like Davante Adams and Tutu Atwell elsewhere in the formation.

Matthew Stafford is 24 of 25 (yes, really) for 311 yards when targeting Nacua over the middle, according to Tru Media. That gives Nacua four more receptions and 77 more yards on passes over the middle than any other player.

Nacua does a great job of freeing himself by winning at the top of his break and then using his body to shield away defenders if and when they actually contest the throw. It's just really hard to stop stuff like this.

Of course, the Rams don't just repeatedly line him up and throw him the ball over the middle. They use formations, motion and alignment to put him in position to succeed.

Part of Nacua's success is that you almost never know from where he is going to attack. He's aligned in the slot on 42% of his snaps and out wide on just about 54%, with the remaining snaps coming either in the backfield or inline, according to Tru Media.

That 42-54% split between the slot and out wide is among the closest in the NFL. Among the 73 receivers with at least 100 receiving yards so far this season, only eight of them have a tighter split.

And again, the Rams don't just line him up out wide or in the slot and then snap the ball. Nacua has gone in motion on 26.4% of his snaps, according to Tru Media.

That's the second-highest rate of motion among those aforementioned 73 wide receivers. Only Zay Flowers has gone in motion more often.

The Rams use that motion in a variety of ways, whether it's to get him favorable matchups, set up screens or engineer a free release so he can get to one of those in-breaking routes to the middle of the field.

The Rams also use motion to confuse the defense. One way to do that is by changing the number count.

When offenses line up, defenses count the pass catchers on each side of the field and number them accordingly. The farthest outside receiver is the No. 1, the second-farthest is the No. 2, the third-farthest is No. 3. And the coverage is often dictated by which player is identified as the No. 1 versus the No. 2 and so on.

So what the Rams do quite often is motion either Nacua or another pass catcher from outside to inside, or inside to outside, to change the number count -- and therefore the coverage assignments for the defensive backs and linebackers to that side of the field. This can get the receivers free releases or just make defenses slightly slower to react to routes that they might cover better if the offense just lined up and ran the play immediately.

When Nacua goes in motion, you never know where he's going to end up -- or, from where, he's going to run his route.

Most of the time, wide receivers line up, well, out wide. A lot of time, they're in the slot. But the Rams will sometimes motion Nacua into the formation and have him essentially line up as a second tight end, then release into his route from inside the formation.

They've already had him run through the "B" or "C" gap (the "B" gap is between the guard and the tackle and the "C" gap is between the tackle and the tight end) on three of his 42 catches so far this season.

Sometimes, you don't even need to help Nacua with any of this fancy stuff. He's plenty good enough to just win on a route all on his own.

And he does that with relative ease whether lined up inside or out, manned up or playing against a zone, and often while working in tight spaces and against tight coverage.

You could see all of that in his touchdown catch Sunday against the Colts.

No matter what opposing defenses try to do against Nacua at this point, there just aren't many answers -- let alone good ones.

The combination of his skill set, the Rams' use of formations, motion and play design, and the trust that he has from his quarterback (who is specifically playing at an incredibly high level to start the season) make him nearly impossible to stop.

Unless and until we see someone actually do it, we should expect more of the same.