The Los Angeles Rams have seen several elite receivers pass through their offense.
None produced a season graded higher than Puka Nacua did in 2025.
Pro Football Focus gave Nacua a 96.1 overall grade, the highest single-season mark by a qualifying wide receiver across the company’s 20 years of charting. The grade placed him above Julio Jones, Tyreek Hill and former Rams star Cooper Kupp.
That gives Nacua a record no receiver has matched in the PFF era. And it marks a rare occurrence when such a dominant season can end without the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year award.
Nacua led the league with 129 receptions, finished second with 1,715 receiving yards and scored 11 total touchdowns in 16 games. He averaged an NFL-best 107.2 receiving yards per game and received all 50 first-place votes for the Associated Press All-Pro team.
The numbers already made the season memorable, and PFF’s evaluation suggests it was even better than the traditional totals showed.
Nacua Surpassed Kupp’s Best PFF Grade
Any Rams receiving record brings Kupp into the conversation.
Kupp’s 2021 season remains one of the most decorated in league history. He won the receiving triple crown with 145 catches, 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns before adding Offensive Player of the Year and Super Bowl MVP honors.
PFF still graded Nacua’s 2025 performance higher.
Kupp received a 93.0 overall grade during his historic campaign. Nacua finished more than three points ahead of him while also topping Jones’ 93.5 grade from 2016 and Hill’s 93.4 mark from 2023.
The difference came through Nacua’s efficiency and the variety of ways he won.
He averaged 3.57 yards per route run and earned a 96.2 receiving grade. He caught 63.8% of his contested targets, which ranked third, and forced an NFL-high 29 missed tackles after the catch, per PFF.
Nacua’s physical style can make his production look less polished than a receiver who wins primarily through separation. His routes often end with contact, and the Rams use him in traffic near the line of scrimmage.
Those assignments did little to limit his efficiency.
The Rams also credited Nacua with an NFL-high 27 contested catches, while Next Gen Stats tracked him for a league-leading 729 yards after the catch. He produced the second-most catches and third-most receiving yards in a season in franchise history.
Kupp’s 2021 season still owns the larger collection of trophies, but Nacua now owns the higher PFF grade.
Historic Grade Strengthens Nacua’s Awards Case
Jaxon Smith-Njigba won the 2025 Offensive Player of the Year award after leading the NFL with 1,793 receiving yards for the Seattle Seahawks.
Nacua was one of five finalists and received eight first-place votes. PFF argued that he had a case as strong as, or stronger than, Smith-Njigba’s after leading the league in receptions and setting the company’s positional grading record.
The award result doesn’t diminish what Nacua accomplished; rather, it harps on how close the choice was between receivers who dominated in different ways and to exceptional levels.
For the Rams, the larger point is what Nacua has become three seasons after arriving as a fifth-round pick.
He has moved beyond being described as Kupp’s successor or one of the NFL’s best young receivers.
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