Rams star Nacua lands in the top ten of the hypothetical redraft.
The Los Angeles Rams picked wide receiver Puka Nacua from BYU with the final pick in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft. In retrospect, many would argue that was the draft’s biggest steal. The talented receiver finished fourth in receiving yards this season and was a key reason the Rams made the playoffs, as he stepped up when the team needed him. Many teams would definitely welcome a redo in order to draft Nacua higher, which is precisely what Bleacher Report’s David Kenyon does in a recent article.
Kenyon redrafted the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft prior of the NFC and AFC Championship games, and the leap Nacua made from the original draft to Kenyon’s must be seen to be believed. He rose from the 177th pick to the 10th pick in Kenyon’s draft, where he was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles. “Nacua, a fifth-round choice, set rookie records with 105 catches and 1,486 yards, adding six scores,” Kenyon wrote in the article. “Perhaps his presence alone wouldn’t have sparked a struggling offense, but Philadelphia’s slot receivers produced almost nothing in 2023.”
The entire league, not just the Eagles, would have been fortunate to have picked Nacua, since he would have been a bright spot on any club and would have had an immediate impact, just as he did with the Rams. But he dropped to the Rams at the back of the fifth round, and the team knows they have a stud. Nacua appears to be a key component of the Rams’ future plans, and he will be a cornerstone of this attack from the start.
