“I was excited” - Puka Nacua shares initial reaction to Davante Adams’ $46,000,000 move to LA Rams

The leading receiver of the LA Rams over the past two seasons is thrilled to have another big name in the pass-catching department next season. On Tuesday’s episode of the "St. Brown Podcast" hosted by Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, Puka Nacua described what he felt when he heard that his team signed Davante Adams.

"I was excited," Nacua said. " ... I grew up a Packers fan because growing up in Vegas, we didn’t have professional sports teams."

Adams played eight seasons with the Green Bay Packers and was a first-team All-Pro three times during his tenure with the team. Adams was released by the New York Jets on March 4, and the Rams signed him to a two-year $46 million contract.

"I think it’s gonna be exciting to have another guy out there, who can obviously play at the highest level," Nacua said (0:43).

Adams will be tasked to help shoulder the load of Nacua in the Rams' pass-catching department after the team told former first-team All-Pro Cooper Kupp in February that they would try to trade him.

Nacua was a second-team All-Pro receiver for LA in 2023, with 1,486 yards in his rookie campaign. With Adams, he’ll hope to have a more consistent receiver that’ll draw the attention of opposing cornerbacks, with Adams boasting six 1,000 receiving campaigns in the NFL.

In 2024, Adams had a combined 1,063 yards through the air for the Las Vegas Raiders and New York Jets.

Puka Nacua and Rams need help at wide receiver

Puka Nacua has been Matthew Stafford’s go-to guy over the past two seasons but depth has been a problem for the LA Rams at that position.

In 2024, he led the team with 990 receiving yards, followed by Cooper Kupp with 710 yards. Demarcus Robinson led the Rams with seven touchdown catches, but no one outside of Kupp and Nacua had more than 600 yards through the air.

Outside of Kupp's spectacular 2021 season, recording 1,947 receiving yards, he has posted just one 1,000+ yard campaign (1,161 in 2019).

Adams has averaged 10 or more yards per catch in all but one of his NFL campaigns (9.7 in 2015) and has only failed to reach the 1,000-yard plateau once in the last six seasons, falling three yards short of that mark with the Packers in 2019.