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Puka Nacua Seemed to Love Rams Trading for Former College Teammate Trent McDuffie

The two NFL stars played at Washington together, and will now reunite in L.A.
Rams receiver Puka Nacua is excited to have his former Washington teammate Trent McDuffie in L.A.
Rams receiver Puka Nacua is excited to have his former Washington teammate Trent McDuffie in L.A. | Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

Puka Nacua and Trent McDuffie were once teammates at Washington in college, and now they’ve been reunited in the NFL as the Chiefs traded the All-Pro cornerback to the Rams on Wednesday in exchange for draft picks.

The Rams’ wide receiver was understandably excited to bring a star defender to Los Angeles, but he also seemed happy to reunite with his former teammate. Nacua and McDuffie were teammates in the Pacific Northwest from 2019–20 before the receiver transferred to BYU in ‘21. McDuffie was drafted by the Chiefs in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft.

Nacua resurfaced a tweet from 2019 that he wrote back when the two NFL stars were Huskies. Nacua quote tweeted the post on Wednesday and added a sunglasses emoji.

It’ll be awesome watching these two stars team back up in L.A. this fall.

On the other side, McDuffie’s Chiefs teammate Patrick Mahomes seemed distraught about the trade as he tweeted one word after the news dropped on Wednesday: “Damn.” It seems that Kansas City is beginning its rebuild this offseason.

In McDuffie’s four seasons in Kansas City, he recorded three interceptions, 34 passes defended and 246 combined tackles across 56 starts. His presence will definitely be missed in Kansas City as the Chiefs will now look to replace the star cornerback. Los Angeles, though, will gain an experienced player on the field as they hope to make a trip to the Super Bowl this upcoming season after narrowly missing out this past season.


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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.

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