Rams News: Has Puka Nacua's Fantasy Football Usefulness Already Peaked?

Coming off a Pro Bowl rookie season, is the young wideout due for a regression?

Detroit Lions safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson (2) tackles L.A. Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua (17). / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

Eric Hardter of Dynasty League Football believes that Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua, who emerged as one of the sleepers of the 2023 NFL Draft (he was the No. 177 pick in the fifth round) and earned Pro Bowl and All-Pro nods, may be due for a bit of a regression come 2024.

In a new fan mailbag, one reader asks if it might behoove him to flip Nacua for Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs. Part of this is due to Hardter's distrust of this reader's running back corps (to be fair, that's a position that ages like milk).

Hardter also notes that an aging-but-still-good Pro Bowler, Chicago Bears wideout Keenan Allen, could take over on this particular fan's roster.

"However, losing Nacua means you’d be more than likely thrusting aging veteran Keenan Allen into your WR3 position. As shown below, when healthy Allen is up to the task, and last season he even showed a higher ceiling than his younger counterpart."

That last line is perhaps most disconcerting for Rams fans who also moonlight as fantasy football team owners. Allen, at age 32, still has more upside than the 22-year-old Nacua. That does not portend well for his second pro season, nor does the sign that seems to suggest Sean McVay, like this fantasy football owner, is loading up on running back help ahead of a possible shift in his offensive priorities around quarterback Matthew Stafford.

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