Rams Head Coach Is Expecting a new Baby
Even though Puka Nacua isn’t participating in the Super Bowl, he is one of the greatest stars leading up to the event, and it seems like every podcast and reporter in the world wants to speak with him. That should come as no surprise given that the L.A. Rams’ breakthrough player of the year stunned everyone by setting NFL records for both receptions and yards with 105 and 1,486 in his first campaign. However, Puka regrets deeply leading the NFL in one statistic this season that is not as well-known:
Empties.
Even though utilizing drops as a stat has drawn some legitimate criticism, Puka Nacua doesn’t give a damn if people believe that “drops” are overrated. During an interview with GoJo and Golic, Puka shares that he recently found out he was the NFL’s leading dropper and that “I can never let that happen again.”
In 2023, Puka Nacua had 13 drops, one more than Tyreek Hill, the leading candidate for Offensive Player of the Year, in second place
Even though Nacua has the highest drop percentage in the NFL—8.1%—it is important to remember that he was targeted 160 times. On his own side, that was actually just the third-worst since Tyler Higbee missed 10% of his targets and Kyren Williams missed 8.3%. With a 14.3% drop rate, Jerome Ford led the NFL in receptions, while Seahawks rookie Jaxon Smith-Njigba had the highest drop percentage of any receiver at 10.8%.
However, there are still many unanswered questions about “what is a drop?” and “Who bears the blame for a drop?” and “Is every drop the same?”
In 2023, NFL Operations published a report titled “How NFL Stadiums Factor in Dropped Passes,” which outlined the ways in which the stadium, lighting, and time of day might affect drops. For instance, Arrowhead Stadium has a far higher 10% decline rate at night than any other stadium during the day.
In actuality, SoFi Stadium is below average, despite having a considerably smaller sample size than most other home stadiums. It does not, however, play “early afternoon” games on the east coast and was only founded in 2020.
In 2021 PFF research on quarterback accountability for incomplete throws, Matthew Stafford had one of the lowest percentages in the NFL from 2016 to 2021.
However, Puka appears to only be concerned with “seeing the ball, catching the ball,” like any proficient receiver would. Puka isn’t a proficient wideout. He’s really wonderful.
