Puka Nacua has to shut down distractions, protect

Do you suppose the Rams have a tracker at their headquarters for how many days it’s been since Puka Nacua’s last embarrassing incident?

They would possibly. Because we all bear in mind how ceaselessly the self-inflicted damages had been occurring during that weird and jarring stretch beginning late last yr.

We had the biting incident and alleged antisemitic feedback on New Year’s Eve. Before that, we had the Rams’ star receiver making antisemitic gestures on a live stream with a couple of controversial streamers.

We also had him publicly calling out NFL officers on a stream and in a social media post despatched from the locker room, and getting fined $25,000 by the league for that. We had his bizarre post on X — a laughing emoji and “sam darnold” — after the Seattle Seahawks’ quarterback led his group to the Super Bowl LX championship on Feb. 9, when Nacua also was recorded stumbling and dancing in a San Francisco road after the sport.

We had this all within just a couple of months. So we had to substitute the image we beforehand had of Nacua as a jolly, smiling soccer star with a new one: a image of enamel marks on a girl’s pores and skin.

Ick.

Nacua said Wednesday that he’s attempting to be better, to do better.

“Definitely trying to take accountability for the things that I know that I can continue to change,” the 25-year-old said at Rams’ training camp at Loyola Marymount.

We ought to all hope so.

There’s enough at stake, don’t you suppose?

For Nacua, there’s the proverbial bag to secure. For the Rams, there’s the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium, which everybody believes must be theirs for the taking. And there’s what profitable that will imply for the franchise’s stature in L.A., a metropolis that’s impressed by little that’s short of championships.

Don’t mess this up, Puka.

No one desires the distraction of weird and disturbing conduct, of web idiocy or civil lawsuits. (Nacua’s attorney, Levi McCathern, said the alleged chunk was the outcome of “horseplay” and the Los Angeles metropolis attorney’s workplace indicated last week that the matter was on monitor to be resolved through a program that permits eligible defendants to keep away from prison prosecution and jail time.)

No one desires to surprise what may have been if it seems quarterback Matthew Stafford can’t rely on Nacua getting open and punishing defenders downfield.

And no one ought to need to see the Rams’ sure-handed vast receiver let generational wealth slip through his fingers.

Nacua is one of those athletes who you trust on the sector to make the play, but all his off-field shenanigans gave the Rams cause to doubt him, to make him skip his flip at the big payday.

The 25-year-old was up for a contract extension that may have paid him as a lot as $160 million over 4 years, instead he’ll be incomes $5.8 million this season. He’ll have to show himself to the Rams as a dependable investment.

But that’s OK, Nacua said. He’s completely happy to be back at work.

Rams receiver Puka Nacua tries to slip past defensive back Trent McDuffie during training camp at Loyola Marymount University on Sunday.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

“There have been things outside of my control that I think have impacted the way I’ve been able to kind of focus and enjoy this game of football,” he said. “But coming out here and seeing that jersey No. 12 hung up in my locker is something that I don’t take for granted … the level of connection that I feel like I have with all the guys out there, [it] has never crossed my mind that I don’t want to be out here.”

One of the Rams’ major weapons on offense, a barefooted Nacua went on the allure offensive after observe Wednesday, opening his media scrum by joking with reporters, asking how his hair appeared and whether or not he had any boogers seen in his nostril.

He appeared match, like he’s been taking care of himself. He said he was largely shedding McDonald’s, seeing a therapist and appreciating soccer as a protected space. The dad of a child boy, he spoke about that too.

He said he’s closed his “circle of trust” and expressed remorse for actions that, he said, “haven’t been the truest reflection of the person I feel like I am, and how my mother raised me.”

“There’s definitely been conversations with her to apologize, but also for her to say that she supports me,” Nacua said of his mother, Penina, who introduced up Puka and his 5 siblings as a single dad or mum after her husband, Lionel, died in 2012.

“And also my brothers are, I think, my biggest critics as well,” Nacua said. “So there were some intense conversations, but loving conversations, in order to see improvement.”

Nacua is one of the Rams’ best gamers and completely their most common. The loudest roar at Wednesday’s observe was when he confirmed up on the sideline with fellow receiver Davante Adams. When it was over, the sound of youngsters shrieking “Puka!” reverberated off the bleachers.

The Rams are followers, too. Nacua isn’t tolerated for his expertise; he’s adored for his spirit.

Coach Sean McVay loves the man, a fifth-round draft pick of BYU who broke a 63-year-old document for the most receiving yards by a rookie in NFL historical past: “You know how much I love him and the heart that he has,” McVay said Wednesday. “And I’ve been really proud of what he’s been doing and how he’s taking accountability for some of the things that we can learn from.”

Nacua said he was buoyed by messages from teammates during this turbulent offseason, in which he checked himself into a Malibu rehab facility to, as attorney McCathern said, “focus on his health, personal growth, and overall development.”

We all know how useful Nacua is on the sector, but now we’re going to discover out how a lot he values this alternative, getting to take another rep to restore his status.

We’re going to discover out if this man of many routes can run straight-and-narrow. Whether the slow-moving trainwreck can get back on monitor. Whether he can keep stacking incident-free days.

Nacua says he can. “I feel,” he said, “very confident about that.”