Everyone knows Puka Nacua is great, and yet the extent of his brilliance is probably still underappreciated.

In 2023, he set the all-time record for NFL rookies with 1,486 yards receiving, and that was despite playing alongside established target hog WR Cooper Kupp for 12 games.

And then last season he improved upon his first-year numbers (90.0 receiving yards per game vs. 87.4), even though he had a reduced role in his first three games (primarily due to injury).

And these numbers don't take into account Nacua's postseason production (322 yards receiving, 33 targets in three games) or his regular-season rushing (135 yards, 1 TD).

In yardage accumulation, what Nacua has done as a receiver on a per-game basis in his first two NFL seasons (88.4) has been on par with what we saw out of Ja'Marr Chase (86.2) and Justin Jefferson (91.4) in their first couple years.

Chase and Jefferson are now going off the board as the top two WRs in fantasy leagues.

In his third season, Jefferson had an NFL-high 128 receptions and 1,809 yards receiving. In his fourth season, Chase had a league-best 127 receptions and 1,708 yards receiving. And like both of them, Nacua has the ability to line up all over the formation and win at multiple levels.

What Is Puka Nacua's Fantasy Football Outlook in 2025?

Nacua is now entering his third NFL season.

One of these years, he's liable to lead the league in receptions and receiving yards.

Why not this year?

The easy answer is Davante Adams, who joined the Rams this offseason via a two-year, $46M deal. Over the past half-decade, Adams has averaged 1,330 yards per season and 85.3 yards per game. And he did that while playing three of those years with the Raiders and Jets.

It would be foolish to assume that Adams will have no impact on Nacua and his role with the Rams. Since 2020, Adams has averaged 10.4 targets per game. His 2025 volume could be sufficient to keep Nacua from finishing as a top-5 target earner this year.

Even so, HC Sean McVay and QB Matthew Stafford are good enough to support two high-end fantasy WRs, and Nacua is still in his ascendancy. If he continues along the Jefferson-Chase career trajectory, he could push Adams to the periphery of the offense (just as he did with Kupp), especially given that Adams turns 33 years old at the end of this season and has averaged an unexceptional 7.0 yards per target over the past two years.

There's a real chance Adams will continue to decline in 2025, and if he does then Nacua could boost the 9.6 targets per game he averaged last year up to an even 10 this year.

While Nacua's high floor is obvious, the addition of Adams to the Rams might actually mask Nacua's high ceiling and make him cheaper than he should be.

And that makes him an intriguing fantasy cornerstone in 2025.