Puka Nacua Leads the Rams, but Don’t Sleep on Kyren Williams

After the 2024 NFL season, everyone saw wide receiver Puka Nacua break out onto the field with legacy WR Cooper Kupp, quickly earning his place as a WR2. This year, it is to no one’s dismay that Nacua has taken over that WR1 spot (especially after the Kupp cut, then signed by division rival the Seattle Seahawks). Alongside Nacua is running back Kyren Williams. 

A couple of years older than Nacua, Williams was drafted from Notre Dame in 2022 and has since had a steady increase in play capability. In his first year with the Rams, Williams played for only 10 games with 35 rushing attempts for a total of 139 yards. In the 2023 season, Williams saw an increase of 2 more games with 228 rushing attempts–a drastic increase in usage–for 1144 yards. Last year, Williams reached a new high, playing 16 games with 316 rushing attempts for a total of 1,299 yards. 

So far this 2025 NFL season, Williams is progressing even further, already with 55 rushing attempts for 226 yards in only three games. If you’ve got Williams on a fantasy team, look forward to another year of 1000+ yards and hopefully another 16 touchdowns like last year. So far this fantasy season, Williams averages 14.4 points per game, ranking in ESPN’s top fifteen running backs.

In comparison, WR Puka Nacua started his career with his current season record in 2023 with 105 receptions for 1486 yards. Last year, he hauled in 79 receptions for 990 yards, and this year, he has 29 receptions for 333 yards in only three games. Averaging 111 yards per game so far this season, Nacua is on track to break his 2023 personal record of 1486 yards.

While these two have been in the hands of the Los Angeles Rams for a couple of years so far, this year offers new potential for both of them, as Kyren Williams continues to improve his game, emerging from his underdog narrative in 2022. Puka Nacua is the official WR1 of the Rams after they said goodbye to Cooper Kupp. We expect a great year out of both of these players in the hands of QB Matthew Stafford. 

Stafford has had an interesting year so far, too, especially with his accuracy. Starting the year off strong with a 72.4% completion rate, Stafford would be assumed to be a tank of the season, and with such a powerful duo in the running back and wide receiver, the handoffs and passes would be almost guaranteed yardage. But throughout the last two games, the accuracy has taken a stumble. In Week 2 against the Tennessee Titans, we saw accuracy slip to 69.7%, and last week against the Philadelphia Eagles, it fell to 57.6% (a 12.1% accuracy decrease in three weeks). 

Williams and especially Nacua rely on Stafford’s ability as a QB to add value to the game and the season. If Stafford continues to let his accuracy falter, these two may be in more trouble, as the team may start to crumble. However, it is still an early season with lots of time to adjust and make the necessary improvements.