After losing starting left guard Jonah Jackson to a shoulder injury on August 3rd, the Los Angeles Rams will now have to monitor star wideout Puka Nacua who seemed to injure his knee Sunday in training camp. Nacua rounds out a large list of injuries amongst Rams’ starters which includes three out of the five starting offensive lineman for the NFC West squad. Right tackle Rob Havenstein and left tackle Alaric Johnson are the other two starting lineman that are injured for the Rams with ankle injuries. Although Nacua left the field gingerly, one source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Nacua’s knee injury is “not serious”. This should be music to Rams’ fans ears after having other star wideout Cooper Kupp miss the first four games of the 2023 season with a lingering hamstring injury and then an ankle injury in week 11.
After losing starting left guard Jonah Jackson this week to a shoulder injury, the Rams now have two other OL who will miss time and are considered “week-to-week”: starting left tackle Alaric Jackson is dealing with an ankle injury, as is starting right tackle Rob Havenstein. pic.twitter.com/G2l8GH7GH2
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 3, 2024
Puka Nacua came onto the NFL scene by storm after being drafted in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft from BYU. Nacua set single season rookie records for receivers with 105 receptions and 1,486 receiving yards which earned him a Pro Bowl bid and second-team All-Pro in his first season in the NFL. Nacua managed to curate this record breaking season thanks to fellow wideout Kupp’s continued absence in 2023 as well as Kupp trying to find his footing after missing extended time in 2022 which unfortunately bled into last season after Kupp completed the receiving triple crown in 2021. The upside to Nacua’s injury is that he has been listed as week-to-week which indicates this injury is nothing to be too concerned about as long as Nacua and the Rams staff do their due diligence. The Rams have not had the best injury luck the past couple of seasons and are ready to see what veteran quarterback Mathew Stafford can do after missing the end of the 2023 regular season with a thumb injury. Now that Stafford is fully healthy and ready, this blow to one of his favorite two wide receivers is just another set back that LA will have to navigate as they prepare to give the San Francisco 49ers a run for the division. Keep an eye on Nacua as training camp and preseason rolls on but it sounds like the rookie sensation from 2023 should be 100% by the time week 1 starts in September.
