{"id":730679,"date":"2026-02-05T07:21:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T07:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/730679\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T07:21:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T07:21:25","slug":"what-cooper-kupp-thinks-of-puka-nacuas-ascension-into-one-of-nfls-premier-receivers-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/730679\/","title":{"rendered":"What Cooper Kupp thinks of Puka Nacua\u2019s ascension into one of NFL\u2019s premier receivers \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2014 For two years, Cooper Kupp had a firsthand look at the kind of talent Puka Nacua brings to the field when the two were teammates with the Los Angeles Rams.<\/p>\n

Though Kupp signed with the Seattle Seahawks last offseason after eight years with the Rams, he still kept up on what Nacua, the former BYU and Orem High star wide receiver, is doing as one of the top young receivers in the NFL.<\/p>\n

Following a breakout third season in the league, Nacua is one of five finalists for The Associated Press NFL Offensive Player of the Year honors, along with Kupp\u2019s current teammate, receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.<\/p>\n

The winner will be announced Thursday during the NFL Honors ceremony (7 p.m. MST, NBC, NFL Network) \u2014 Smith-Njigba is the odds-on favorite to win the award, with Nacua second in the latest odds<\/a>. <\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t discount the kind of dominant 2025 season that Nacua had. He led the NFL with 129 receptions while adding a career-high in both receiving yards (1,715) and receiving touchdowns (10).<\/p>\n

Kupp said Nacua is his same physical self this year, but, in particular, he was impressive with the number of tough catches he made during the season. <\/p>\n

Nacua led the NFL with 27 contested catches, according to Pro Football Focus<\/a> \u2014 that number was the highest in the two-plus decades PFF has charted data.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what he\u2019s doing with his gloves \u2014 he\u2019s sticking the ball somehow, swiping down at the thing. I\u2019m not sure what he\u2019s been doing with all that. So he\u2019s done some unbelievable things,\u201d Kupp told the Deseret News on Wednesday, ahead of Super Bowl LX, where Seattle will face the New England Patriots this Sunday at Levi\u2019s Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cSame Puka in terms of his physicality, his willingness across the middle and running after the catch. He did a great job just making really tough catches this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith-Njigba one-upped Nacua in receiving yards, finishing with a league-high 1,793 on the year, while adding 119 receptions and 10 receiving touchdowns.<\/p>\n

Smith-Njigba ended up with the eighth-best single-season receiving total in NFL history, while Nacua\u2019s 2025 effort was 14th in the league all-time.<\/p>\n

Kupp is an expert on great seasons \u2014 he was the last NFL player to win the triple crown, when in the 2021 season he led the league in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. His 1,947 receiving yards that year was second-best all-time.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old veteran, though, complimented both Nacua and Smith-Njigba for the standout years that have them both in contention for one of the NFL\u2019s top offensive honors this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got close to both of them just as a friend and a teammate. They were great players before I had ever met them,\u201d Kupp said. \u201cThey were great in their own right. It\u2019s great to see those guys get recognized for putting together seasons that are very special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua (12) and Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Cooper Kupp (10) chat after an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif. | Kyusung Gong, Associated Press <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2014 For two years, Cooper Kupp had a firsthand look at the kind of talent Puka…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2079],"tags":[7,1014,58,2444,2611,1852,6,424],"class_list":{"0":"post-730679","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-los-angeles","10":"tag-los-angeles-rams","11":"tag-losangeles","12":"tag-losangelesrams","13":"tag-news-feed-national","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-rams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116016820908931586","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}