{"id":848412,"date":"2026-04-02T02:06:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T02:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/848412\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T02:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T02:06:15","slug":"rams-star-puka-nacua-in-rehab-after-he-allegedly-bit-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/848412\/","title":{"rendered":"Rams star Puka Nacua in rehab after he allegedly bit woman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rams star receiver Puka Nacua<\/a>, who was involved in a string of off-the-field situations the last few months<\/a>, including an alleged biting incident that led to a civil lawsuit<\/a>, entered a rehabilitation care facility in March, his attorney confirmed Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Last week, a woman filed a civil lawsuit against Nacua, alleging that on New Year\u2019s Eve he made an antisemitic statement during a group dinner and later bit her shoulder. Attorney Levi McCathern told The Times before the lawsuit was filed that Nacua denied the allegations and that Nacua would \u201cpursue all available legal remedies in response to these false and damaging statements.\u201d<\/p>\n

The California Post reported<\/a> Wednesday that Nacua had checked into a Malibu rehab facility. A Rams official declined to comment.<\/p>\n

In a statement to The Times on Wednesday, McCathern said Nacua \u201cvoluntarily entered a private facility to focus on his health, personal growth, and overall development \u2014 and I\u2019m really proud of him for doing that ahead of his upcoming season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is committed to using this time constructively so that he can return in the best possible position \u2014 both personally and professionally \u2014 to continue contributing to his team and the game he loves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rams are scheduled to begin offseason workouts under coach Sean McVay on April 20. In the statement, McCathern said that Nacua would complete the program in time to participate in Rams organized team activities. That part of the offseason program begins several weeks into the offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cPuka is deeply grateful for the support he has received from his family, friends, Coach McVay, and his teammates,\u201d McCathern said. \u201cIt is unfortunate that a trivial lawsuit has drawn attention to him during a time when he is committed to becoming a better person. I am excited to see what the future holds for this exceptionally talented young man.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit was the latest situation involving Nacua that cast a spotlight on the fourth-year pro.<\/p>\n

During a livestream last December, Nacua criticized NFL officials and made a gesture regarded as antisemitic. Nacua apologized, and the Rams and the NFL issued statements condemning antisemitism and discrimination. But after the Rams\u2019 loss to the Seattle Seahawks<\/a>, Nacua criticized officials in a social media post from the locker room. The NFL fined him $25,000.<\/p>\n

Nacua, 24, led the NFL with 129 receptions last season, was voted All-Pro and was a finalist for NFL offensive player of the year. He is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and he is eligible for an extension that could equal or surpass the deal Seattle Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba recently signed that includes $120 million in guarantees.<\/p>\n

On Monday, at the NFL owners meetings, McVay repeatedly said<\/a>, \u201cI trust this kid\u2019s heart,\u201d and later said \u201che understands what the responsibility is, not exclusive to just the production on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

General manager Les Snead described Nacua as \u201c young man, becoming,\u201d who is \u201ccontinuing to evolve\u201d as a person and player. Snead and Tony Pastoors, the Rams\u2019 chief operating officer both said on-the-field performance is not the only factor that is taken into account when making decisions regarding contract extensions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt isn\u2019t just, \u2018OK, turn it on on Sundays and make decisions from there,\u2019\u201d Pastoors said. \u201cWe have to take in every data point we can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rams star receiver Puka Nacua, who was involved in a string of off-the-field situations the last few months,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[116206,33409,50893,7,34802,1075,90549,3423,29207,92771,424,82824,149,2618,5325,116207],"class_list":{"0":"post-848412","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-antisemitic-statement","9":"tag-civil-lawsuit","10":"tag-coach-sean-mcvay","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-mccathern","13":"tag-nacua","14":"tag-nfl-official","15":"tag-program","16":"tag-ram","17":"tag-ram-star-puka-nacua","18":"tag-rams","19":"tag-rams-official","20":"tag-time","21":"tag-times","22":"tag-wednesday","23":"tag-well-person"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116332670937350806","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848412","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=848412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}