{"id":857493,"date":"2026-04-06T20:13:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/857493\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T20:13:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:13:15","slug":"puka-nacuas-potential-contract-extension-faces-uncertainty-amid-rams-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/857493\/","title":{"rendered":"Puka Nacua&#8217;s potential contract extension faces uncertainty amid Rams&#8217; concern"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nfl\/los-angeles-rams\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Los Angeles Rams<\/a> have been making a lot of additions this offseason and spending a ton of capital and money already.<\/p>\n<p>Trent McDuffie was acquired with a first-rounder and a few other picks and was shortly thereafter given a huge $124 million four-year deal. McDuffie is far from the only one seeking a big deal, as Puka Nacua is in the final year of his rookie contract.<\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;s one of the best wide receivers in the NFL, but according to <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7174220\/2026\/04\/06\/nfl-news-updates-kyler-murray-vikings-fernando-mendoza-raiders\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Athletic&#8217;s Jourdan Rodrigue<\/a>, the Rams have some uncertainty and concern about spending a massive amount of money on the polarizing WR soon.<\/p>\n<p>Rams face uncertainty on Puka Nacua contract extension<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But it&#8217;s my understanding that their concerns significantly increased &#8211; especially about Nacua&#8217;s well-being &#8211; as the offseason continued,&#8221; Rodrigue writes. &#8220;&#8230;The Rams made it clear publicly and even more firmly behind the scenes in recent weeks that Nacua will have to correct his off-field behavior to earn the type of contract his league-leading play would typically merit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This update from\u00a0Rodrigue is a noteworthy one, as the Rams have set a firm line in the sand when it comes to a contract extension for Nacua beyond 2026.<\/p>\n<p>While they would like to keep him around for a long time, as his on-field play is among the best in all of the NFL, they aren&#8217;t going to do so unless they&#8217;re comfortable with his standing on the field.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nfl\/seattle-seahawks\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Seattle Seahawks<\/a> wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba got a massive $168.6 million deal over four years, and Nacua&#8217;s new deal, if he were to get one, would fall in a similar range.<\/p>\n<p>More:\u00a0<a target=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nfl\/los-angeles-rams\/news\/rams-expected-contract-decisions-puka-nacua-2023-draft-picks\/796b871748389f3ec72e781a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Puka Nacua, Byron Young, other 2023 draft picks expected to be extended by Rams<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Rams are not going to spend that much money on a player that they aren&#8217;t confident in, both on and off the field. That would be the case with any player, and with that much money, it becomes all the more important.<\/p>\n<p>This situation will be one to keep a close eye on, as\u00a0Rodrigue&#8217;s report also notes how the Rams might even be open to the possibility of a franchise tag next offseason to keep Nacua around for one more year without committing to him long-term.<\/p>\n<p>And a trade cannot be ruled out either, as Sean McVay and Les Snead haven&#8217;t been afraid to part with good players at the right time.<\/p>\n<p>Nacua&#8217;s extension will be a storyline for a lot of the next year, and at least for now, it&#8217;s going to be a topic worth putting on the shelf until some things change for the better with Nacua this offseason.<\/p>\n<p>More Rams news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Rams have been making a lot of additions this offseason and spending a ton of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":832110,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[7,1014,58,2444,2611,6,424],"class_list":{"0":"post-857493","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-nfl","14":"tag-rams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116359594282672537","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857493","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=857493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/832110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}