Published 4:30 a.m. PT April 12, 2025

Puka Nacua has gotten off to a dream start in the NFL. He set countless rookie records in 2023 before coming back and putting up 990 yards in only 11 games last season, ranking third in the NFL in receiving yards per game.

As outstanding as he’s been through two seasons, there’s still room for improvement. His numbers may not have gotten better in 2024 but he improved his hands and body control in Year 2, among other things.

Heading into his all-important third season, Nacua told Julian Edelman he's focusing on one thing in particular this spring: short-area quickness. He’s worked on that this offseason with Cooper Kupp, putting in a lot of time in the gym to get better.

"My short-area quickness is definitely something we've been working (on) with Coop, and while we do some of our conditioning stuff, it's not necessarily – yeah, we have our sprint days where we're doing some of that stuff, but also it being like, all right on Tuesdays, when we do some of our conditioning stuff, we're here in our box, we're working our releases," Nacua said. "We've got the cones, these are your cut-off marks, quick feet or it's working a one-two release, get skinny and then this is our box, it can only work in this area."

Nacua mentioned that he does need to have good stamina being in the Rams’ system because of how often he goes in motion and has to run across the field at the snap, but short-area quickness can help him win at the line and at the top of his route.