There's been no shortage of talented rookies who have emerged throughout the year, proving that the scouts who vouched for them and the GM's who drafted them knew what they were doing. Most seasons, guys like Sam LaPorta, Bijan Robinson, Jordan Addison, Jahmyr Gibbs, Tank Dell and Rashee Rice would all have very compelling cases to win Offensive Rookie of the Year. This season, they're all fighting for third place. This season, there is a well established top tier that features only two rookies who are having historically great seasons: CJ Stroud, the 2nd overall pick of the Houston Texans, and Puka Nacua, a 5th round pick of the Los Angeles Rams who came into training camp with securing a roster spot on his mind.
“I was thinking about how would I be able to block well enough to get on the field and if I was going to be a special teams player and how I was going to be able to figure that out,” Nacua said following the Rams 30-22 win over the New Orleans Saints, according to Sarah Barshop of ESPN.com.
Just a few short months later, the thought of Puka Nacua fighting for a spot on the Rams roster and doing so by impressing on special teams duty seems remarkably far-fetched. After all, Nacua's coach, Sean McVay, has nothing but great things to say about the rookie wide receiver that he really loves.
“He's really special,” Sean McVay said. “But the best part about him is, he doesn't worry about those things. He worries about just being a great teammate, continuing to improve his game. [I] sure love this team. And he's one of those guys that you really love.” Even though Nacua isn't worrying about winning Rookie of the Year, that didn't stop Sean McVay from saying that Nacua “would get my vote.”
Puka Nacua is putting forth one of the most unexpected and prolific seasons we've ever seen from a rookie wide receiver. At the moment, Nacua is 5th in the NFL in receptions (96) and 2nd in yards (1,327). If that holds, Nacua would become the first rookie receiver to finish in the top five in both of those statical categories since Anquan Boldin did so twenty years ago. It's worth noting that Boldin won Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2003.
Could that be what's in store for Puka Nacua? Well, here's the thing: Anquan Boldin didn't have a generational rookie quarterback he was competing against for the honor back in 2003.
CJ Stroud earned the starting quarterback job for the Houston Texans back in the preseason, and he hasn't looked back since. It's been a steady climb forward for a Texans team that has been in the basement of the league for the past three seasons. Thanks to Stroud, that's not the case anymore. On par with the impact made by Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson in their rookie seasons over a decade ago, CJ Stroud has the Texans in Playoff contention. His 3,631 yards passing are 7th best in the NFL. His 20 touchdowns to only 5 interceptions is a touchdown to interception ratio rarely seen by a rookie quarterback. His 98.7 passer rating is 5th highest in the league. If degree of difficulty is being factored in, then it's hard to discount what Stroud is doing at the most important and difficult position in football.
Puka Nacua's best chance to win Offensive Rookie of the Year is if CJ Stroud misses more time in concussion protocol, sees his numbers slip a bit, and the Texans end up missing out on the Playoffs. In combination with all of that, Nacua is only 147 yards away from breaking the rookie receiving yardage record set by Bill Groman way back in 1960. If Nacua tops that mark — and it seems likely that he can given the fact that the Rams have two games left on their schedule and Nacua has already topped the 100-yard mark in six different games — there will be good reason to give him the nod over Stroud and the rest of the 2023 rookie class.
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