In just a few weeks, dozens of NFL rookies will enter their new team’s facilities for the first time and come face-to-face with the icons they’ve watched on TV growing up. Hopefully, these rookies won’t have as scary an interaction as Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua did the first time he met the recently-retired, first-ballot Hall of Famer Aaron Donald.
Puka Nacua had an intimidating first meeting with Aaron Donald
As Aaron Donald is stepping away from the game after 10 incredible seasons, his now-former Rams teammates are reminiscing about their time with the legend.
One of these players is WR Puka Nacua, who became one of the most shocking breakout players of the 2023 season.
Before he became an NFL Pro Bowl wideout, Nacua was just a fifth-round pick coming into the Rams’ building, and that’s how Donald treated him, as Nacua shared on The Rush with Maxx Crosby podcast.
“My first interaction with [Donald] was, I'm in the weight room, the rookies were working out after. I swear he's already been working out, like we did our run on the field and then we're coming in to do our lift and this guy's still working out. Like the Vets have already had their workout, he's still there,” Nacua recalled about Donald’s legendary work ethic.
“I'm doing like the massage, the little Theraguns by the weights in the middle. The 180s are on the floor by me, he walks up by me, and he's like ‘Move.’ And I jump, like all he says is move. I jump, move, but I like turned my back to him, so I'm not facing him, no eye contact,” Nacua continued. “I turned away and then he says ‘Move’ again, and then I set the Theragun down walked out of the weight room, and was like I'll be back. I don't know what time our lift is at but I don't need to be here right now. Yeah, it's AD’s time to lift.”
Nacua laughs about this now, but he also says that this interaction — and this year in general — is a little bittersweet because he took being teammates with one of the greatest of all time for granted, and now that Donald is retired that time is over.
Despite the first meeting, Rams will miss Donald’s personality
Scary first meeting aside, Puka Nacua remembers his time with Aaron Donald fondly and says that he was an incredible locker-room presence for the Rams.
The wideout also shared a funny story about how Donald approached team meetings.
“He was funny,” Nacua said of sitting near Donald in team meetings. “That was like our time to see AD’s personality because he's in the back of the meeting talking to all the D-line, slapping them on the back of the head. Like every time Coach McVay was saying something, he's like ‘Desjuan (Johnson) yeah you suck,’ and he's laughing. He's like ‘Damn Jonah (Williams), what the hell you doing right here?’ He's like, ‘You see me getting double-teamed?’ And he's just talking in the back, like you see his personality and he's just vibing, like being one of the guys, just communicating and talking all the time and he was hilarious.”
This is the unseen cost of losing a player like Donald. While all NFL fans see the havoc he causes on the field, only the Rams see how he holds court and leads in the locker room. In the upcoming 2024 season, the team may miss him almost as much in the meetings as they do in the trenches.
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