Puka Nacua is biggest Rams Pro Bowl snub in 2025
The NFL announced it’s Pro Bowl rosters on Thursday and the Los Angeles Rams were awarded one player for the all-star event. That player was rookie Jared Verse who earned the honor and rightfully so. It’s the fewest Pro Bowl selections that the Rams have had since 2012 when they didn’t have any.
It seems crazy that the Rams only have one Pro Bowl selection, it also adds to what an incredible season and coaching job that this has been from Sean McVay. Nine teams had one Pro Bowl player or fewer on their roster. Their combined record was 43-99. That’s a win percentage of .303. The Rams are the only team currently with one Pro Bowl selection to have double-digit wins.
With that said, that doesn’t mean they didn’t have anybody else that would not have been worthy of a selection. Every year there are Pro Bowl snubs and some exemptions are certainly worse than others. That’s why it seems so egregious to leave out one of the best players at his position in what is supposed to be considered an all-star game. For Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua not to make the Pro Bowl, it puts a stain on an event that has continuously lost credibility over the past 15 years.
Hard to think of “games” that mean less than the Pro Bowl, but the idea should be the best players in the NFL. Puka Nacua isn’t just one of the best, he’s an All-Pro caliber top-3 receiver. It’s ridiculous. https://t.co/bTqiDcdn60
— TurfShowTimes (@TurfShowTimes) January 2, 2025
Since Week 8, Nacua has 75 receptions for 955 yards. That trails only Ja’Marr Chase. What makes it more impressive is that Nacua has done that on 262 routes to Chase’s 408. Since Week 8, Nacua leads all wide receivers in targets per route and trails only Marvin Mims in yards per route. While Nacua spent some time injured, in the 11 games that he has played, he’s been elite. He also leads the NFL in 100-yard games this season despite not playing as many games. Nico Collins has played the same number of games as Nacua and made the Pro Bowl in the AFC.
The NFC receivers to make it over Nacua were Justin Jefferson, Amon-Ra St. Brown, CeeDee Lamb, and Terry McLaurin. Nacua has generated more EPA per reception than Justin Jefferson and CeeDee Lamb. His reception EPA per route is higher than all four.
Puka Nacua has 75 receptions and 955 receiving yards since returning from injury in Week 8, both of which trail only future triple crown winner Ja’Marr Chase over that span. (via NGS) pic.twitter.com/pyw6LwE61Z
— Rams Bros. (@RamsBrothers) January 3, 2025
Nacua’s absence from the Pro Bowl emphasizes what we’ve said at TurfShow Times over the second half of the season. For some reason, fans and analysts have a difficult time putting Nacua among the top wide receivers in the NFL. Whether it’s because he isn’t a flashy player like Jefferson or a loud personality, he’s a player that seems to get brushed off when it comes to the top wide receiver conversation.
As Kenneth Arthur wrote earlier this month,
“The reality of Nacua as a top-5 NFL receiver has been difficult for many to accept, even among Rams fans. The premise of the league getting his draft value so wrong is so difficult to comprehend, mostly because the NFL doesn’t usually get it as wrong as they got Puka, but that’s all we’re really looking at here.”
This isn’t a case like Steven Jackson or James Laurinaitis where they aren’t getting recognition because the Rams aren’t very good. They are a team that just won the NFC West and have wins over two of the best teams in each conference.
It’s very possible that Nacua could still make the Pro Bowl, especially if players opt out. However, it’s hard to find many reasons why Nacua should have been excluded from the initial list of players. This is an all-pro caliber wide receiver that is only being out-performed by an eventual triple-crown winner.
There’s also the element of how this stuff effects player’s careers. While Pro Bowl voting should not be a deciding factor, it is something that gets used in Hall of Fame discussions. Something like getting voted to the Pro Bowl vs. being an alternate or missing out entirely could be the difference in Hall of Fame finalist debates.
On Pro Bowls, one thing I’d love for @pfref to do is differentiate between Pro Bowl seasons: starter, backup, alternate, named as replacement, etc
Would love to see the 10x Pro Bowlers who actually were voted to the team 2 times (if that were the case).
This stuff gets used in…
— Mike Sando (@SandoNFL) January 2, 2025
The Pro Bowl has gone from Jack Youngblood playing on a broken leg and Sean Taylor laying out a punter to players not trying and the game becoming a flag football contest. The system has been a popularity contest and who performed well on fantasy teams rather than who may be more deserving. For a star player like Nacua to be left out after the season that he’s had is a black eye on the process and system as a whole. The Pro Bowl hasn’t been credible for a while, but Nacua’s exclusion puts a stamp on it.