Los Angeles Rams wideout Puka Nacua has quickly become a star in the NFL. The thing is, though, he’s not planning on doing this forever, so he may as well make hay while the sun shines.
As a rookie in 2023, he caught 105 passes for 1,486 yards and six touchdowns. Not bad for a fifth-round pick out of BYU. He struggled a bit with injury in 2024 and played in just 11 games, but Nacua still caught 79 passes for 990 yards and three touchdowns in his second NFL season.
If he’s fully healthy in 2025, the expectation should be that Nacua has another 1,000-plus receiving yard season and if he keeps it up, he could be well on his way to a legendary career with the Rams.
On the “Join The Lobby” podcast. Nacua revealed that he’s planning on getting out of the NFL by the age of 30.
“I know I want to retire at the age of 30,” he said (h/t ESPN). “I’m 23 right now, I’m going into Year 3 — it wouldn’t even be 10 years. It’d be maybe seven or eight. I think of Aaron Donald, to go out at the top, I think it would be super cool.”
Nacua revealed that he was inspired by Rams’ legendary defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who retired after just 10 seasons at the top of his game.
Injuries and the long-term impact of playing in the NFL also play into Nacua’s mindset, though.
“The injuries are something you can’t control [as] part of the game, so you never know,” he explained. “Hopefully, the rest of the career can go healthy, but you have shoulder surgery, you have knee surgery, you have ankle. By the time my kids could be 18, I could be barely walking if you play the game and sustain all the injuries and stuff like that, but I want to retire early.”
It’s interesting to see the shift in player’s mindsets that is slowly happening compared to the “old guard” of Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and now Aaron Rodgers— who held on to their NFL careers with reckless abandon.
Some of it has to be the ample off-field opportunities NFL players are now afforded. Some of it also has to be the increased awareness of how a long career in the NFL can impact a player’s long-term quality of life.
Oh, and then there’s the money. Players are making so much more than they used to, and money means options.
Whether Nacua continues to play at this pace for the next few seasons remains to be seen. Whether or not he still has the itch to play at 30 also remains to be seen.
It certainly is an interesting admission from one of the game’s brightest young stars, though.
