Puka Nacua ranked his top-5 wide receivers. Was Cooper Kupp too low?

Puka Nacua joined Maxx Crosby’s podcast and ranked the top-5 wide receivers in the NFL

The offseason can be pretty quiet which allows players to go on podcasts more often than they are able to during the year. Earlier this week, Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua joined Maxx Crosby’s podcast “The Rush with Maxx Crosby”. Crosby and Nacua talked how Cooper Kupp mentored him, how special Matthew Stafford is, his first interaction with Aaron Donald as well as a range of other topics.

One of those topics was how Nacua ranked the NFL’s best wide receiver. Nacua was asked by Crosby to rank his top-5 wide receivers in the NFL in order and not including himself. Nacua ranked the top-5 as:

1. Justin Jefferson – Minnesota Vikings
2. Ja’Marr Chase – Cincinnati Bengals
3. Tyreek Hill – Miami Dolphins
4. Davante Adams – Las Vegas Raiders
5. Cooper Kupp – Los Angeles Rams

On Kupp, Nacua said,

“Every time Coop’s out there, man. If it’s Devante Adams, it’s Cooper Kupp…Being a complete receiver is something different, but that’s what makes being a Devante Adams, a Cooper Kupp that much more elite. Because they just put me out here to run routes. They know I’m out here because I can get open against you – every single one of you out here. I’m going to get open no matter what. That’s what’s crazy. Not everybody gets that luxury and that opportunity. There’s an elite group and then there’s an elite-elite to be the best of the best.”

Had Kupp been coming off of his triple crown season, there’s no doubt that Nacua would have ranked his teammate higher. However, dealing with injury last year, Nacua made sure to give other wide receivers his respect as well. That’s not to say that the Rams second year wide receiver didn’t have plenty of good things to say about Kupp. Crosby and his crew asked Nacua about Kupp’s mentorship and he had nothing but good things to say,

“They had the breakfast club which I didn’t know was a thing…Coop would take the time and talk to me, especially those first five weeks before he came back. He’s the man. One of the best route-runners of all-time. We started having those conversations on the side after that Week 1 in Seattle and then that happened for the five weeks that he was gone.”

With Nacua getting opportunities that he may not have gotten in a normal year had Kupp been healthy, it put him in situations that he may not have been in otherwise. It forced him to have to look at the game within the small details. Kupp has gotten a full offseason to get healthy coming off of the ankle injury of 2022 and hamstring injury last year. The Rams should get to see both players take that next step as a wide receiver pairing.

Nacua was asked who his best wide receiver duos are. Said Nacua, “I gotta put me and Coop up there. There’s this guy Matthew Stafford back there. We’re going to give everyone a good mixup this year for sure.”

On podcasts hosted by other NFL players, the guest players tend to open up more as it is more of a casual conversation rather than a full-fledged interview. That was certainly the case when Nacua joined Crosby.