On Friday, the 1-2 Los Angeles Rams got good news and bad news as they navigate an early stretch of the season marred by injuries and self-inflicted jet lag.
The bad news is that defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who came out of a two-year retirement late in the offseason to rejoin the team for the 2026 campaign, will sit out the Week 4 clash against the Philadelphia Eagles with a back injury. However, wide receiver Puka Nacua, who missed Weeks 2 and 3 with a groin issue, will return after Sean McVay confirmed Friday that he will play against Philadelphia.
Nacua is rostered in 100% of Yahoo Sports fantasy leagues, but he’s only started in 67% of leagues for this upcoming week, as fantasy managers take a cautious approach regarding his groin injury. Below, I’ll break down whether or not he’s worth starting.
Results and Usage
If he were 100%, there would be no question about whether or not Nacua should be in fantasy lineups. Last season, he produced one of the finest receiving seasons in NFL history, recording 129 catches for 1,715 yards and 10 touchdowns, and he holds the all-time career record for receiving yards per game. Even in Week 1, after Nacua was limited in preseason while dealing with hip and groin issues, he had five catches for 74 yards. Given how sluggish the entire Rams offense looked in that game after their ill-fated decision to arrive in Australia 24 hours before the marquee contest, that output from Nacua certainly isn’t bad.
Because Nacua only had nine targets in Week 1, he doesn’t qualify for either the NFL Next Gen Stats leaderboard (where the minimum cutoff is 10 targets) or Pro Football Focus’ grades. However, he posted a 76.0 offensive grade in Week 1, which would put him just behind WR21 Matthew Golden if he’d played enough possessions to qualify. That level of play certainly makes him fantasy-viable even though it represents a stark downgrade from the grades he recorded in 2024 and 2025, when he had the highest grade among qualified wide receivers in each campaign.
Future Outlook
If Nacua plays anywhere close to a full load, Stafford will not hesitate to look his way. Nacua ranked sixth in 2025 among all players in target share despite Los Angeles’ also rostering Davante Adams, and his 33.3% target share in Week 1 would put him in a tie for third among receivers this season. He’s a true threat at all levels; last season, Nacua had at least 10 targets in seven of the 12 zones on the field, as well as 10 carries, and he recorded a 99.9 offensive grade on both targets of 10-to-19 yards and targets of 20 or more yards. Nacua led the league in offensive grades at every depth except for behind-LOS targets (third).
The only question is Nacua’s capability to provide a full workload. Although the 25-year-old was only a limited participant on both Wednesday and Thursday, it’s unlikely that he’d play if there was a significant injury risk. Although he said that he’d initially battled pain when he first tried to return from the injury, he played through ankle and chest issues for much of last season, so his toughness isn’t in question. Other than the risk that the Rams lose and drop to 1-3, a hole from which only one team has ever rallied to win the Super Bowl, there’s incentive for both team and player not to risk long-term injury, since Los Angeles wants to keep him healthy for the playoffs and Nacua, a free agent at the end of the season, surely wants a long-term, big-money contract extension. The Rams listed him as doubtful ahead of Week 3 before eventually ruling him out, so while he might not be 100%, he should be healthy enough to be productive and not risk significant injury.
The only issue for Nacua is his matchup. Philadelphia has arguably been more gettable than it should be for its defensive talent, allowing the 14th-most yards, fifth-most touchdowns, and 12th-most FPTS per game to opposing wide receivers, but the Eagles are still teeming with talent on that side of the ball. Quinyon Mitchell was an All-Pro First Teamer last season who’s limited opponents to an 83.6 passer rating on his targets so far in 2026. His outside partner, Riq Woolen, is an accomplished pro who was named to the Pro Bowl as a rookie in 2022 and played a role in the Seattle Seahawks’ run to the Super Bowl last season. Plus, when Nacua lines up in the slot, he’ll have to face Cooper DeJean, who, like Mitchell, was named to the All-Pro First Team last season.
Still, matchups matter little to Nacua. He managed 11 catches for 112 yards in his lone game against the Eagles last season and nine for 117 in 2024 (plus an additional six catches and 97 yards in snowy conditions in the playoffs). With Nacua confirmed to play, he should be started in all fantasy formats
