If the Giants, or the rest of the NFL, knew then what they know now, Puka Nacua wouldn’t have fallen to the 177th pick in the fifth round and into the arms of Sean McVay’s Rams.
There were 19 receivers taken before him in the 2023 draft, including Giants’ third-round pick Jalin Hyatt, and Pacua has been the best of the lot, and he will take his Ram-Tough talents to MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
Nacua (96-1,327-5 TDs) is threatening the single-season rookie receiving record set in 1960 by Bill Groman (1,473 yards). Ja’Marr Chase (1,455) gave it a run in 2021. Nacua is even chasing C.J. Stroud for Offensive Rookie of the Year honors.
“He’s really taken the league by storm,” Deonte Banks told The Post. “He’s just a real good route-runner. And he got good hands. And he’s strong. He’s probably stronger than most people think.”
In a nutshell, Puka Nacua is a 22-year-old version of Cooper Kupp.
“They have the same skill set,” Giants DC Wink Martindale said. “They got great hands, they run great routes, they’re great run-after-catch guys. They’re physical when they block. It’s like having tight ends out there playing wide receivers, that’s how well they block. So we gotta work on getting off blocks and shedding blocks and things like that just as you would if there’s a tight end coming to block you.”
Nacua, who is 6-foot-2, 205 pounds — 10 pounds heavier than Kupp — was fortunate to land with a creative genius like McVay and a quarterback on fire like Matthew Stafford and a mentor like Kupp.
“They’re the two best blocking wide receivers in the league,” Martindale said.
Nacua had an injury-plagued college career at Washington and BYU and ran a pedestrian 4.57 at his Pro Day. His game speed and his heart have made a mockery of the pre-draft process.
“You could tell he was a smart, instinctive football player, and what they’ve done has been really impressive,” Giants OC Mike Kafka told The Post. “He’s setting records as a rookie, and it’s awesome to see a guy like that.”
Not so awesome if you have to defend him.
“Big receiver, very physical, but I think besides his athleticism, what really stands out to me is his effort and how relentless he is,” Adoree’ Jackson told The Post. “Plays all four quarters at the same speed. He reminds me a lot of [former Rams receiver] Robert Woods, who could go in there and block like the best of ’em, with the best of ’em. Can run routes with the best of ’em, and just has his attention to detail.”
Giants safety Jason Pinnock was a Jet when older brother Kai, a safety, was with Gang Green.
“It’s playing through the play … it’s certain catches that other receivers or guys may even like kinda give up on,” Pinnock said. “He tries for every ball, it it’s catchable, he’s gonna try. Kinda just that heart, really.”
The similarities to Kupp are noticeable.
“But he’s more of a deep threat too as well,” Pinnock said. “Obviously most of his are intermediate-to-catch-and-run style, but definitely I think a little bit more of a deep ball threat than Kupp.”
Nacua is on the brink of passing Jaylen Waddle (104) and Anquan Boldin (101) for most catches by a rookie receiver.
“He can run, he’s got good catch radius, he runs good routes, and he got good YAC [Yards after catch],” Xavier McKinney said. “He can make plays with the balls in space.”
Nacua (10-70 rushing) can run jet sweeps as well.
“A young man who took advantage of his opportunity,” Darnay Holmes told The Post. “A young man that had no sense of quit in him. When he got that moment, he seized it, and as a ballplayer, you gotta respect a guy like that.”
Holmes cited an example on film.
“A lot of guys catch an under route, get the first down and go down,” he said. “He’s not gonna go down.”
Holmes is in the minority when it comes to the comparisons between Nacua and Kupp.
“If you’ll study a Cooper Kupp, from Eastern Washington to where he’s at now, he’s more of a mad scientist when it comes to his route running,” Holmes said. “You can’t compare a rookie to a seasoned vet. It’s just not a fair comparison.”
But Nacua has been a sponge around Kupp.
“I hope that Puka can get to that point,” Holmes said, “and I believe he can if he continues to get mentored.”
How does a guy like Nacua last until the fifth round? Tyreek Hill was a fifth-rounder in Kansas City mostly because he brought domestic violence baggage into the NFL.
“The draft is funny,” Kafka said, “and things happen like that. Tyreek was a fifth-round pick, [Travis] Kelce was a third-round pick. You look at those things and you ask yourself ‘Why?’. It’s a funny science, the draft, so things like this happen.”
Thirty-one teams wish that something like Puka Nacua had happened to them.
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