I watched the Buffalo Bills put two defenders on Raiders tight end Brock Bowers for most of the first half last Sunday, and one name kept coming to mind the whole time (Puka Nacua).
The Rams wide receiver will visit Allegiant Stadium this weekend, and he is the one player on their roster I would take for the Las Vegas Raiders without a second thought.
Other worthy mentions would be Rams edge rusher Jared Verse (he would be fun), and same for running back Kyren Williams (he would definitely help the run game). But neither one fixes the Raiders' biggest problem the way Nacua would, and here is why I want him.
Defenses would stop doubling Brock Bowers
The Raiders' wide receivers caught six passes against Buffalo, and wide receiver Tre Tucker caught five of them. But six days earlier, Nacua
caught 17 passes against that same Bills defense Monday Night Football, a career high on 24 targets.
Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins was asked after Sunday’s loss why so few balls go to his receivers, and his answer told me everything I needed to know about the current setup.
“At times, you’re just going where your reads are taking you, and if that’s the back, if that’s the tight end, so be it,” Cousins said. “But we definitely want to find explosives in the pass game, and if we’re finding those, I don’t get too caught up in who it’s going to because you never know on the next play where it might go.”
With Nacua lined up across from Bowers, nobody gets to send two defenders at the tight end and dare a thin receiver room to beat them.
He doesn’t miss, and he catches everything in sight
Nacua led the NFL with 129 catches last season, finished second with 1,715 receiving yards, and was a unanimous first-team All-Pro. He also led all receivers with 107.2 yards per game and tied for the league lead with 80 first downs.
A hip and groin injury cost him two games this season, and he has still piled up 37 catches for 417 yards on 52 targets in four games. Honestly, he is the kind of receiver who makes third-and-six feel automatic, and the Raiders haven't had one of those in a long time.
Speaking Klint Kubiak's language
Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak and Rams head coach Sean McVay both come from the Shanahan offensive family tree, so Nacua wouldn't need a new dictionary to learn this playbook. He took 54.2% of his receiving snaps out wide and 41.8% in the slot during the first five games of last season, and the Rams also use him as a lead blocker because they don't carry a traditional fullback.
A receiver who blocks like that would be a gift for a Raiders run game that managed 65 yards against Buffalo. Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty could use every bit of help he can get right now.
Tre Tucker could become the perfect WR2
Tucker showed last Sunday what he can do when he gets a clean shot deep, scoring from 11 and 44 yards out. However, the problem is consistency, since he has been held under 50 yards without a touchdown in four of his six games.
More than a third of Tucker's career targets have come 20-plus yards downfield, which tells me he works best when someone else is soaking up the attention underneath. Nacua would handle the chains, and Tucker would get the single coverage he needs to take the top off a defense.
He might be closer to the market than you think
And here is the best part of it all. Nacua is playing the final year of his rookie deal, and Spotrac lists him as a 2027 free agent. He hired a new agency in August, and the Rams still haven't extended him.
McVay sounded confident during training camp.
“And I am hopeful that we’ll be together for a really long time,” McVay said.
I really hope the Raiders are ready to test that hope next March.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Gimme Him: Rams WR Puka Nacua would give Raiders a true No. 1 receiver
