We probably say this every year, but it feels as though the barrage of injuries that inevitably hits has occurred far sooner than normal. It’s only Week 3, and we have a bunch of every-week fantasy football starters either out or at risk of not playing.
Los Angeles Rams WR Puka Nacua played through an oblique injury last week that cost him practice time. Adam Grosbard reported that Nacua will not practice on Thursday. Should fantasy managers expect Nacua to play through another questionable tag on Monday night?
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Latest News Surrounding Puka Nacua
It actually wasn’t much of a shock to see Nacua on the injury report last week, given his massive workload in his first career regular-season game. Fortunately, Nacua was able to play through his oblique injury.
It clearly didn’t slow him down, as he once again smashed. Nacua caught 15 of a whopping 20 targets for 147 yards. He is, in fact, Cooper Kupp 2.0.
MORE: Week 3 Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet
Unfortunately, the oblique injury that plagued him last week is still an issue. As a result, Nacua did not practice on Thursday.
On Saturday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the Rams were listing Nacua as questionable for Monday night’s game. However, McVay said he is expected to play.
Rams are listing WR Puka Nacua as questionable for Monday night’s game vs. the Bengals due to his oblique injury, but HC Sean McVay said he is expected to play.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 23, 2023
What Does This Mean for Nacua’s Fantasy Ranking?
Since the Rams play on Monday, their “Wednesday” practice occurs on Thursday. This is the least important practice of the week. Even this early in the season, we often see players get Wednesdays off before returning to some level of practice on Thursday.
Last week, Nacua practiced on Wednesday, took Thursday off, then returned to a limited session on Friday before drawing a questionable tag and ultimately playing. With the Rams having the extra day off, it appears their plan is to give Nacua Thursday off and then likely have him return to limited session on Friday and Saturday.
Based on McVay’s comments, Nacua should be fine. He will likely draw another questionable tag, but unless we get some bad news between now and Sunday, fantasy managers can bank on him playing Monday night. Worst-case scenario, if he doesn’t go, you’ll have to throw him on IR once he’s ruled out and pick up someone else playing Monday night. But I doubt it comes to that.
Nacua is the WR14 in our PFN Consensus Rankings. He is an every-week must-start until further notice (read: until Kupp returns).