Puka Nacua Sits Out Practice With Hip Injury as Rams WR Room Thins
The WR1 overall missed Friday's session with a hip issue that may trace back to Aug. 13 psoas soreness. Backup Jordan Whittington was out too.
Hip flag on the WR1 overall — track practice reports before you panic.
- Nacua missed Friday practice with a hip injury
- Possibly tied to Aug. 13 psoas soreness
- Backup Jordan Whittington out (quad)
- Nacua: 375 PPR pts in 2025, our WR1
- Davante Adams returned to practice Friday
The player we rank as the No. 2 overall asset for fantasy — and the No. 1 wide receiver, period — didn't practice Friday. Puka Nacua was held out with a hip injury, and while the Rams haven't confirmed a link, it's fair to wonder whether it connects to the psoas soreness that pulled him from a joint session with the Cowboys back on Aug. 13. The psoas is a deep hip flexor, so a lingering issue there wouldn't shock anyone.
Context matters here. Nacua torched defenses for 129 catches, 1,715 yards and 10 touchdowns across 16 games in 2025, good for 375 PPR points, and he was trending up late — plus-6.9 fantasy points per game over his final five outings versus his season average. That's the kind of production you don't hand-wave away over one missed Friday. But it's also the kind of player whose every twinge sends managers into a spiral, so let's keep the temperature down.
The Depth Chart Squeeze
The wrinkle is that Nacua's primary backup sat out too. Jordan Whittington missed Friday with a quad injury — and Whittington managed just 36 PPR points across 17 games in 2025, so he's a name for deep-league desperation only (our WR121). If both Nacua and Whittington are limited into the season, the Rams' receiver math gets thin in a hurry.
The bright spot: Davante Adams was back on the field Friday after a scheduled rest day Thursday. Adams remains our WR9 and No. 44 overall after a 60-789-14 line (223 PPR points) in 14 games last season. Any real Nacua absence would only push more volume Adams' way — worth filing if you roster him.
Safety Kamren Kinchens (hamstring) was the other player who didn't practice, while Kam Curl (ankle), Omar Speights (hip) and Nate Landman (shoulder) were limited. None of that moves the fantasy needle much, but it tells you the Rams are managing a banged-up week.
For now, this is a monitor situation, not a bench-your-stud situation. You don't sit a top-two overall pick off one missed practice, but you'd better be watching every report between now and kickoff. If Nacua strings together another DNP, get a contingency ready and expect Adams to soak up targets. Handcuffing Whittington isn't worth it outside the deepest formats.
