Before the NFL season kicks off, millions create NFL Fantasy Football leagues in hopes of putting together the perfect roster to have bragging rights at the office, against family, or among friends. There are many different strategies to take when creating a squad, but almost every great team has a few things, including a good tight end, a dependable running back, and an elite wide receiver.
Receivers can be tricky since so much depends on the defense and how efficient a quarterback is. If a team has too many good receivers, even an elite receiver will struggle to score high fantasy points. If a team has a great goalline running back, forget about racking up many receiving touchdowns.
For this reason, picking the right receiver can be very difficult, but Jamey Eisenberg from CBS Sports believes he has narrowed in on the right guy.
*This article will reference Fantasy Football scoring from CBS Sports.
Puka Nacua Had a Historic Rookie Campaign
Being the 20th overall receiver in the 5th round of the 2023 NFL Draft, Puka Nacua was not expected to do much last year. Most 5th-round receivers find themselves on special teams or even cut from the team before the season’s first game.
However, after a great fall camp and Cooper Kupp’s injury, Nacua was given a rare but precious opportunity, and he took full advantage.
Nacua finished fourth in the country in total receiving yards and broke the NFL Rookie record in both catches and receiving yards. Even with Kupp returning, Nacua was effective since defenses were forced to zone coverage to prevent either Kupp or Nacua from constantly getting open.
By the end of the season, Nacua ended up finishing 5th among wide receivers in fantasy football points despite only scoring six touchdowns. From some perspective, the next player with six or fewer touchdowns was Amari Cooper, who ranked 16th in points.
Why Nacua is a Great Bet…Literally
Jamey Eisenberg says that there are eight receivers who are at the elite level when it comes to fantasy points. These receivers include CeeDee Lamb, Tyreek Hill, Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, Amon-Ra St. Brown, A.J. Brown, Garrett Wilson, and Puka Nacua. He claims that all of these receivers are so good that players should consider drafting them with their first overall pick.
Eisenberg admits that projecting which receiver will be the best is impossible to do, and uses Nacua as an example of a player that burst onto the scene last year. He writes the following as an argument to draft Nacua as WR1:
“antasy managers are going to question if Nacua can repeat his rookie numbers, or if 2023 was just a fluke for the fifth-round NFL Draft pick from Utah. We were excited about Nacua as a rookie, but he far exceeded everyone’s expectations, especially when Kupp was out.
Now, if Kupp is back to being the No. 1 receiver for Matthew Stafford and can stay healthy all season then Nacua could see a dip in production. But Kupp, 31, could be at that point in his career where he’s no longer an elite talent, while Nacua is a star on the rise. It might be hard for Nacua to average 17.6 PPR points per game again in his sophomore campaign, but there’s too much upside to ignore, even with Kupp back at 100 percent.”
Something else to consider is that Nacua again only had six touchdowns last year. If he can double that number in 2024, he won’t have to have the same insane amount of receiving yards to score nearly 18 points per game.
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