BYU legend Puka Nacua is on pace to be the NFL's best wide receiver of all time

Former BYU legend Puka Nacua is the NFL's best wide receiver. And at his current rate, he's on pace to become the most productive wide receiver the NFL has ever seen.

Puka's 2025 season wrapped up with a gut-punch road loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship game, leaving him tantalizingly close to punching his ticket to the Super Bowl. Nacua did his part to help the Rams in that difficult defeat with nine receptions for 165 yards and one spectacular touchdown, capping off another brilliant individual season.

Puka Nacua's 2025 campaign

Just take a moment to digest the numbers Puka put up this year with the help of Matthew Stafford's golden arm and an innovative offensive scheme led by coach Sean McVay. The raw stats are one thing but seeing where he ranked in each of those receiving categories is another. And remember, Puka did this despite missing one game this year:

129 receptions - No. 1in in the NFL

1,715 receiving yards - No. 2 in the NFL

107.2 receiving yards per game - No. 1 in the NFL

80 receiving 1st downs - No. 1 in the NFL

10 receiving TDs: Tied for No. 4 among WRs

Puka was also a weapon in the ground game with 10 carries for an additional 105 yards and one more touchdown.

He was the NFL's best wide receiver in 2025. He was named first team All-Pro and was ranked as the No. 1 receiver in the league by PFF. While Seattle's Jaxon Smith-Njigba also had a fantastic season and was a close No. 2, this year Puka was No. 1.

Puka Nacua could become the most productive wide receiver in NFL history

Through three NFL seasons and 44 career games, Puka Nacua is averaging more receiving yards per game than any player in NFL history. Per Football Reference, Puka's career average of 95.3 receiving yards per game is the highest the league has ever seen, and it's not particularly close, either. Nacua is followed by Justin Jefferson (90.2), Ja'Marr Chase (87.7), Calvin Johnson (86.1), and Antonio Brown (84.2).

Provided Nacua stays healthy, he continues to get great quarterback play from Matthew Stafford, and Sean McVay continues dialing up plays, there's no reason to think Puka's production will drop off anytime soon.

At 24 years old, he's just entering his prime.

Now, it's one thing to lead the NFL in receiving yards per game, which the BYU legend is currently doing. It's another thing completely to become the greatest wide receiver in NFL history. That GOAT designation belongs to Jerry Rice, who is arguably the single best player to ever play the game at any position.

Rice's 22,895 career receiving yards is perhaps the most impressive, dominant statistical career for any position in football history. To put his excellence in perspective, the second all-time leading receiver is Larry Fitzgerald with 17,492 yards, meaning he's 5,403 yards behind Rice's amazing total.

And Jerry Rice did most of his damage in the run-first, run-second, pass-third NFL era of the 1980s and 1990s.

As far as Puka Nacua goes, he's still 18,704 yards behind Jerry Rice. We can re-visit the discussion in about a decade to see if Puka Nacua dethrones Jerry Rice as the GOAT among wide receivers.

But for now, Puka Nacua is the No. 1 receiver in the NFL and the most productive receiver on a per-game basis in NFL history.

The league's best wide receiver comes from BYU.