Picking up Puka Nacua and Tutu Atwell on waivers? What to know about Rams WRs in for Cooper Kupp

Publish date: 2024-05-14

The Athletic has live fantasy football lineup advice, rankings, injury news and projections ahead of Week 2.

Week 1 wasn’t only a boon for the Los Angeles Rams, who completed a 30-13 win over the Seattle Seahawks, but it also proved a success for fantasy managers who picked up L.A. wide receivers Puka Nacua and Tutu Atwell. With Rams star receiver Cooper Kupp on the injured reserve list and out for at least four games while dealing with a hamstring injury, Nacua and Atwell stepped in Sunday, posting impressive numbers in their season opener.

Nacua, a fifth-round pick in this year’s draft, had 10 catches (15 targets) for 119 yards against Seattle. On Monday, he was the most-viewed wide receiver and the fifth-most-viewed player overall in CBSSports.com’s fantasy game according to their fantasy football “roster trends” data.

Atwell — selected by the Rams in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft — posted six catches (eight targets) for 119 yards in Week 1, already one-third of the way to the total number of receptions he had in his 13 games with Los Angeles last season. He was the fifth-most-viewed wide receiver and 14th-most-viewed player as of Monday evening, per CBS Sports.

What else should fantasy managers know about Nacua and Atwell as potential waiver-wire pickups? And more importantly, can these receivers sustain their success? Let’s dive in, with input from The Athletic’s experts.

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Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Week 2: Streamers, Gus Edwards, Puka Nacua and more

What to know about Nacua, Atwell

Nacua is a 22-year-old rookie out of BYU who has quickly progressed into a role alongside Los Angeles’ more veteran players after proving himself in spring OTAs and preseason. He led the Cougars in receiving yards in 2021 and 2022, totaling 1,430 yards on 91 catches with 11 touchdowns for his BYU career after transferring from Washington. In two seasons with the Huskies, he collected 16 receptions for 319 yards and three touchdowns.

Atwell, 23, was the No. 57 pick in the 2021 draft out of Louisville, where he notched 140 catches for 2,307 yards and 21 touchdowns in his three seasons with the Cardinals. Atwell tallied 298 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown for Los Angeles last season. He added nine carries for 34 yards and a TD on the ground in 2022.

How Nacua, Atwell fit into the Rams’ plans

(Photo: Steven Bisig / USA Today)

The Rams have one small silver lining in missing Kupp for a few weeks that they didn’t have in 2022: Kupp also missed most of training camp, which meant quarterback Matthew Stafford had a ton of reps with the younger players. It showed. Nacua and Atwell both took on a major workload, at a variety of receiving positions because filling the Kupp “F” role takes a committee of players when he is absent. Both players got reps at each of the Rams’ receiving positions, including the “X” and the “Z,” and particularly had success in camp in those layered crossing route concepts that coach Sean McVay loves to call. A fundamental trait of this offense is to run a variety of plays out of simple, sometimes identical pre-snap looks. To be successful in doing that, receivers have to play multiple positions and be willing to compete as blockers away from the ball.

Anybody who spent more than a day at training camp or spring OTAs (or read The Athletic through that time) caught on to how significant a workload Nacua got immediately in the spring, which then carried into training camp. When the Rams drafted him in April, they were drawn to how physical a player he can be out of a variety of receiving positions — especially the yards-after-catch potential they haven’t really had from a non-Kupp player since Robert Woods was on the roster.

“I love what I’ve seen from Puka,” receivers coach Eric Yarber told me in August. “How physical he is, how fast he plays. The game is not too big for him. He’s not gonna look overly impressive in laundry. But when the pads come on, when the ‘clickety-clacks’ and the hitting starts, that’s when he’s most impressive. You can see it in how well he stays grounded catching the football, running through the (catch) and making it hard for guys to tackle him.”

Atwell’s emergence in that area was a significant development this spring and summer. Where he previously was regarded as a situational speed threat (and a season-ending injury his rookie season), coaches praised Atwell through the spring and summer for his ability to play multiple receiving positions.

“That gives him great ownership of the offense, Tutu playing all the spots (and) moving around,” Yarber said. “It helps his development big time. He gets to learn the intricacies of the offense from every position’s perspective, and he’s been doing a great job. He takes pride in it, in being a smart athlete. … He’s a very sharp individual.”

When Kupp returns from his hamstring injury, the offense will naturally change again. Kupp’s role in the offense, although he is the “F,” is also as the No. 1 receiver. Kupp has a large number of option routes, built into his role in order to maximize his rapport with Stafford as well as his ability to read defenders and manipulate space. Historically, the Rams have been at their most explosive under McVay when they have had two multi-positional receivers (Kupp, Woods) who take the majority of the target share and can add downfield concepts in complement to help keep the middle of the field open. — Rodrigue

Matthew Stafford seemed to be targeting a very particular part of the field today pic.twitter.com/HvCm9NoWFY

— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) September 11, 2023

Nacua, Atwell’s 2023 fantasy projections

ESPN’s fantasy projections on Monday gave Atwell the edge for the 2023 season. The site projected Atwell will have 40 receptions for 591 yards and two receiving TDs to go along with seven carries for 43 yards this season, totaling 120.89 fantasy points. He accounted for 17.9 fantasy points Sunday.

Nacua, meanwhile, is projected to have 40 catches for 508 yards and two touchdown receptions for 104.55 fantasy points (PPR scoring) for the season, per ESPN. He racked up 21.9 fantasy points in Week 1.

However, The Athletic’s Michael Salfino had this to say about choosing between the receivers on the waiver wire in his Week 1 scouting notebook:

Puka Nacua is the waiver wire choice for me over Tutu Atwell, who is fine as a consolation pickup. I mean, 15 targets for Nacua is just insane. This is a little like Anquan Boldin coming out of nowhere as a rookie a million years ago. We really have to tip our cap to Matthew Stafford. Just… wow!

Nacua vs. Atwell for Week 2 fantasy lineups

So where do fantasy managers go from here when considering playing Nacua or Atwell? Here’s how The Athletic’s fantasy expert Jake Ciely evaluated Nacua:

Going from speculative long-term upside stash to must-grab, Nacua is the hottest name in most leagues. As mentioned in the preseason, Nacua is the better all-around receiver to Van Jefferson with Adam Thielen similarities and is in the Kupp role. It’s not an overreaction to consider Nacua for most lineups in Week 2.

And here’s Ciely’s analysis of Atwell:

Also semi-filling the Kupp void, Atwell had eight targets for 6-119-0 and 14.9 points. He’ll be inconsistent but play as a WR4 with top-20 upside until Kupp returns.

Bottom line: Nacua gets the edge, but both are solid options moving forward.

Required reading

(Top photo of Nacua: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)