Despite not being selected in the same class for the NFL draft, Kyren Williams and Puka Nacua both emerged as fifth-round selections and are now among the top young players in the game. With 1,486 yards and 105 receptions, Nacua broke several rookie records, and Williams led the league in rushing yards per game during his first season in the starting lineup.

Nacua and Williams combined for 2,925 of the Rams’ 6,108 total yards this season, or almost half of the team’s yards from scrimmage. That’s a significant accomplishment for any two teammates, much less one that includes two former fifth-round picks.

Nacua and Williams are the only teammates in NFL history who are 23 years of age or younger to average at least 90 scrimmage yards per game in the same season, according to a statistic unearthed by Rams play-by-play announcer J.B. Long.

In other words, Nacua and Williams are the youngest partners to have averaged as many yards together.

did this season.

 

Both Nacua and Williams sustained injuries during the 2023 campaign; Nacua was on the injury list multiple times, while Williams’ ankle sprain caused him to miss four games. It makes sense to believe they’ll do even better in their second season as colleagues in Los Angeles, assuming they can both maintain their health in 2024.