For the past three seasons, Los Angeles Rams star Puka Nacua has been a bit of a headache for the Seattle Seahawks' defense. He's totaled 35 catches for 500 yards and three touchdowns in five games, averaging 14.3 yards per catch and 100 receiving yards per game against them.
That's why knowing that his future with the Rams may not be as certain as it once was is, by all means, good news for the Seahawks. Of course, the circumstances are unfortunate, and even Seahawks fans should hope he gets his act together, but it'd be best if he did so in another division.
According to a report by Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic (subscription required), the Rams still have confidence in his ability to recover from his well-documented stuff off the field. That said, his impending record-breaking contract extension may no longer be a slam dunk.
The Seattle Seahawks would love to watch Puka Nacua leave the NFC West
"The Rams made it clear publicly and even more firmly behind the scenes in recent weeks that Nacua will have to correct his off-field behavior to earn the type of contract his league-leading play would typically merit," Rodrigue wrote.
Of course, that's not to say they won't make them a pivotal part of their plans for the future. If anything, they're rooting for him and hoping that he can get his life back on track because the production on the field has never been in doubt. From a football perspective alone, there's no doubt that he should be next in line to break Jaxon Smith-Njigba's contract extension record.
That said, there's much more to being a professional athlete than what goes on in between the lines. The Rams have been overly pragmatic at times, moving on from guys like Jared Goff and Cooper Kupp, and recently even exploring the market for Matthew Stafford and Davante Adams.
That doesn't mean they will definitely move on from Nacua, but they can be pretty ruthless when it comes to parting ways with stars. The precedent is there.
At the end of the day, the game is always better when the best players are on the field, but there's no such thing as a minor advantage when you're playing a divisional rival. Anything that can tilt the scale in a team's favor will be something to keep an eye on for the opposing fan base and organization, and vice versa.
As things stand now, the Rams might be the only legitimate threat to the defending Super Bowl champions, not only in the division but in the entire league. As such, the Seahawks can only expect that Nacua is doing just fine as a human being, but that the Rams will still move on from him.