Before he embarrassed evaluators and made NFL history and honored his late father on international stages, Puka Nacua played Madden to unwind. He always used the newest iteration, and he often picked the same team—the Rams. He threw virtual passes with Matthew Stafford’s golden right arm, deployed Cooper Kupp all over and studied uniform combinations and the history they highlighted.
Which is funny, because Nacua hasn’t played Madden in months. He no longer needs the console-controller-screen combo to partake in Rams offensive football. He’s a rookie receiver in Los Angeles, catching Stafford targets, and he filled in for Kupp, who missed the season’s first month with an injured hamstring. Nacua’s younger brother asked him for the code to the new version the other day. He answered politely, because that’s him, the newest star in Hollywood, who never saw himself that way and never will.
Even now.
