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NFL wide receiver Puka Nacua shakes hands with fans during a game between the BYU Cougars and the Arizona Wildcats held at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. | Isaac Hale
Puka Nacua is doubling down on his plan to retire early from the NFL.
Nacua recently joined former New England Patriots receiver Julian Edelman on his podcast “Games with Names,” and the duo discussed walking away from the game, along with several other topics, over the course of a nearly two-hour conversation.
Here are five takeaways from the interview.
The best NFL game, according to Puka Nacua
The premise of the podcast is “to find the greatest game of all time,” Edelman said.
On Nacua’s episode, the game up for debate as the greatest was the Sept. 17, 2023, matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers.
In that game, Nacua had 15 receptions for 147 yards, but the 49ers ended up winning 30-23.
When Edelman asked Nacua if that game was the greatest of all time, Nacua said the honor should actually go to a game Edelman played in.
Nacua considers the Super Bowl in 2017, when the Patriots overcame a 28-3 deficit to beat the Atlanta Falcons, as the greatest game.
“I mean, not only obviously your catch across the middle, you double clap that. There was centimeters in between you and the ground and then Julio had a couple of sideline catches of, ‘Oh my gosh,’ like Matt Ryan is just standing up, ‘Hey, No. 11 is over there, I’m going to throw the ball,’ and he would find a way to get it down. It was like holy cow,” Nacua said.
An unforgettable moment with LeBron James
Nacua said he’s trying to “enjoy what it’s like to live out here in L.A.” and that includes attending Los Angeles Lakers games to watch LeBron James.
The former BYU receiver shared a recent conversation he had with James.
Following Luka Doncic’s trade to the Lakers, Nacua swapped game-worn jerseys with Doncic at a Lakers game.
After the swap, James came out of the locker room and walked toward Nacua.
“He sees me and he’s like, ‘Yo, I didn’t know you were coming in tonight.’ I’m like, ‘I only come to watch you,’” Nacua said.
Nacua said he then prepared for what he said needed “to be the best dap of my life.”
Then James said something a young Nacua would never have believed: “I’m always rocking with you.”
“Every ounce and every cell in my body was just screaming because I’m born in 2001. I’ve been watching LeBron James my entire life,” he said.
Nacua described it as “unreal.”
His unique retirement plans
Last month, Nacua made waves when he said he wanted to retire at age 30. He cited family as the reason, as previously reported by the Deseret News.
“The injuries are something you can’t control (as) part of the game, so you never know,” Nacua said. “Hopefully, the rest of the career can go healthy, but you have shoulder surgery, you have knee surgery, you have ankle. By the time my kids could be 18, I could be barely walking if you play the game and sustain all the injuries and stuff like that, but I want to retire early.”
Edelman advised Nacua to never let the people on the other side of the negotiating table know that he wants to retire early.
“Don’t ever tell the other side, any age, OK? We’re talking negotiations. I’ll get you a couple more shekels, OK? If it’s there, it’s there. You don’t say it,” Edelman said.
Another reason Nacua wants to retire early is to pursue a career in another sport.
“I want to go play overseas basketball. That’s why I’m like, I want to play football and I want to take that money,” he said. “I’m sure I could go to another country that only 25% of the world’s ever heard before, get ownership in the team and go do the Michael Jordan route. I’m going to get 25 shots up a night.”
He’d also want to be the coach, he said.
“I’m going to sub my own minutes in and then I’m going to make sure that we’re getting ticket sales at the end of them, like try to work some actual business, do it the right way,” Nacua said.
Changing from No. 17 to 12
Following the Rams’ signing of Davante Adams in March, fans and the media wondered who would wear the No. 17, the number both players have worn the entirety of their NFL careers.
Nacua originally told ESPN’s Pat McAfee he’d challenge Adams to a game of PIG, and the winner would get No. 17.
But then, the next day, Nacua announced he’d be wearing No. 12 for the Rams, the number he wore at BYU.
Edelman asked if Adams and Nacua actually played PIG to decide.
The game never happened, Nacua said, and Adams got the number for free, instead of having to buy it off Nacua like other players have done in the past.
Turns out, Nacua had already been planning to change to No. 12 since last season. But to do so, Nacua would have had to file paperwork and buy out his remaining No. 17 jerseys. He was told it would cost him $500,000.
“I’m like, I think you forgot when I got drafted. I was like, I don’t got that type of money,” he said.
He waited a year to make the change this season at the start of the new league season. Then the Adams signing happened.
He said if he had waited just three weeks, he could have had Adams pay him for the number.
How he got his social media handles
Nacua shared the story of how he got his Instagram handle, @pukaizded.
In the eighth grade, Nacua’s mom found out he had a secret Instagram account.
“My mom finds my Instagram and changes it and she made it, ‘Puka is Dead,’ like to let me know I was in trouble. I’ve never changed my Instagram after that cause it’s too funny just like how it’s spelled, ‘Iz Ded.’”
The origin of his X handle, @AsapPuka, is a little more obvious and a nod to ASAP Rocky.
“Man, growing up, like loved ASAP Rocky and their group. I mean, those are like when I first really started playing football and like I need hype music. ASAP Rocky and them were killing,” Nacua said.
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