Rams star WR Puka Nacua questionable to face Seahawks

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua is questionable to play against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday after aggravating a knee injury in practice this week.

Seahawks rule out 2 key players for Sunday’s game vs Rams

Nacua originally hurt his right knee in training camp before aggravating it in the opener at Detroit, forcing him to miss five games while on injured reserve. Nacua returned last week in a victory over Minnesota, catching seven passes for 106 yards, but he came out of practice Thursday.

Rams coach Sean McVay said there was nothing structurally wrong with Nacua’s knee following this latest setback, but the second-year wideout missed practice Friday.

“I think the good thing is what the hope and expectation is that sometimes when you do that coming off an injury, it kind of scares you as much as anything where maybe you broke up some scar tissue,” McVay said. “When you look at the picture, it was really encouraging structurally.”

Nacua played for the UW Huskies in 2019 and 2020 before transferring to BYU, where he was the Cougars’ leading receiver in 2021 and 2022. Nacua was a fifth-round draft pick by the Rams in 2023 and exploded onto the scene with a record-setting rookie season, hauling in 105 catches for 1,486 yards.

The Rams (3-4) also ruled punter Ethan Evans out Friday because of illness. Either Ty Zentner or Ryan Sanborn will be called up from the practice squad to replace Evans versus the Seahawks (4-4).

In addition to his punting duties, Evans is the holder on field goals and extra points and handles kickoffs.

Seattle Sports staff made minor additions to this post.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

• Rost: Answering three important Seattle Seahawks questions
• Macdonald previews Seattle Seahawks’ Week 9 battle vs Rams
• Why Seahawks remain confident they can fix their run defense
• Rost: The problem with the Seattle Seahawks’ biggest problem
• Salk: Richard Sherman is right about what Seahawks need – kinda