Puka Nacua is 147 receiving yards away from breaking the NFL rookie record

Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua is closing in on breaking one of the NFL’s oldest records.

That record is the most receiving yards by a rookie in a season, which was set by Bill Groman of the Houston Oilers in 1960. Groman had 1,473 receiving yards that season, and for more than six decades since then, even as more games have been added to the season and rule and strategy changes have inflated passing numbers, no other rookie has topped Groman’s mark.

Nacua can do it this season. He currently has 1,327 receiving yards in 15 games, which means that if he totals 147 or more receiving yards in the Rams’ final two games of the season, he’ll break Groman’s record.

Behind Groman on the all-time rookie receiving yardage list are Ja’Marr Chase (1,455 yards in 2021), Justin Jefferson (1,400 yards in 2020) and Anquan Boldin (1,377 yards in 2003). Nacua is next, currently occupying the No. 5 spot, just ahead of Randy Moss (1,313 yards in 1998) and Odell Beckham (1,305 yards in 2014).

That’s an impressive list of names, and breaking the record would be an impressive achievement for Nacua. It’s also an opportunity to remember one of the truly great and unsung seasons in pro football history, when Groman arrived in the upstart American Football League as a little-known rookie from the tiny Heidelberg University football program and took the league by storm.

Groman also had an excellent second season, but he suffered a knee injury in the AFL championship game after that year and was never the same player again. He played just six years of pro football, and after having 2,648 receiving yards and 29 touchdowns in his first two seasons, he managed just 833 yards and seven touchdowns over his final four seasons. Groman deserves to be remembered, and Nacua’s great season is bringing Groman’s great season to light again.