Although the NFL season came to an end on Sunday, Puka Nacua is keeping busy.
Nacua, a standout wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams and former BYU star, appeared on Wednesday’s episode of the “Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny” alongside Baltimore Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton.
Here are three takeaways from the interview.
How Puka Nacua won over a skeptical NFL safety
Kimes asked Nacua and Hamilton about what it’s like to play against each other.
The Rams and Ravens last faced off on Dec. 10, 2023. In that game, Nacua had 84 yards and Hamilton recorded four tackles.
Hamilton answered first and admitted he was at first skeptical of all the hype around Nacua in his rookie season.
“Just being completely honest, 100% transparency, before we played the Rams last year, Puka was having a great year, and I’m not going to say that I was a ‘Puka hater’ but I was almost like, ‘How is Puka killing all these teams?’ Then we played them and after the game, I’m like, ‘Oh this dude is different,’” Hamilton said.
That game made Hamilton believe Nacua was deserving of even more hype.
“Honestly, I think he is one of the more underrated players in the league. One, his physicality, just the way he runs routes, and he’s good with his hands. He cooked me bad on like a corner route one time, and I had to hold him or else it was going to be a touchdown. I’ll give up the hold before I give up the six points, but then he like laid out and made a crazy catch,” Hamilton said.
The safety added that Nacua is “bringing energy to the team the whole game” and that his jet sweeps and “15 targets” each game “looks super fun.”
“After the game and from then on, I understood it, and I think Puka’s game is so — I don’t want to downplay it by saying it’s simple, but it’s just like he does everything so efficiently. There’s not a lot of just like unnecessary movements. He’s going to get from Point A to Point B the quickest and most efficient way possible. He’s going to get the ball and do what he does with it,” he said.
What it means to Puka Nacua to represent Samoa and Hawaii
Hamilton and Nacua each appeared on Kimes' show earlier in the NFL season.
Both are Toyota-sponsored athletes, and the automaker partnered with the “Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny” to host the episodes with Nacua and Hamilton “to chat all things family, culture, and hot takes as viewed from their ethnically-diverse upbringings,” per Toyota.
Kimes and Hamilton are of Korean descent, and Nacua’s parents are Samoan and Hawaiian.
On Wednesday’s episode, Hamilton and Nacua discussed what it’s like to be representatives of the AANHPI, or Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, community.
Nacua said it’s surreal for people to come up to him and say, “Man, my son is just starting football and he plays because he sees you out there. He wears No. 17. Or whenever he’s catching the ball in the backyard, he screams ‘Puka.’”
“It’s a huge privilege to be able to be that person that they look up to, and it’s a reminder to myself to be a madman, to make sure I stick to my roots the way my mother raised me, to have respect for everybody, to show love and compassion to all of those around you because I’m doing what I love to do in playing football,” he said.
Nacua said he’s planning a trip in the offseason to host a camp in Samoa.
For kids in the Polynesian community playing football for the first time, regardless if they’re wearing his jersey or not, Nacua is “just glad they’re getting out there to play football because it’s brought me so much joy, and I know what the joy can bring them.”
Would Puka Nacua consider a career in acting?
As part of their Toyota sponsorship, Nacua and Hamilton appeared in commercials this season.
Kimes asked if the experience made either open to the idea of acting.
“I’m not against dabbling in the acting world out here in LA. It could be sweet,” Nacua said.
He could join fellow former BYU Cougar Andy Reid in becoming almost as well known for being a commercial actor as a football star.
Reid has appeared in commercials for State Farm and Snickers. He also made a brief cameo in Hallmark’s “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story,” which was released last fall.