‘Don’t love it’ – Los Angeles Rams star makes surprising retirement plan in prime of his career
Puka Nacua has no interest of playing football into his 30s. The Los Angeles Rams star wide receiver went on the ‘Join the Lobby podcast and made his future plans abundantly clear. Nacua is off to one of the best starts a wide receiver has ever had in his careerGetty “I know I want to retire at the age of 30,” Nacua said. “I’m 23 right now, I’m going into Year 3 — it wouldn’t even be ten years. “It’d be maybe seven or eight. I think of Aaron Donald, to go out at the top, I think it would be super cool.” Donald of course retired at the age of 32, having played ten seasons in the league, while making a case as the most dominant defensive player in NFL history. He won Super Bowl LVI, three DPOYs and was an 8x-time First-Team All-Pro and 10x-time Pro Bowler. Donald walked away still in his prime. Nacua is looking to follow that model, while also noting his motivations behind wanting to call it a career at 30. The 23-year-old wants to have a big family,’ saying: “I want to be able to be a part of their lives and be as active as I can with them.” In his first two NFL seasons, Nacua has already racked up a handful of injuries. Joint sprains, knee tears, rib injuries and various injuries in college, the knocks have all started to add up for the young star. Nacua has missed multiple games already in his young careerGetty The receiver out of BYU quickly made a name for himself, shattering all sorts of records as a rookie two years agoGetty “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.” The voice of FS1 heard what Nacua had to say and didn’t love what he heard. Colin Cowherd went on his show ‘The Herd’ and expressed concern over the Rams star and the fact that he said all of it publicly. “I didn’t love it,” Cowherd said. “Don’t love it. NFL general managers, they’re not looking for work-life balance. They don’t care. They want you to be obsessed. “I think it actually puts a light on Puka. “What if next year, he’s got more than a few drops? “He misses a couple a couple games in a row. Maybe he’s just protecting his body over team. “You introduce questions you don’t need to introduce.” Whenever Nacua decides to hang it up, and if it indeed is at the age of 30, there’s no telling what he will accomplish by then. Stay up to date with the latest from across the NFL via our talkSPORT Facebook page, and subscribe to our Endzone YouTube channel for news, view and exclusive interviews as we build up to the NFL Draft in April
Puka Nacua has no interest of playing football into his 30s.
The Los Angeles Rams star wide receiver went on the ‘Join the Lobby podcast and made his future plans abundantly clear.
“I know I want to retire at the age of 30,” Nacua said.
“I’m 23 right now, I’m going into Year 3 — it wouldn’t even be ten years.
“It’d be maybe seven or eight. I think of Aaron Donald, to go out at the top, I think it would be super cool.”
Donald of course retired at the age of 32, having played ten seasons in the league, while making a case as the most dominant defensive player in NFL history.
He won Super Bowl LVI, three DPOYs and was an 8x-time First-Team All-Pro and 10x-time Pro Bowler.
Donald walked away still in his prime.
Nacua is looking to follow that model, while also noting his motivations behind wanting to call it a career at 30.
The 23-year-old wants to have a big family,’ saying: “I want to be able to be a part of their lives and be as active as I can with them.”
In his first two NFL seasons, Nacua has already racked up a handful of injuries.
Joint sprains, knee tears, rib injuries and various injuries in college, the knocks have all started to add up for the young star.
“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.”
The voice of FS1 heard what Nacua had to say and didn’t love what he heard.
Colin Cowherd went on his show ‘The Herd’ and expressed concern over the Rams star and the fact that he said all of it publicly.
“I didn’t love it,” Cowherd said.
“Don’t love it. NFL general managers, they’re not looking for work-life balance. They don’t care. They want you to be obsessed.
“I think it actually puts a light on Puka.
“What if next year, he’s got more than a few drops?
“He misses a couple a couple games in a row. Maybe he’s just protecting his body over team.
“You introduce questions you don’t need to introduce.”
Whenever Nacua decides to hang it up, and if it indeed is at the age of 30, there’s no telling what he will accomplish by then.
Stay up to date with the latest from across the NFL via our talkSPORT Facebook page, and subscribe to our Endzone YouTube channel for news, view and exclusive interviews as we build up to the NFL Draft in April
