Los Angeles Rams three-year veteran wide receiver spoke with the media on Wednesday afternoon and addressed all the lingering questions that followed him this past offseason.
After spending his spring in rehab, Nacua eventually checked out of the program and was a full participant during the Rams OTA’s and broke his silence.
Nacua called the bite lawsuit a “Moment for me to learn” and also called his rehab experience has been a great improvement in his life.
With a contract extension currently on pause and a lot of things happening off the football field, Nacua said he’s been utilizing the football field as his safe space.
“I try to take accountability for the things that I can continue to change and can grow in ways that have helped me feel as best as I can when I step on the football field and outside the football field,” Nacua said. “But being a father is something that has changed my life, but also becoming a better person, continuing to work”
Nacua’s coach, Sean McVay, also said his star receiver doesn’t seem to be worried about a contract extension as he’s continuing to do all the right things.
“He’s inspired to do right because his heart is right and the contract and things like that will take care of itself,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said. “He’s an incredible player, and like anything else, he’s continuing to mature as a man. I love him, I love his heart, and I love the growth that he’s had and we’re with him every step of the way.”
With a new season set to begin for Nacua, he said he’s confident he can put the distractions of the offseason behind him and has been relying on his inner circle to support him; that includes his mother and his brothers.
“I owe a great thank you to my support system, but especially to my family. There have been things that have happened this offseason that haven’t been the truest reflection of the person I am and how my mother raised me. There’s definitely been conversations with her to apologize and how she supports me.”
Nacua is coming off a career year where he led the league in receptions (129), finishing second in yards (1,715) behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba (1,793), with 10 touchdowns.
When the season came to an end, Smith-Njigba was rewarded with a four-year $168.6 million contract extension by the Seattle Seahawks.
Nacua, who’s averaged 1,619 yards, 121 receptions, and 7 touchdowns over the last three years, was looking poised to top Smith-Njigba’s extension by becoming the NFL’s highest-paid receiver by signing a deal over $170 million.
But on March 24, Nacua’s momentum for a contract extension with the team that selected him in the fifth round, with the 177th pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, came to a halt after he received a restraining order on March 24, after he was accused of biting Madison Atiabi during a drunken night out on New Year’s Eve, where he allegedly said “f—k all the Jews.”
Days before the Rams reported for training camp this past week, new images surfaced of Atiabi’s bite mark, showing clear evidence of where his teeth marked the back/shoulder area of her body, as she had claimed his bite “broke skin” and “left visible” marks on her shoulder. She went on to say that it caused her “immediate and severe physical pain.”
On April 1, Nacua checked in to therapy at a luxury treatment center in Malibu, where his attorney, Levi McCathern, told TMZ he never made the antisemetic remark.
On May 11, it was revealed that Nacua would dodge facing any criminal charges, but an ongoing civil lawsuit remains active.
