Puka Nacua is aiming to retire at 30-years-old

Puka Nacua is aiming to retire at 30-years-old

We are still very young–two years, to be exact–into Puka Nacua’s NFL career. He’s already made a Pro Bowl and has hauled in 184 catches for 2,476 yards and nine touchdowns–and is now expected to be the undisputed No. 1 receiver in Los Angeles.

However, the 23-year-old Rams wide receiver recently spoke about how long he wants to play in the NFL–and it’s not long.

“I know I want to retire at the age of 30,” Nacua said, according to Cameron DaSilva of Rams Wire. “I’m 23 right now, I’m going into Year 3 – it wouldn’t even be 10 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. But also, I want to have a big family. I want to have at least a starting five. I came from a big family so I need five boys, for sure. But also, like, I want to be able to be a part of their lives and be as active as I can with them.

“The injuries are something you can’t control [as] part of the game, so you never know. 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.”

Aaron Donald retired after his age-32 season despite being one of the league’s most feared defensive players. In his final season, he tallied eight sacks in 16 games, in addition to 53 tackles with 16 tackles-for-loss and 23 quarterback hits.

In each of his five previously healthy seasons before 2023, the defensive tackle registered at least 11 sacks and 14 tackles behind the line of scrimmage, including a league-most 20.5 sacks in 2018. He was doing that production while eating double teams each snap–making it even more impressive.

While wideout is a less taxing position than, say, a running back, most wide receivers do begin to tail off once they hit 30-years-old. Not all players are the same, and Nacua certainly has the talent to project as one of the league’s best when that time comes.

But, to his point, one would have to stay healthy and players who endure that much wear-and-tear may not. Assuming he retired after his age-29 season, he would retire after 2030. Who knows, maybe he will have a change in heart between now and then. But there is legitimate logic behind his decision-making, and I trust Nacua to make the best decision for him and his family; CTE and other life-threatening injuries are always a possibility in football.

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