Facing a critical third-down play that has far more to do with the rest of his life than a football game, Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua is calling a timeout.
His courageous decision to check himself into a holistic facility to get the personal help he needs, knowing full well the public scrutiny and judgment that would follow, should be applauded.
And if one of L.A.’s most beloved sons had any apprehensions about how his decision might be received, or whether anyone would look at him any differently, here’s hoping he understands an entire city is standing right behind him in support.
Yes, when we watch Nacua play football, we see one of the toughest, baddest dudes in all of sports constantly laying it on the line. He brings a linebacker’s mentality to the wide receiver position, daring anyone to get in his way or try to stop him, and is as willing to deliver a hit as he is to outrace one.
When viewed through that lens, Nacua is an impenetrable and unstoppable physical force. An army unto himself with seemingly no weakness.
But underneath all the toughness and resolve, we also know the heart of a real human being ticks. Someone with the same vulnerabilities and susceptibilities as the rest of us.
It’s why we not only recognize but laud the self-awareness and maturity Nacua is showing right now to get the help he needs. As physically strong as he is, and as much fortitude and willpower as he has, sometimes those traits aren’t enough to manage real-life issues.
It takes the strongest among us to admit how powerless we sometimes are when it comes to those types of battles. Unfortunately, not everyone has the humility or self-realization to admit that, wrongly believing they can out-will or power through whatever personal conflict they face.
Whether it’s ego or just fearfulness for how we might be judged, some of us decide to quietly and privately fight our demons, never letting on, never seeking help, and never fully admitting our troubles.
Only to dig ourselves deeper and deeper into a hole. Until it’s too late.
At 24 years old, Nacua is showing uncanny wisdom by shedding all pretense and ego to not only self-reflect, but also own up to the fact that he can’t fight this battle all by himself.
Sports, and the NFL, are littered with poignant examples of young, talented players who lost their way off the field and never found their way back in time to recoup the millions of dollars and prime years of their career that they fumbled away.
Josh Gordon, Johnny Manziel and Aldon Smith, just to name a few.
But there are also plenty of cases of athletes who either hit rock bottom or were headed there but took long, hard, honest looks at themselves and sought out the necessary help.
Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby is a shining example, proudly embracing his struggles early in his career and the help he courageously sought out as a result. In doing so, Crosby put himself on a Hall of Fame playing career track, but more importantly, made himself an even better human being.
None of this condones Nacua’s alleged actions. There is no place for that type of behavior, or what he is accused of saying.
The point is, he is acknowledging a pattern of behavior, owning up to whatever caused it, and is willing to get the help he needs to improve.
Just as he knows he needs his teammates and coaching staff and support system to succeed on the football field, he realized he needed similar reinforcement to help him win off the field, where some recent decision-making has led to multiple controversial situations.
Among them is a New Year’s Eve incident in which he is accused of biting two women and shouting anti-semitic remarks. One of those women has filed a civil lawsuit against Nacua.
The crossroads of those off-field decisions by Nacua could have far-reaching ramifications, depending on which direction he ultimately chooses.
As he enters the last year of his contract, his on-field resume is worthy of consideration as the highest-paid wide receiver in the history of football. The off-field incidents and the erratic and potentially unreliable picture they paint of Nacua could give the Rams or any other team pause about making that type of financial investment in him.
So yes, there could be more than a hundred million dollars at stake.
Nevertheless, Nacua still could have decided to forge ahead by himself, chalking his mistakes up to nothing more than youthful indiscretions or growing pains. Instead, he listened to his conscience and heeded the advice of family and friends.
He concluded that his football toughness wasn’t enough on this particular playing field. The ownership and accountability that he shows is a display of strength that far exceeds anything he’s done in a football game.
The best thing Los Angeles and the rest of the sports world can now do for Nacua is to grant him all the grace, time, and space he needs to reinforce his foundation and emerge from this every bit the human being, family member, friend, and teammate he aspires to be.
This isn’t about football right now. It’s about a young man’s life.
