On Sunday, the NFL posted a video of second-year Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua guessing his various category ratings for the upcoming Madden 25 video game.
On Monday, EA Sports released the ratings for wide receivers and safeties for Madden 25.
How close was Nacua, who set the NFL rookie records for receptions and receiving yards last season, to predicting his ratings on the popular video game?
What did Puka Nacua predict his Madden 25 ratings would be?
Nacua, the former BYU and Washington wide receiver who was a prep star at Orem High, was asked in a video shared on social media what his Madden rating would be in several different categories.
Here are his answers:
- Overall — 86
- Speed — 91
- Strength — 90
- Catching — 98
- Deep route running — 90
- Medium route running — 95
- Catch in traffic — 95
- Ball carrier vision — 86
- Juking — 78
- Trucking — 91
Where are Puka Nacua’s ratings on Madden 25?
Nacua ranks 32nd among wide receivers in the launch ratings for Madden 25, which will be released on Aug. 16.
Miami’s Tyreek Hill is the top wide receiver in the game, with a 99 overall rating, while Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson (98), Dallas’ CeeDee Lamb (96), Philadelphia’s A.J. Brown (95) and Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown (95) round out the top five.
Fellow Rams receiver Cooper Kupp was given an 88 overall rating.
How accurate were Nacua’s guesses? Here’s how he rates in each of the categories he predicted:
- Overall — 84 (lower than his prediction)
- Speed — 93 (higher than his prediction)
- Strength — 65 (much lower)
- Catching — 88 (lower)
- Deep route running — 83 (lower)
- Medium route running — 85 (lower)
- Catch in traffic — 86 (lower)
- Ball carrier vision — 89 (higher)
- Juking — 84 (higher)
- Trucking — 53 (much lower)
Nacua was high with his prediction in seven of the 10 categories, including missing his overall rating by two points. He didn’t give himself enough credit on speed, ball carrier vision and juking.
He also was overconfident in his strength and trucking, as his actual rating in those categories came in 25 and 38 points lower, respectively, than he predicted.
In addition to speed, another rating where Nacua was rated above 90 was acceleration (92). He just missed a 90 or better rating in awareness (88), change of direction (89) and catching (88).