is now suing Nacua<\/a> in a California civil court.<\/p>\n\u201cWithout provocation, consent, or warning, Defendant dropped his head into the lap and crotch area of Plaintiff\u2019s female companion and bit her companion\u2019s thumb with such force that her companion screamed in acute pain,\u201d the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n
Then, the lawsuit claims, Nacua turned his attention to Atiabi and allegedly bit her on the left shoulder with enough force to leave behind teeth marks. Atiabi alleges that the incident took place without her consent and without provocation.<\/p>\n
Atiabi filed a temporary restraining order against Nacua in early March, but the order was denied by the court. However, the lawsuit remains active.<\/p>\n
McCathern has denied allegations that Nacua made antisemitic remarks that night.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is unfortunate that a trivial lawsuit has drawn attention to Puka during a time when he is focused on becoming a better overall person,\u201d McCathern said in the statement. \u201cI am really excited to see what the future holds for this gifted young man.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nacua is one of the top players in the NFL, fresh off a season in which he led the league with 129 catches and 107.2 receiving yards per game. Nacua finished with 1,715 receiving yards and 10 receiving touchdowns and was named first-team All-Pro by The Associated Press. It was his second season with at least 1,400 yards, and at age 24, he is primed to break into a wide receiver market that continues to see major extensions to players of his rare ability. Nacua finished second in the league in receiving yards last season behind Seahawks star Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who just signed a four-year extension for $168.6 million.<\/p>\n
But as Nacua enters the fourth and final year of his rookie contract, his contract status remains a work in progress.<\/p>\n
\u201cI trust this kid\u2019s heart. I\u2019ll continue to put my arm around him and help this kid grow,\u201d McVay said on Monday at the NFL\u2019s annual meetings in Phoenix. \u201c\u2026 Let\u2019s have an understanding of what the expectations are and who you can become and who you want to become.\u201d<\/p>\n
McVay, general manager Les Snead and president Kevin Demoff all emphasized that Nacua will need to earn this next extension by bringing his off-field growth in line with his on-field performance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe play on the field is amazing, and with what the play on the field has dictated and determined, there\u2019s a responsibility in terms of representing all things,\u201d McVay said. \u201cHe knows that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Snead, \u201cAt the end of the day, he\u2019s a young man becoming. This is a part of the developmental process. The impact is continuing to evolve, not only as a person but also as a football player. You need to be on your P\u2019s and Q\u2019s in both categories to earn that type of contract.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nacua is one of a handful of top Rams players entering contract years with whom the team will have extension talks. In addition to Nacua, the group includes Pro Bowl linebacker Byron Young, guards Steve Avila and Kevin Dotson, and defensive end Kobie Turner. They also just handed out a major extension to All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie at four years and $124 million following a blockbuster trade to acquire him from the Kansas City Chiefs.<\/p>\n
Nacua remains integral to the Rams\u2019 short- and long-term plans after they came up just yards short of a return to the Super Bowl, when they lost 31-27 to the Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Rams have been urging star wide receiver Puka Nacua to grow as a person after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,1820,398,396,397,349,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-559484","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-los-angeles-rams","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-ncaafootball","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}