Why Rams WR Carries on Cooper Kupp’s ‘Breakfast Club’ Tradition

Published: October 10, 2025

By Mallory Mattingly

Though Cooper Kupp isn’t with the Los Angeles Rams anymore, his legacy of leadership lives on through third-year wide receiver Puka Nacua.

Currently, Nacua is “the NFL’s current leader in receptions (52) and receiving yards (588) through Week 5 of the 2025 campaign,” per Fox News Digital.

So, how does Nacua continue to be the best on the field?

He’s kept up Kupp’s “The Breakfast Club” tradition. Kupp and quarterback Matthew Stafford originally started the group that met early in the morning before practices to prepare to face their next opponent. Nacua got involved in his rookie year, and continuing it after Kupp’s transfer to the Seattle Seahawks keeps his game in top shape.

“To be able to be there when Cooper’s there in the morning, to hear the understanding and the communication that went on between those two,” Nacua told Fox News Digital. “Now, the standard that was set before me, I’m in the meetings now, and I’m having that conversation with Matthew.”

“There’s a statement to be made for myself in the improvement I can make each year, and it’s fun to be able to go out there and perform at the level we’re at right now, and to be on the same page as Matthew because I think our success – we’re on the same page right now and we have the ability to continue to get better,” he added.

Nacua says he’ “blessed” to work with Stafford, reflecting on his many conversations with his teammate.

“It’s been so fun because, as much as it is football, I think it is the conversations we have that aren’t about football,” Nacua shared. “He’s a girl dad, he’s got four daughters, and I don’t know what that’s like. But the experience we have and the conversations we have, I think it allows for trust and just being human beings. I know he sees the work and everybody on our team sees how he works. So, that gives you such confidence to be like, ‘All right, I don’t want to let him down because I know the effort that he puts in.’”

This season, Nacua made a significant change to his uniform. He went from repping the No. 17 to now wearing No. 12, a number of significance for the athlete.

“Carrying on the Nacua legacy! The #12 not only represents me on the football field, but all of my brothers and the sacrifices that my family have made before me to be able to wear this jersey at this moment. I know when I put on that #12, it’s a piece of armor that’s representing my family and always protecting me,” he shared in a post on social media.

ESPN reported in March that “Nacua wore No. 12 as a kid, in high school and in college. Twelve is Nacua’s ‘family number’ as it’s the number his siblings wore while playing sports growing up as well.”