Puka Nacua is grateful each time he’s able to get his feet back on the grass of a football field. But whether the NFL allows him to keep them there is another question entirely.

On the eve of the Rams preparing to fly halfway around the world for Thursday’s season opener against the 49ers in Melbourne, Australia, Nacua addressed the uncertainty surrounding a potential league suspension stemming from his turbulent offseason.

Nacua was asked directly whether he has any anxiety about the possibility of being suspended by the league, and while he didn’t exactly answer the question, he didn’t run from it, either.

“I think, yeah, there’s definitely an emotion with some of the things,” Nacua said after practice Monday. “I’m just trying to handle that in the ways that I can and what’s in my control.

“But also having a realistic understanding of the consequences of some of the things that I put myself in this offseason.”

Nacua can’t control what the NFL ultimately decides. But he can control how he handles the uncertainty, and by sharing his understanding of the realistic possibilities of the consequences of his actions, he sounds like someone who understands that whatever comes next may have to be accepted.

For now, however, there has been no indication that a suspension is imminent, and he may avoid one entirely.

Rams coach Sean McVay said Sunday he had not heard that Nacua or offensive lineman Alaric Jackson would be suspended before the opener. Nacua also has not been placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt List, which can be used to remove players from practices and games while the league reviews potential violations of its personal conduct policy.

Unlike other players who were placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt List, Nacua has had no formal criminal charges filed against him. The Los Angeles City Attorney’s office reviewed potential misdemeanor battery claims, but instead of filing formal charges, the case was routed into a pre-filing diversion program.

Nacua is entering the fourth and final year of his rookie contract and is being sued for assault and battery by a woman who alleges Nacua made an antisemetic remark and bit her shoulder during a New Year’s Eve incident. Nacua has strongly denied that he ever made an antisemitic remark.

“Puka denies these allegations in the strongest possible terms,” his attorney, Levi McCathern II, said in a statement in March. He also categorized the bite mark as consensual “horseplay.”

Shortly after the alleged incident, McCathern said Nacua entered a rehabilitation facility “to improve his overall behavior in every aspect of his life.”

Monday, Nacua sounded less interested in litigating his situation publicly than appreciating the football temporarily in front of him.

“I feel like I’ve been able to feel grounded and feel present when I step out there on the football field,” Nacua said. “Every time I step on that football field, never taking that moment for granted and then also feeling really grateful to be out there with a group of guys and to go out and compete.”

Nacua had another reason to feel grateful when he returned to full practice on Sunday after a psoas injury suffered during an August joint practice against the Dallas Cowboys had kept him out of team workouts for several weeks.

“It feels great being out there on the field, just being able to move around,” Nacua said. “Being around the guys, I think, has got some of that energy and blood flowing in the body.”

The Rams final practice will be on Tuesday before they jump on an airplane for a 16-hour flight to Australia.

Unlike some teammates who may be dreading the marathon flight to Melbourne, Nacua has personal reasons to embrace it. He said extended family lives in Australia and spoke excitedly about connecting with the Polynesian community there.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Nacua said. “I have some extended family who live out there in Australia, and I look forward to being embraced by our fans out there and also the Polynesian culture that’s out there.”

His strategy for surviving the flight is considerably less complicated: sleep until breakfast.

“They told me not to nap,” Nacua said about his Tuesday plans. “I probably won’t peek an eye.”

For everything else, particularly whatever decision might eventually arrive from the NFL, Nacua appears to understand there is no game plan capable of controlling it.

All he can do now is play football for as long as the league allows him to.

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