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With Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson, the Rams' Secondary Is Ready to Rock
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- With Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson, the Rams' Secondary Is Ready to Rock
Last season, the Los Angeles Rams finished with a 14-6 record including the postseason, nearly made it past the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game, ranked first in the NFL in points scored, ranked second behind those Seahawks in Total DVOA , discovered a radically successful adherence to 13 personnel , got Matthew Stafford to agree to run it back for another season in 2026, and looked for all the world like one of the NFL's best franchises.
One thing that did get in the Rams' way was their cornerback play. In 2025 when targeted, Los Angeles ' cornerbacks allowed 157 catches on 293 attempts for a league-high 2,166 yards, a league-high 20 touchdowns (tied with the Dallas Cowboys ), 13 interceptions, 41 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 81.8. Led by Cobie Durant , Emmanuel Forbes , the newly-retired Darious Williams , and Roger McCreary , those cornerbacks were of the boom-or-bust type, equally given to big plays for their own teams, and allowing big plays from their opponents.
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So, as you would expect from Rams general manager Les "F Them Picks" Snead, the team went all out to solve the problem. And they went to one place to solve it — Kansas City . On March 4, the Rams sent the 2026 29th overall pick, as well as 2026 fifth- and sixth-round picks and a 2027 third-round pick, to the Chiefs for cornerback Trent McDuffie , and then signed McDuffie to a new four-year, $124 million contract with $100 million guaranteed, making McDuffie one of the highest-paid players at his position... well, ever.
Then on Monday, the Rams doubled down by agreeing to sign former Chiefs cornerback Jaylen Watson to a three-year, $51 million contract with $34 million guaranteed. And with that, a Rams defense led by Chris Shula that played by far the most dime in the NFL last season (six defensive backs on the field) got quite a bit more interesting.
First, McDuffie. Last season, he allowed 37 catches on 55 targets for 342 yards, 130 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, one interception, six pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 94.7. McDuffie is highly regarded as a slot defender, but in 2025 for the Chiefs, he played on the outside 80% of the time, and he was just fine out there.
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One thing with McDuffie, and this is also true of Watson, is that you want him in press coverage as much as possible. That's where his extremely competitive playing demeanor shines through, and where his physical attributes show up best. McDuffie adds value because he can play press coverage from the slot, which is really hard to do when you're dealing with smaller receivers and option routes and two-way goes and whatnot.
You do not pay Trent McDuffie Hall of Fame money to roll around in off coverage.
As for Watson, he was even more impressive in Steve Spagnuolo's defense last season. In 2025, he allowed 35 catches on 59 targets for 447 yards, 173 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, two interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 69.0. And he played even more press reps than McDuffie did — he was targeted 57 times in press to McDuffie's 37 — and when targeted in press, Watson allowed 32 catches with 6.5 yards per pass.
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What's interesting here is that the Rams didn't play press coverage a lot last season, but when they did, they were very good. Per Sumer Sports, Los Angeles' 2025 defense had at least one cornerback in press on just 36.75% of their snaps, but they allowed a completion rate of 60.38%, and an EPA of -0.075 was the result. As defensive EPA is better when it's negative, that's pretty decent.
Which defense led the NFL in press coverage last season? The Chiefs, of course; they've led the NFL in press coverage every year that Spagnuolo has been their defensive coordinator. In 2025, the Chiefs had at least one cornerback in press on 87% of their snaps, and you can expect the Rams' press rate to double (if not more) with a quickness.
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This is, after all, a Rams team that had no issue with a wild switch from inside and outside zone in the run game a couple years ago to a massive upswing in man-blocking concepts, and last season's takeover of 13 personnel showed once again that Sean McVay is unafraid to completely switch things up based on personnel and success rate.
Now, it's Chris Shula who is tasked with the same kind of paradigm shift, and you certainly can't say that the team's shot-callers haven't given him the tools to do exactly that. If that all goes the right way, maybe the Rams will have the edge they barely didn't in 2025 to get to the Super Bowl .
This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Mar 9, 2026, where it first appeared in the NFL section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
