Trent McDuffie opens up on Aaron Donald's return to Rams 'The NFL Report'

Los Angeles Rams cornerback Trent McDuffie speaks on the Rams recent acquisition of defensive tackle Aaron Donald and his transition to the team from the Kansas City Chiefs via a trade earlier in the offseason.

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Joining us now on the NFL Report, fresh off the practice field in Woodland Hills, California, the cornerback for the LA Rams, and an LA native at that, Trent McDuffie.

How you doing?

I'm doing good.

Doing good.

Okay.

Thanks for joining us.

Anything going on there?

I don't know, the Rams haven't been in the news much.

Like- Yeah, um- a- anything up with you guys?

We, we, we got some new We have a new guy that actually, wanted to come by and stop by yesterday, which I think was a little shock to a few of us, but we're, we're very excited to have him.

Um- Yeah yeah, he's right behind me, too, which I'm not gonna have to say the name.

You guys already know.

Yeah, he's, he's over your shoulder there.

We, we, we could see him.

He looks kind of mean.

He's good at football.

How does, how does Aaron Donald look on the practice field?

You know, he's one of those guys that everybody will say it, he comes ready.

Already doing double lift days, you know, spending extra time just getting back into football shape and learning this new playbook.

But I know for me, personally, just having a vet to come in here and knowing who he is, knowing what he's about, I think everybody around here is excited to bring him back and welcome him with open arms.

I mean, he- people wanna say he came back for, for Myles Garrett.

Trent, tell the truth.

He came back for Trent McDuffie.

I, you know, I, I was the first one.

So I feel like, you know, it was me, and he was like, "Oh, I see you."

And then we brought Myles, and he was probably like, "All right.

Yeah, you know, I gotta do this."

So I'm glad to know my name's at least just thrown around into that one.

Yeah.

I mean, if I had told you back in March, Trent, when, hey, the, the trade's made, y- you come back home, you, you get the new contract, that all of that would be happening, and then, oh, by the way, they would also add Myles Garrett and Aaron Donald, what would you have said?

I probably would've said you're lying, for real.

I don't know.

Like, there, there's no way you can get me.

There's no way you can get Myles.

There's no way you can get AD.

But, hey, hat off to Les, hat off to Sean.

Those guys are masterminds, and they did it.

In all seriousness, w- when you saw him work out, I assume you saw a couple of workouts, right, when it came to training camp?

Those couple of days where he's- Yeah officially on the, on the transaction list as workout, Aaron Donald, defensive tackle, Pitt.

Did you think that he would go through with it, or did you think he was just kinda kicking the tires, and, eh, maybe not?

You know, like, honestly, they've done a good job of kind of having him come in when everybody's not here, you know?

It's like we didn't really get to see Aaron Donald kind of go through this process a lot, you know?

During a little summer break, you kind of saw him here and there, but, I mean, the guy's a beast.

He's always in here working out.

He's always doing his thing, so, like, it's not something out of the ordinary to see Aaron Donald here.

But we kind of heard whispers.

It was like, "All right, we could have a shot.

You know, we know it's Aaron Donald.

Like, we know what he's bringing."

But, I mean, let's just focus on us type of mentality.

Like, let's just go to training camp, this and that, and then, yeah, when that news broke and we kind of heard what was happening, I mean, I think everybody's eyes kind of got wide.

There were a lot of smiles going on.

And I mean, like I said, we're welcoming him back with open arms, and we're just excited to see him get back on that field 'cause you know just as well as I know that that, that man's a threat.

That, that man's a threat.

You can't double team everybody, and when you have him and Myles, and with you roaming the secondary, with the Cams and everyone else as well, and Jalen Watson, your guy from Kansas City, that is a pretty formidable defense.

I promise we're gonna talk about you and other things.

I, I promise.

Mm-hmm.

But just bear with me here.

So Nick Eason worried.

Did you see the tweet, the Seahawk's safety, what he threw on Twitter yesterday, basically saying, "They're doing all of this for us?"

Right?

Implying, "Hey, don't forget about us.

We're the defending Super Bowl champions.

They're making all these moves for us."

Trent, what do you think of this?

You know, like, look, he- they're the winning, the reigning champions, you know.

They, they're able to talk right now, so I mean, hats off to you if, if that's what you wanna believe.

But I know over here we're worried about us and worried about what we gotta do to get ready for week one.

So, I don't even check Twitter.

You know, everybody can say what they want, but it ain't gonna change the fact that you guys still strap up and have to come play us, so.

Yep, and you get them twice in three weeks in December, which is a long way down the line.

You mentioned week one.

Let, let's talk about week one.

Trent McDuffie, have you ever been to Australia?

I haven't.

You know, that is one place I didn't think I would ever get to, but now that we're playing there, how happy I am.

Yeah, it's 15 hours there and 15 hours back.

Do you have time for- I know you, you, you had time for the beach, or museums, or hanging out with koalas, or anything like that.

You know, I don't even know if we have that much time to do anything but play some ball when we get there.

So, yeah, based on our travel time, really we're focused on going there, playing the 49ers, putting on a good show for the fans, and hopping back on that plane.

Have, I, I know you said you're not, you're not gonna have much time.

They are gonna make a lot about this next week, they meaning everybody, about this is a, like, let's go get off the plane, play a game, and then fly back kind of trip.

You guys are gonna be there, like, 48 hours.

Have you wrapped your head around that yet?

Yeah.

I, I've tried not to really think about it.

You know, I'm trying to just focus on what we can do here, trying to get this game plan together.

And, like I said, once we get on that plane, it's, it's kind of that mindset where, you know, once we land, let's get our bodies as ready as can be, and let's just get ready to go and play.

Everything outside of that is kind of out of control, so there's not really much you can really think about or try to worry about.

Let's talk about you, Trent.

Servite and Bosco, and you're back at home.

How has that been so far?

Honestly, it's been great, you know?

You talk about, welcome home every time I'm out there with the fans.

They welcome me in with open arms.

The community's great.

And honestly, I just, I feel like it's something that I'm used to, you know?

Like, coming back home, being around guys like Sean McVay, who's honestly one of my favorite coaches with the energy that he brings every morning, and just this locker room.

I've been able to truly just feel like I'm back to myself and sense that, I can just come into work- Be around great guys, have a lot of fun, bring that energy, and go against probably one of the best offenses in the league each and every day.

And for me as a football player, that's all I could dream of.

So this is everything I want.

All right, I gotta ask the obvious follow-up.

You said back to yourself.

Were you not yourself last year?

No, I definitely feel like the past four years I've definitely been myself.

I've honestly been able to be, even more than myself as far as just off the field, being in Kansas City, how much they have affected my life and how much I've been able to grow there.

But, once you learn the business side of football, you know, getting traded, all those expectations, the anxiety that comes with it, I feel like you kind of get lost in just everything outside of ball, and it kind of gets hard mentally to go through that transition and the unknown, we like to say, of what comes with being traded.

And once I finally come to the Rams, once I was finally to be around all the guys, I was able to finally get back to myself and be that football player and that guy that everybody loves.

So, I got a lot of gratitude over there for the Chiefs, but I also have a lot of gratitude for the Rams and how they welcomed me here.

And I know you have gratitude to be back where you grew up, and the community has gratitude to you and the Rams as well.

The first sport that you really played, correct me if I'm wrong, was, like, flag football when you were five years old.

Yeah.

And you were recently back with the Inglewood Unified Flag Football League.

Rams doing work in the community.

You handing out backpacks and, and playing and hanging with the kids.

How cool was this?

Yeah, I love it.

I mean, I started a foundation, the T22 McDuffie Foundation, that, really tries to help kids and the youth deal with grief, something that I went through when I was a kid.

So, I had this little backpack drive kind of set up already, in Kansas City, and when I got traded, I was like, "Oh, man," like, "how can I do the same thing or replicate it here in LA?"

And I didn't have really anybody to call, anybody to kind of help me out with this.

So I talked to the Rams and, thankful for them that they were able to kind of set this up and allow me to come out there to the Inglewood school and hang out with the kids and kind of just be that positive role model that I've always had in my life with my dad, and kind of just give that back to the kids.

So it was fun.

And you get to play in Inglewood as well, right down the street from where you were with those kids.

You get to do that week two when you come back home after Australia to get the Giants in prime time.

Trent McDuffie, thanks for doing this, man.

Travel safely and, and quickly and efficiently to Australia.

Good luck week one and the rest of the way.

Much appreciated.

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