Much of the Los Angeles Rams’ roster will look the same in 2026, but one position group that saw a complete overhaul this offseason was cornerback. The Rams let Cobie Durant and Ahkello Witherspoon walk in free agency, and also saw Darious Williams retire from the NFL.
To replace them, the Rams traded a first-round pick (and more) for Trent McDuffie, and promptly signed his teammate, Jaylen Watson, in free agency shortly thereafter. McDuffie and Watson will be Los Angeles’ top two cornerbacks this season, bringing an entirely new look to the secondary – both in terms of personnel and scheme.
ESPN’s Ben Solak ranked the 10 most improved position groups in the NFL this offseason, and he put the Rams’ cornerback unit sixth on the list. Though Solak acknowledges Durant was a quality cornerback for much of his time in Los Angeles, there was plenty of room for improvement.
As such, the story of the Rams’ cornerback improvement starts not with McDuffie but with Watson. A suffocating presence at the line at 6-2 with over 32-inch arms, Watson is at his best winning the physicality battle in the first 5 yards. He isn’t a perfect player (see: George Pickens film in 2025), but he’s multiple tiers better than Forbes and Witherspoon. He will give Shula the tools he needs to play more man coverage, as will McDuffie, who is a wonderful press technician despite below-average 5-11 size.
There’s a reason McDuffie and Watson worked so well in Kansas City, and it’s largely because of their differing skill sets. McDuffie is a smaller, quicker corner who still hits like a safety and mixes it up at the line of scrimmage. By contrast, Watson is a big, physical cornerback who presses receivers into oblivion and stays in their pocket early in the route.
Both excel in man coverage, which was a staple of Steve Spagnuolo’s scheme with the Chiefs, so that will allow Chris Shula to be more versatile with the coverages he calls moving forward.
The Rams will major in zone coverages and big cushions, and Watson can still play in those (and McDuffie will thrive in them). But Shula can be much more versatile in how he picks his matchups now that he has the pair of new cover men. Watson can handle the traditional “X” receivers who tend to give McDuffie issues (think Mike Evans), while McDuffie can travel inside and outside with versatile receivers (think Jaxon Smith-Njigba). Both can still zone off, and their pre-snap alignments won’t reveal Shula’s post-snap intentions. On both talent and scheme, this is a big leap.
Although the Rams’ secondary wasn’t their only issue last season, it was a big problem, particularly in the playoffs. Sam Darnold picked apart Los Angeles’ coverage in the NFC title game and the Rams had no answer for Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Now they have someone who can match up with him no matter where he lines up, whether it’s in the slot or on the outside. And Watson can deal with bigger receivers who have caused problems for Los Angeles – guys like new 49ers receiver Mike Evans.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire: Rams CBs ranked among NFL’s most improved for 2026
About the Author
