Signing of Jaylen Watson points to major shift for the Rams that will solve biggest weakness and make it a Super Bowl caliber roster
The Los Angeles Rams’ defense just got a lot more devastating, thanks to the signing of cornerback Jaylen Watson.
The Los Angeles Rams made waves when they signed former Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Jaylen Watson to pair him with teammate Trent McDuffie. The duo will be the Rams’ starting cornerback duo for the foreseeable future, and give the Rams an immediate boost in the secondary.
The signing of Watson (and addition of Trent McDuffie) means the Rams are likely going to be playing an entirely different brand of football next season in the secondary.
Jaylen Watson signing shifts Rams’ defense
In my grade analysis of the Watson signing, I pointed out that I believed the two adds mean the Rams will be running a lot more press coverage next season than they were in 2024 and 2025. For my money, that’s a great sign of their evolution. What does that mean? What does that solve for their defense? Let’s dive in.
Run defense
I’ll knock this one out first since it’s the quickest to cover. The Rams were a fairly stout run defense up front in 2025, allowing the 12th-fewest total yards a year after finishing among the worst in the league in 2024. However, there were leaks in run defense behind the defensive line, particularly among their secondary. Every member of the secondary but Kam Curl finished with a double-digit missed tackle rate, and teams knew the Rams’ cornerbacks were liabilities in run defense, hence why LA was forced to play so much off-zone.
With Watson and McDuffie entering the picture, that changes for the Rams. The two are superb run defenders, combining to miss just three tackles in run defense in 2025. Their combined missed tackle rate would be just 12th on the Rams last season. Not only will they naturally help shore up the Rams’ run defense off of ability, but their schematic value should help boost the Rams here as well.
Press alignments add an extra package of what the Rams can do in the run game. When they run Cover 3 (their staple coverage from last season), they now have the flexibility to change who the “force” player is. More specifically, they can now trot out “cloud fitting” the run reliably. All that means is instead of having a linebacker (Backer=Buzz) or safety (Sky) as the primary force player in the run fit, the Rams have the option of making it a cornerback instead. Jalen Ramsey was incredible in this role for the Rams.
All this means is that now the Rams can now get more flexible in their run fits without compromising their ability to stop the run. Last year, the Rams’ poor run defense at cornerback meant their options were limited in how to fit the run. Not any more with McDuffie and Watson in town.
How Jaylen Watson improves Rams’ passing defense
Press coverage allows the Rams more options to attack opposing offenses, rather than the inverse. Press alignments allow defensive backs to disrupt the timing of passes, increase their ability to contest passes, and allow the Rams a more diverse palate of match coverage. The Rams toyed with press-man coverage last season on occasion to strong results, but they lacked the personnel to do it consistently.
In the Week 11 matchup against Seattle, the Rams broke out these looks, and it forced Sam Darnold to throw into tighter windows and threw off the rhythm of some Klint Kubiak’s rhythm-based quick dropback game. Darnold had his worst game statistically of the three that game, as the incompletions and interceptions threw him and Seattle’s offense for a loop.
Press alignments also allow the Rams some more flexible to lock their coverages in their match menu of plays, playing MEG with help over the top if needed. That sounds complicated, but to put it in layman’s terms, it means the Rams can help shore up their defense against bunch and stacked formations by disrupting the timing of some of those looks and allows them to dedicate more resources to top level receivers in key moments.
The Rams ran man coverage roughly just 20% of the time last season, but posted the 7th-best yards per play and 10th best success rate in the NFL on those looks, and it’s obvious defensive coordinator Chris Shula and company are eager to get back to that with personnel better suited for those looks.
Watson will also help Jared Verse and company
An improved coverage unit will always benefit the pass rush by virtue of quarterbacks being forced to the ball longer, but the Rams new-look defense with Watson and McDuffie in town will also allow the Rams to get more aggressive with their pass rush.
Part of why Steve Spagnuolo could be so creative and aggressive as a defensive coordinator was the presence of these two cornerbacks. The Chiefs could throw cover zero looks at teams because they trusted their secondary to hold up. The Rams situationally deployed it (again, versus Seattle), but they weren’t an aggressive blitzing team last year (24th in the league), relying more on stunts and line games to pick up pressure. However, they ramped up the pressure in the playoffs to strong success.
The Rams already boasted one of the league’s best pass rushes in terms of affecting the quarterback, finishing second in pressures and first in quarterback hits. However, they weren’t consistent turning those into sacks with a middle of the pack sack rate, largely due to their coverage woes on the back end.
In their new-look defense, however, press alignments will help eliminate some of those quick game throws the Rams gave up routinely last season, and will force quarterbacks to hold the ball longer as a result. Given the Rams’ talent in their pass rush room and the pressure games Chris Shula throws at opposing quarterbacks, every second counts, and the longer a quarterback has to hold the ball, the better off the Rams’ pass rush will be.
While this is a long-winded way to say the obvious “the Rams’ defense will be better” with Jaylen Watson and Trent McDuffie than they were last year, I think it’s a fascinating sign of just how the Rams are continuously evolving as a team every year. When Sean McVay announced the promotion of Jimmy Lake to defensive backs coach and the departure of longtime presence Aubrey Pleasant, he cited a desire to “evolve the scheme”.
Safe to say, I think the Rams have done just that, and it can change this defense into a Super Bowl-caliber unit.