In some cases, history tends to repeat itself to the point where the universe feels like a simulation. That seems to be the case as the Los Angeles Rams made a trade for another Kansas City Chiefs cornerback in Trent McDuffie.
Back in 2017, the Los Angeles Rams lost in the playoffs with a secondary that included Troy Hill, Nickell Robey-Coleman, and Kavyon Webster. That same postseason, the New England Patriots went on to lose in the Super Bowl. The following offseason, the Rams upgraded the secondary by trading for Marcus Peters.
This past season, the Rams lost in the playoffs with a secondary that included Ahkello Witherspoon, Cobie Durant, and Emmanuel Forbes. In the Super Bowl, the Patriots lost. Now, in the offseason, the Rams have traded for another Chiefs cornerback in McDuffie. Did I mention that both Peters and McDuffie wore the number 22?
While Peters didn’t necessarily work out with the Rams, that wasn’t necessarily on him. If anything, it was the Rams not understanding the player’s skillset and then trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. There’s no doubt that cornerback play can be volatile. More so than any other position, schematic fit significantly matters for cornerback.
That was the case with Peters. He finished the 2018 season as the 67th-rated cornerback via PFF out of 78 players. His 109.9 passer rating allowed when targeted ranked 65th. NFL Networks Bucky Brooks described Peters’ struggles perfectly at the time. Wrote Brooks,
“He’s being asked to play a style that doesn’t fit his skill set,” a former Pro Bowl cornerback familiar with Peters’ game and the Rams’ scheme told me. “He is a zone corner who needs to play off, clue the quarterback and jump routes. He’s a smart player with terrific instincts and ball skills, but he’s not able to put those traits into practice because he’s playing more press coverage and spending most of his time at the line of scrimmage…To that point, Peters is indeed widely viewed as an instinctive playmaker at the position in football circles. Coaches rave about his ball skills and diagnostic ability…He has always been at his best when he sits off at a distance and reads routes…He is relatively capable of playing bump-and-run coverage on the perimeter, but he doesn’t possess elite speed and his lack of eye discipline can result in some ugly plays. In addition, Peters appears to have some communication problems with his new teammates and this uncertainty has been costly in key moments.
It was for those reasons that Brooks didn’t see Peters as a long-term fit for the Rams and he ended up being correct as the team traded him in 2019 to the Baltimore Ravens. It’s fair to have those same questions about McDuffie, but there are also some key differences.
The biggest difference is that McDuffie fits the Rams’ profile at cornerback. McDuffie may not have the size of a prototypical shutdown cornerback, but the Rams typically don’t care about size at the position. They have typically targeted physical cornerbacks that play with an edge and have some level of competitiveness. The Rams also like cornerbacks with versatility and good ball skills.
The Rams have a type and McDuffie has many of those traits. In fact, one of McDuffie’s athletic comparisons via Mockdraftable is Roger McCreary who the Rams traded for last season.
He’s a smaller, but physical cornerback who has had a missed tackle rate of 5.9 and 8.1 percent over the last two years. McDuffie’s 78.5 run defense grade was the 10th best in the NFL via Pro Football Focus last season. His 5.9 percent missed tackle rate ranked eighth. He has 34 pass breakups over the last four years via Pro Football Reference which includes 13 in 2024.
While McDuffie has played some of his best football from the slot, it’s not something that he’s done primarily since 2023. He was a second-team All-Pro in 2024 and played 765 snaps on the outside compared to 149 in the slot. That was also McDuffie’s best year via PFF and he had a career-best 87.4 passer rating allowed. His ability to play in the slot simply makes him a versatile piece in the defense.
From that standpoint, it’s easy to see why the Rams like McDuffie. However, this is also a player that they are going to have some familiarity with. As the University of Washington Defensive Coordinator in 2018, Jimmy Lake recruited McDuffie to play for the Huskies. Lake would go on to coach McDuffie for three years at Washington. After standing out as a freshman, Lake said of McDuffie,
“I enjoy (coaching) all the guys, for sure. But it’s definitely a proud moment when you see a player that you just recently recruited, that just signed and arrived here, and he’s learning the techniques, learning all of our coverages.”
When McDuffie declared for the NFL Draft, Lake was one of the coaches McDuffie specifically thanked. To say that the Rams will have some familiarity with the player in this situation would be an understatement. While McDuffie isn’t the same player that he was at Washington, his player profile from a traits standpoint makes him a Rams fit. Said Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network,
“McDuffie is a slightly undersized cornerback with tremendous quickness, awareness and toughness. He’s been successful relying on a variety of techniques…In off coverage, he primarily plays from a side shuffle, where he can see through the wideout to the quarterback. He can anticipate and drive on the ball very quickly. McDuffie is rarely out of position and that’s probably why he doesn’t get much action to his side of the field. He is an aggressive run defender and a sure tackler in space. He’s also an explosive blitzer and he’s been productive on punt and kickoff teams. Overall, McDuffie is one of the safest players in the draft.”
Again, he fits the profile which is important at the cornerback position. In some of the same ways that the Rams have utilized the best cornerbacks in the system, those are McDuffie’s best skillsets. The Rams liked to move Jalen Ramsey around and use him occasionally in blitz packages. Those are things that McDuffie does very well. While the Rams and Chiefs may have some stylistic differences on defense, they played very similar rates of different coverages. The biggest difference came at Cover 0 where the Chiefs had the second-highest rate in the NFL and Cover 3 where the Rams had an eight-point gap. Outside of those, the two teams had nearly identical rates of Cover 1, Cover 2, Cover 4, and Cover 6.
Given some of the parallels, it’s easy to draw a comparison when it comes to the trades of Peters and McDuffie. With that said, this one is vastly different. McDuffie fits the Rams’ profile at the position and has familiarity with the coaching staff.
Coming into the offseason, the Rams needed an upgrade at cornerback and managed to trade for an All-Pro caliber player in his prime at age 25. They also only had to give up minimal future assets to do so. The Rams only traded away the 29th overall pick, two day three picks in 2026, and a third round pick in 2027. They are currently projected to get two day three comp picks for Christian Rozeboom and Demarcus Robinson. In the case that Nate Scheelhaase gets a head coach position next season, they could get a third-round pick back as well.
This wasn’t some massive overpay from general manager Les Snead. Just last season, the Indianapolis Colts gave up two first-round picks for Sauce Gardner. The expectations for a rookie cornerback were always somewhat unrealistic and the Rams still have flexibility in that sense. This doesn’t stop them from drafting or signing another cornerback.
The player selected at 29 and two players on Day 3 of the draft weren’t having a significant impact in 2026. While McDuffie has a looming extension, they have 2026 control with his 5th year option. Additionally, they can tag and trade him next year or extend a 25-year-old cornerback in his prime. That’s not a bad situation to be in. The Rams also have $181 million in 2027 cap space. There is future flexibility when it comes to contract extensions.
At the end of the day, the Rams got better. They addressed their biggest need of the offseason and have flexibility over the next two months. While they’ve made this type of move before, McDuffie looks to be a much better fit.
