Countdown to Camp is a series breaking down the Rams roster by position group heading into training camp. The second installment examines the secondary.

The secondary was a mixed bag during the offseason. The cornerback room received some major overhaul by bringing in Chiefs teammates Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson. The safety room remained relatively consistent and re-signed key piece Kam Curl to continue playing alongside Quentin Lake and Kamren Kinchens.

With a mixture of movement and continuity, there's one big question heading into training camp for this group: How will all the pieces fit together?

McDuffie is known for his ability to play in multiple different spots, from outside to slot to nickel. Watson, on the other hand, will likely match up one-on-one with opposing offense's biggest receiver due to his size and physicality. Each bring their own unique skillset and will work alongside Emmanuel Forbes Jr. building on a breakout second season and and Josh Wallace looking for a breakout third in Los Angeles.

"When you get two guys like that on the outside that are able to really just lock down the perimeter, it makes my job easy," Lake said about McDuffie and Lake on June 8. "We got a lot of skilled, very talented people on defense. But I always say, 'It doesn't matter how talented you can be, you still gotta put the work in. Hard work beats talent if talent doesn't work hard.'"

Despite being the newcomer in the room, McDuffie has experience with multiple leaders in the group. McDuffie was coached by now-pass game coordinator/defensive back coach Jimmy Lake when the Jimmy was the defensive coordinator and head coach at Washington. McDuffie also played high school ball with Quentin Lake when he was a freshman and Quentin was a senior.

Especially with Jimmy, McDuffie understands his work ethic and culture. And to Quentin's point, McDuffie knows the work it's going to take to play in Jimmy's system and will allow for an easy transition into the Rams' secondary.

"(He's going to) truly pour into this DB room, which I love," McDuffie said about Jimmy on June 8. "Coming from college, Coach Lake was someone that taught me how to play corner, taught me how to see the football field from a coach's perspective. He's going to add a lot of great things to this DB room that is young, that is hungry, that wants to get better. He's a perfectionist, and I think we need to have a coach that's a perfectionist and that's going to work on the details day in and day out."

Serving as the senior defensive assistant last season, Jimmy can take what he observed from a year ago into his new role, all while attempting to acclimate the new players with the old. The safety room boasts much of that continuity as Curl, Kinchens, Quentin and Jaylen McCollough all have two years of experience in McVay and defensive coordinator Chris Shula's system.

So as the Rams attempted to fill the gaps in the secondary from a season ago, they acquired players through trade and retained key pieces that worked. Now, training camp is the time to see how all of those pieces will fit together.