WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – Cornerback Jaylen Watson had seen this movie before, or so he thought.
In 2022, the Chiefs drafted Trent McDuffie in the first round, then Josh Williams in the fourth round. He thought he wasn't going to Kansas City, until it drafted him in the seventh round.
Nearly four years later, the Chiefs traded McDuffie to the Rams. Familiar thoughts entered his mind.
"I knew he was going to be the highest-paid (cornerback) in the league," Watson said last week. "I was like, '(Well, I'm) not going to the Rams.'"
History would repeat itself: Los Angeles signed Watson to a three-year deal shortly thereafter, reuniting him with his running mate from Kansas City.
"So yeah, it's a full-circle moment," Watson said. "But super excited."
McDuffie could hardly contain the excitement himself, having told Watson only two days earlier the Rams were going to try to get him and to keep an open mind. Lo and behold, McDuffie proved correct, and he was celebrating on the phone with Watson just as wide receiver Puka Nacua had with him after news of the trade broke.
"Literally it dropped and I called him again like Puka screaming at the top of my lungs like, 'Look at this! Can you believe it?'" McDuffie said.
Though their paths to Kansas City varied by draft slot, they would both become crucial difference-makers playing off of one another in the Chiefs' secondary, especially as the Chiefs won back-to-back Super Bowls within a run of three consecutive appearances.
McDuffie started for Kansas City as a rookie in 2022, and in the postseason had three passes defensed and one forced fumble during that Super Bowl LVII-winning playoff run. Watson started only six of the 16 regular season games he played in – filling in for the time McDuffie missed due to a hamstring injury – that same year, but regained his starting role by the end of the regular season, posting four passes defensed and two interceptions while starting all three of those playoff games.
Both players were integral to the Chiefs' ability to play press-man coverage over the last four seasons.
"When you play with a corner that good, it raises your level of play," Watson said of McDuffie. "Whether you are watching him in a game, you are just stealing the little things from him. Watching him in practice reps, it makes you want to play to a higher level."
"He's one of those guys that I love to tell his story," McDuffie said of Watson. "He is a seventh-round pick. Not a lot of people believed in him. He worked hard day in day out. Again, he's one of those guys that was able to live out his dreams as a Kansas City Chief. The relationship and the respect I have for 'J-Wat' knowing what he's going to bring to this team, the hard work, the grit, the attitude and the overall swag of being a football player. I think it would be really helpful having both of us in here adding to the culture."
The Rams will be counting on that chemistry to shine this season after effectively overhauling the cornerback room from both a personnel and coaching standpoint.
Personnel-wise, Darious Williams retired; Cobie Durant and Ahkello Witherspoon became unrestricted free agents. Durant signed a one-year deal with the Cowboys while Roger McCreary, who also became an unrestricted free agent, signed with the Lions. Witherspoon remains unsigned at time of writing.
Coaching-wise, the group will now be led by pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach Jimmy Lake and assistant defensive backs coach Mike Hunter following the departures of Aubrey Pleasant and Mike Harris.
"As a football player, I think any game you watch you kind of just understand what's going on," McDuffie said, when asked if he watched the NFC Championship and what he thought he could contribute. "I don't ever say I want to put myself in those shoes because obviously I'm not a part of the team. I don't know what they're going through. I don't know what the week looked like, but I saw the positives. I saw the tenacity. I saw the hunger. I saw guys doing well. I saw when guys messed up and how they came back and made it right. I saw all these caveats that as a football player, I love to see. Like I said, when the Rams were on the board and I knew what team I was walking into, I knew the organization, it was night and day. I was ready to go."
Teaming up again with Watson only added to that excitement, even if Watson was initially skeptical.
