WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – Between his starting role and the offseason investment in him, it was evident how important cornerback Jaylen Watson was going to be to the Rams' secondary.

And his importance became even more apparent in the way the rest of last Sunday's game against the Broncos unfolded after he exited the game with a shoulder injury.

Unlikely to play this Sunday against the Eagles, his expected absence will be an adjustment for the Rams' defensive backfield, but one defensive coordinator Chris Shula and the rest of the unit is prepared for.

"Anytime you lose starters, it's always an adjustment," Shula said Thursday. "You have to move guys around, guys have to step up, but that's life in the NFL. I would be willing to bet if you looked at the injury reports for any defense in the league, they're going to have probably two or three guys out. That's really what you do as the season goes. What it does is it builds depth. You get some guys in some bigger roles that can embrace that role and we plan on doing that."

Shula's assurance primarily stems from the way cornerback Josh Wallace – the Rams' Swiss-Army knife – bounced back from his initial struggles against the Broncos and finishing with a strong performance. When a reporter observed Wallace seemed to get better as the game went on, and asked if Shula saw the same, Shula agreed.

"You're 100% right and he's pretty unfazed," Shula said. "He came back to me after a couple of those plays and said, 'Hey, I owe you one.' Then he comes out and gets the pick and said, 'I told you, Coach.' He's just unfazed. He's always going to be in the right spot. He's extremely smart. He's a true professional and he's really been like that since the day we got here. He's the guy that we've always trusted to go play good football for us and we don't expect any drop off."

Wallace credits holding himself to a certain standard for the way he was able to finish last Sunday night's game. He said he was upset over the missed tackle and pass interference penalty he had on his first two plays,

"Coach Shula always says, 'Make 'em snap it one more time,' and that's kind of the mindset we got," Wallace told therams.com. "And just doing my job at the end of the day."

One of the first things new Rams cornerback Trent McDuffie learned about Wallace when McDuffie arrived in Los Angeles was that Wallace – who signed with the Rams as an undrafted free agent out of Michigan in 2024 – learned the safety, cornerback and star positions when Wallace first got to Los Angeles. The ability and capacity to do so, and not to mention the feeling that they "don't skip a beat" when Wallace is on the field, reinforces that same trust coaches have in Wallace to his teammates.

"Coming out of college especially, when you get to the league, playbooks change, defenses change, and that's a lot of responsibility on somebody to learn all three and go out there and have to play," McDuffie said earlier this week. "And he did that. I know coming into this year and coming off a big year where he had a few interceptions, almost had a pick-six last year against Seattle, you can just tell his confidence was there, and he had a lot of trust in the coaches. So what I've seen from practice, especially in training camp, all the way up until now, I mean, he's always that guy that's in the right position, going to do the right thing, and is going to make a play when he's in there, and that kind of showed up last (Sunday) night, where he let up a long ball, and next few plays came back and had a pick. And that's just one of the guys that we also put out there that we trust and can do multiple positions, which I love. Sometimes you see him at corner, sometimes you see him at nickel, and like me and him are able to ping-pong off each other, which has been great. So I love that he's out there."

If the Rams do in fact need to lean on Wallace again, his mindset won't be any different than it was last week.

"I feel like I've had the same approach since I was a rookie," Wallace said. "If I'm starting or not, I still take the same amount of time in film, just being prepared for whatever opportunity that comes."