LOS ANGELES — Davante Adams hesitated to heap praise on new Los Angeles Rams cornerback Trent McDuffie but said midway through training camp he was impressed. “I can honestly say I don’t know if I’ll get a better look than what I get from Trent out there,” Adams said, adding that he could not recall feeling that way about another corner.
McDuffie emerged as a key offseason addition for Los Angeles before the team traded for Myles Garrett on June 1. The Rams traded for Garrett for a package that included the No. 29 selection in the 2026 draft. Less than a week after that deal, the team signed McDuffie’s former Kansas City Chiefs teammate Jaylen Watson to a three-year, $51 million contract to revamp the cornerback room.
Adams and fellow receiver Puka Nacua have praised the competitive environment McDuffie has brought to camp. Adams highlighted McDuffie’s technique and situational awareness, saying “he’s always got the right technique. He’s got a great way of reading you out. He understands his position on any given play, whether it’s his leverage or situationally a smart player and great technique.” Adams called the on-field work “the epitome of iron sharpens iron.”
The back-and-forth showed up during an “unscripted” practice that coach Sean McVay described Monday. In a team drill, quarterback Matthew Stafford found Nacua downfield, but McDuffie knocked the ball away to force an incompletion. McDuffie praised Nacua afterward: “That boy was rolling, I’ll tell you that much. He rolled right past me so I had to put my head down. Good ball, good catch and I was there and fortunate enough to knock it out.”
Nacua, who played with McDuffie at the University of Washington in 2019 and 2020, said he has seen growth from the cornerback. Nacua pointed to McDuffie’s patience at the line of scrimmage and his ability to trust his feet on deep-ball reps. “When that ball is in the air you can see the body tense up and how they react when the ball is in the air,” Nacua said, adding that McDuffie stays patient and covers the play through to the ground.
McVay noted the caliber of players on both sides of the ball, citing reigning MVP Matthew Stafford and Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett, and said it has led to “a lot of really high-quality football.” The early camp exchanges between receivers and McDuffie have been a frequent part of that competitive work.
