{"id":820848,"date":"2026-03-19T08:36:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T08:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/820848\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T08:36:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T08:36:27","slug":"rams-cb-jaylen-watson-shares-his-perfect-approach-to-run-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/820848\/","title":{"rendered":"Rams CB Jaylen Watson shares his perfect approach to run support"},"content":{"rendered":"

March 18, 2026, 12:21 p.m. PT<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Rams didn\u2019t just upgrade their pass defense by acquiring Trent McDuffie and signing Jaylen Watson<\/a>. They also improved against the run because both players are willing (and able) tacklers in run support.<\/p>\n

Last season, both McDuffie and Watson were ranked in the top five among cornerbacks in tackle grade by Pro Football Focus. McDuffie was second (83.1) and Watson was fifth (77.1), each excelling as run defenders for the Chiefs.<\/p>\n

Now members of the Rams, Watson and McDuffie bring an attitude and aggression with them to Los Angeles. Watson perfectly summed up his mentality when it comes to run support, saying it\u2019s all a mindset and a desire to come up and tackle.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it’s just a mindset. You either want to or you don’t. If you tell yourself you can’t, you are right. If you tell yourself you can, you are right,\u201d Watson said in his press conference. \u201cI just go out there and put my head down. Football is a physical sport. Just be physical and put violence on tape. I actually learned that from watching (L\u2019Jarius) Sneed. He was like 180 pounds soaking wet. We were playing the Raiders and Josh Jacobs, I don’t know what was wrong with him that day but he was running like a mad man. Every time Sneed would just put his head in there, \u2018(Hit), get up, I want some more. (Hit), get up. I want some more.\u2019 It’s not about size or anything. Trent is a super physical guy too. It’s just if you want to and will you do it. Watching him be successful, learning from him and trying to do the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watson\u2019s run defense grade last year was 83.5, fifth-best among qualified cornerbacks. It was his best grade yet, making a career-high 53 tackles, 19 of them being stops \u2013 a tackle that results in a \u201cfailure\u201d for the offense.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

At 6-foot-2, he has the size to bring down bigger receivers and running backs in the open field. But more importantly, he has the will to, as well.<\/p>\n

When running backs try to bounce it outside, they\u2019ll be met by two physical corners in McDuffie and Watson. That alone is going to upgrade the Rams\u2019 run defense in a big way.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"March 18, 2026, 12:21 p.m. PT The Los Angeles Rams didn\u2019t just upgrade their pass defense by acquiring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[95878,7,1014,58,2444,2611,6,424,95922,95923,95882,111584,96929,95896,95888,95899,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-820848","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-los-angeles","11":"tag-los-angeles-rams","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-losangelesrams","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-rams","16":"tag-sstssportsnflrams","17":"tag-sstsnrams","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagjaylen-watson","20":"tag-tagjosh-jacobs","21":"tag-tagnational-sports","22":"tag-tagnfl","23":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","24":"tag-tagsports-news","25":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116254931884435450","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}