{"id":476717,"date":"2026-09-26T19:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T19:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/476717\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T19:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T19:40:09","slug":"trent-mcduffie-provides-rams-with-a-calm-confident-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/476717\/","title":{"rendered":"Trent McDuffie provides Rams with a calm, confident leader"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rams<\/a> coaches and personnel executives call it \u201cthe moment of truth,\u201d the split second when a defensive back, usually on the run in full stride next to a receiver, must decide how he is going to play a pass that is already in the air.<\/p>\n

Top NFL cornerbacks remain calm. They do not panic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s those guys that just kind of \u2014 their blood pressure never rises,\u201d defensive coordinator Chris Shula said.<\/p>\n

Trent McDuffie<\/a> is one of those guys.<\/p>\n

The Rams traded for the All-Pro cornerback in March, sending the Kansas City Chiefs the 29th overall pick and three other draft picks for the four-year veteran. They quickly signed McDuffie to an extension that includes $100 million in guarantees.<\/p>\n

Last Monday, McDuffie intercepted a pass in the Rams\u2019 28-6 victory<\/a> over the New York Giants, a win that helped erase some of the sting from their embarrassing season-opening defeat by the San Francisco 49ers in Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In McDuffie, a two-time Super Bowl winner, the Rams got even more than expected, coach Sean McVay<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just has an amazing emotional intelligence of how to uplift and lead his teammates and challenge them in a way that\u2019s authentic to his personality,\u201d McVay said. \u201cHe loves the opportunity to be able to have some of the hard downs that a lot of corners sometimes don\u2019t want, but this guy wants them.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDuffie, 26, is looking to make more plays Sunday night when the Rams play the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High.<\/p>\n

With the Chiefs, McDuffie played against the Broncos six times, and he is still looking for his first interception against the former AFC West rival.<\/p>\n

But mainly, he aims to help the Rams continue their momentum after giving up only two field goals against the Giants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of those attitude games, where we didn\u2019t have the greatest Week 1 performance,\u201d McDuffie said. \u201cSo there was a little chip on our shoulder, a little attitude we brought.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDuffie began his rise to NFL stardom during a high school career that featured stops at Santa Ana Mater Dei, Anaheim Servite and Bellflower St. John Bosco, before playing in college at Washington.<\/p>\n

\"Rams <\/p>\n

Rams cornerback Trent McDuffie walks off the field after a win over the New York Giants on Sept. 21.<\/p>\n

(Kyusung Gong \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

The Chiefs selected him in the first round of the 2022 draft, and he helped them make three Super Bowl appearances, winning two.<\/p>\n

McDuffie said he learned a tough but valuable lesson against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII in Arizona in 2023.<\/p>\n

With the ball at the Chiefs\u2019 45-yard line, the 5-foot-11 McDuffie lined up against 6-1, 225-pound receiver AJ Brown. As they ran downfield, McDuffie saw the ball in the air. But he did not know which way to turn his head. He did not know how he wanted to play the ball.<\/p>\n

Brown caught the pass for a touchdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo much thinking in my head to where I didn\u2019t make the play,\u201d McDuffie said.<\/p>\n

McDuffie turned the experience into a positive while developing into one of the NFL\u2019s top players at his position.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom then on, it was almost like, \u2018All right, the ball\u2019s in the air, it\u2019s not so much a panic, it\u2019s like you get an opportunity now,\u2019\u201d McDuffie said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re a DB in the NFL, there\u2019s only so many times they\u2019re going to throw the ball your way. There\u2019s only so many times you\u2019re in a position to make a play, so just kind of calming myself down.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the ball\u2019s in the air, don\u2019t panic \u2014 just become the receiver. Get back to the basics. You know how to play football. You know how to catch the ball. Just go make a play.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd really, it\u2019s the fear of failure that I don\u2019t have anymore. Like if they make a play, they make a play. Let\u2019s just line up and let\u2019s keep attacking.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next season, despite not intercepting a pass, McDuffie earned All-Pro recognition. He forced five fumbles and had three sacks.<\/p>\n

It did not take long for McDuffie to make an impression on his Rams teammates. During offseason workouts and training camp, he established himself as a leader and was voted a team captain.<\/p>\n

His first interception for the Rams was the fourth of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in the right place at the right time to make the play,\u201d said McDuffie, who also broke up three other passes, \u201cbut I think overall as a group we really took a step in the right direction, which looking back at the film was the most exciting part for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rams receiver Davante Adams<\/a> raved about McDuffie during training camp. This week, he said McDuffie had been the \u201cbest-kept secret\u201d in Kansas City.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just glad to see him making plays on guys that aren\u2019t our receivers now,\u201d Adams said. \u201cGo out there and do his thing, show the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defensive lineman Aaron Donald<\/a> did not see McDuffie up close until he came out of retirement to rejoin the Rams last month. McDuffie made an impression in Donald\u2019s first game against the Giants.<\/p>\n

\u201cI usually don\u2019t watch the DBs,\u201d Donald said, \u201cbut he caught my eye. He\u2019s something special.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday, McDuffie won\u2019t be the only elite cornerback on the field. \u201cThere\u2019s a ton of great corners in the league,\u201d McDuffie said, but he regards Patrick Surtain II of the Broncos, the 2024 NFL defensive player of the year, as the best.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always fun just being able to see him in person and work his craft,\u201d McDuffie said.<\/p>\n

McDuffie intends to showcase his own against a Broncos team that features quarterback Bo Nix operating coach Sean Payton\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n

The Rams are seeking another dominant performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that we did it once,\u201d he said, \u201cnow we have to prove it again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s kind of the standard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rams coaches and personnel executives call it \u201cthe moment of truth,\u201d the split second when a defensive back,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[20769,4472,11594,11600,187265,187194,6135,48,52,51,47,50,49,99891,187264,772,3238,11706,10947,315,97057],"class_list":["post-476717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-air","tag-ball","tag-broncos","tag-chiefs","tag-confident-leader","tag-empower-field","tag-guy","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-mcduffie","tag-nfl-stardom","tag-pass","tag-play","tag-ram","tag-rams","tag-time","tag-trent-mcduffie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}