DC Chris Shula's safety skullduggery is Step 1 to a revitalized Rams secondary

Oomph inbound to the Rams cornerbacks

While the return of veteran cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon to the Rams secondary eliminates any urgent need by the team to select a cornerback early in the 2025 NFL Draft, I am not ruling it out. The team enjoyed remarkable success with new additions to the secondary at the safety position. So what is stopping the team from leveraging that success to attempt a similar retooling for the cornerback position?

The team already boasts 10 cornerbacks on the roster. Not only are CBs Cobie Durant, Darious Williams, and Ahkello Witherspoon back to compete for starting roles, but the team welcomes back Derion Kendrick from injured reserve, and late-season addition Emmanuel Forbes to his first Rams training camp. Rounding out the Rams roster so far are:

• A.J. Green | Year 4 | 6-foot-2 | 198 pounds
• Shaun Jolly | Year 4 | 5-foot-9 | 186 pounds
• Cam Lampkin | Year 2 | 5-foot-11 | 176 pounds
• Josh Wallace | Year 2 | 6-foot-0 | 189 pounds
• Charles Woods | Year 2 | 5-foot-11 | 185 pounds

The challenge for the Rams front office this year is upgrading the quality of cornerbacks on the roster with only a minimal number of new faces. While there is always the chance that things will 'click' for a returning player to the point where there 2025 performance is significantly better than what we've seen in the past, the team cannot trust that as the only means to a better secondary.

The Rams have not dipped often into recent NFL drafts for cornerbacks. Is this the year to do so? The only position specifically named as a target for the team is the quarterback position. But the Rams are not in the habit of announcing their intentions before the draft. That simply means that the Rams have enough built-in flexibility heading into the draft to choose a cornerback (or two).

The team carpet bombed the safety position in 2024, which ultimately led to the release of 2023 starter Russ Yeast. The Rams could deploy the same strategy this season, which could usher in parting ways with some of the team's 2024 starters at the cornerback position.

Look for more thumbprints on the defense from DC Chris Shula. I expect that he would love to saturate the cornerback room with big physical players. Perhaps he will find more contributors in this year's draft.

As always, thanks for reading.

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