Matthew Stafford left Jaylen Watson in awe after business-as-usual Rams practice

Los Angeles Rams cornerback Jaylen Watson faced some All-Pro quarterbacks in his time with the Chiefs. Joe Burrow. Lamar Jackson. Josh Allen. His own quarterback was Patrick Mahomes, for crying out loud. 

In his eyes, none of them can place a dime in stride quite like Matthew Stafford. That was Watson's takeaway after getting beat by Stafford and Davante Adams on a goal-line route in practice. Leaving DBs slack-jawed is just business as usual for those two.

You can parse Watson's comment in more than one way. Do quarterbacks he's played include Mahomes, whom he only faced on a practice field? Actually, he hasn't played Stafford, either; the one game Watson faced the Rams came in 2022, with Stafford hurt. 

Whether or not Mahomes is included in the bunch, Watson did just give Stafford's peel-placing abilities above Burrow, Jackson, and Allen. Pretty impressive.

Jaylen Watson is finding out what other defenders already know

Of course, that's not going out on a limb for Rams fans who have watched Stafford fling the football for the past five seasons. If it is, it's more like going out on a tree trunk laid horizontal on the ground. Little hazard to speak of.

But seeing Stafford up close is new for Watson, just as it is for his former Chiefs teammate Trent McDuffie, who has already given Adams his props. The veteran Rams receiver is among McDuffie's top three most difficult cover assignments alongside Ja'Marr Chase and Tyreek Hill. Plays like the one above are why. And plays like this one. 

As perfectly as Stafford drops in that dime, making the play work also requires Adams' alert sense of timing and sure hands in skin-tight coverage. Watson and McDuffie are out there surrendering the barest slivers of space. Leave it to Stafford to thread the needle.

Fortunately, Watson will not have to face the Stafford-Adams connection, which should be even better this season after a slow start last year, in actual games. With the Horns hosting Kansas City in Week 13, he jumped ship just in time. 

In a way, facing Stafford in practice, which even in the heat of offense-defense competition is still a collaborative exercise, gives Watson an even more in-depth sense of what it must be like for opposing cornerbacks tasked with deflecting a perfectly threaded laser coming from the direction of the Rams pocket.

It's not like Watson is some scrub, either. He ranked 17th out of 114 qualified corners per PFF last season, while holding QBs to a passer rating of 69.0, ranking 11th lowest. 

Keeping that passer rating down is a bit easier, of course, when the quarterback is someone other than Stafford. Give Watson anyone - Allen, Burrow, Jackson, literally anyone - other than No. 9.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow