5 Rams prospects who are fighting not to be cut going into the summer

DB Charles Woods

We know that the LA Rams secondary was one of the primary areas that the team focused on in the 2024 offseason, signing three defensive backs during the 2024 NFL Free Agency market, and then drafting another defensive back during the 2024 NFL Draft. All told, the team has 17 defensive backs to train, assess, and discern as either worthy of a roster spot, or not.

For former SMU rookie defensive back Charles Woods, that means a lot of competition.

Woods is a 5-foot-11 191-pound defensive back who competed for both West Virginia and SMU. In three years of college football, Woods racked up 63 tackles, 3.0 tackles for a loss, two interceptions, broke up 15 pass plays, and had two fumble recoveries. It was his last year, and only year with SMU, that he showed off his pass defense skills by denying 11 pass plays targeting his receiver.

Despite the fact that the team's secondary primarily plays zone defense, or some version of zone, Woods' forte is press man coverage. Woods is particularly adept at jamming a receiver at the line of scrimmage with such pop that he can throw off the offense's timing. In zone, Woods seems less comfortable, and has a tendency to allow underneath throws. He seems to have better time processing covering one receiver, than defending an area of the football field and grasping how the offense is attacking his area through the assortment of routes.

Woods may show enough in training camp to warrant at least signing onto the practice squad. But 17 defensive backs, many of whom are seasoned NFL veterans, is a tough group to make any headway against. Woods may simply lose out to the numbers game at his position this year.

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