Rams send unmistakable message to NFL with Jaylen Watson's contract details

For anyone not paying attention, the Los Angeles Rams made their offseason intentions clear. Days after trading for cornerback Trent McDuffie, they signed his Kansas City Chiefs teammate, cornerback Jaylen Watson, to a reported three-year, $51 million deal in free agency. 

To the rest of the NFL: Les Snead is all-in. 

Rams general manager Les Snead made that message plain as could be with two massive moves to address an ailing Rams secondary. That expected extension for McDuffie? Count it. The Rams will reportedly give the former All-Pro a four-year, $124 million contract, the most lucrative ever for a cornerback. 

Watson's deal is no slouch, either. Oh, and Snead also brought back safety Kam Curl for three years, $36 million. 

That's a total of $211 million and counting spent on the secondary this offseason. At this point, anything else at the cornerback position is gravy. 

Les Snead wasted no time scooping two top CBs off the market 

The Rams know that their Super Bowl window won't remain open forever. At some point not far off, they will have a Matthew-Stafford-sized void at quarterback. Right now, there is no heir apparent. 

Just as critically, LA's exciting young core needs extensions across the board. Kobie Turner, Byron Young, Jared Verse, Steve Avila, and Puka Nacua will all be pounding the table for massive contracts. The team can't keep all of them. 

In the DB room, at least, Snead has secured the future for several seasons down the road. McDuffie, 25, will be under contract through 2030. Watson, 27, is inked through 2028. Ditto for Curl, who turns 27 on March 31. 

These aren't halfway signings. Clearly, Los Angeles isn't straddling the fence between contending now and laying low for the future. 

If there was any doubt (of which Snead left little to begin with), the Horns have knocked down said fence and trampled it to bits in a win-now stampede to secure top-end talent where the roster needed it most. 

McDuffie and Watson have complementary skillsets, but they are both prototypical defensive backs for the Rams. McDuffie is excellent in both coverage and against the run. Watson isn't quite the same shutdown corner in coverage (still, Pro Football Focus ranked him 31st out of 114). As a run stuffer, however, he is among the best in the business, grading out sixth in the NFL. 

Don't forget about him in the pass rush. Watson tallied two sacks in 13 blitzes last season, earning a top 11 pass rush grade per PFF. 

That duo checks just about all the boxes.

Rams fans were concerned about securing a CB1. Snead went out and got one in McDuffie. They weren't satisfied with that, and justly so. LA corners were so inadequate in 2025 that one move, no matter the splash, was never going to fix the problem. 

Accordingly, the front office snagged one of the most coveted corners in free agency, reuniting McDuffie with his teammate of four seasons and co-member of the 2022 NFL draft class. 

Retaining Curl, PFF's 16th-ranked safety and a paragon of durability, was a major win as well. 

After these moves, plus re-signing tight end Tyler Higbee, are the Rams done making waves? If Snead's splurge thus far says anything, it's that he is prepared to keep inking deals until the pen runs dry.