Trent McDuffie Has Caught the Eye of Aaron Donald

“That guy’s good,” Donald said. “I told the guy I train with, I said, ‘Yeah, he’s a special talent.’ He made a lot of big plays. I usually don’t watch the DBs, but he caught my eye. He’s something special.”

A day earlier, Davante Adams called McDuffie the league’s best cornerback on “Up & Adams,” and the numbers back up the praise.

McDuffie leads 89 qualified cornerbacks with a 93.2 Pro Football Focus coverage grade. He’s also tied with Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Hezekiah Masses for the lowest passer rating allowed, a perfect 0.0.

Through two games as a Ram, McDuffie has excelled in zone and man coverage, allowing one catch for 13 yards on eight targets with four pass breakups. That’s nothing new for the two-time All-Pro. The spotlight of a star-studded roster is.

The Rams ranked 19th in pass defense last season, and their secondary cost them in the NFC Championship Game loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. Needing a shutdown outside corner, they traded four draft picks, including a first-rounder, for McDuffie and made him the league’s highest-paid cornerback.

So far, McDuffie has been everything the Rams envisioned, and now he’s playing alongside two future Hall of Famers. The Rams landed Myles Garrett from the Cleveland Browns in a June blockbuster, and Donald returned two months later. Neither was part of the picture when McDuffie arrived in March.

The trio has yet to share the field. Donald missed the opener, and Garrett went on injured reserve after Week 1 with a knee injury requiring surgery. That day will come.

McDuffie’s next test comes Sunday in Denver against Jaylen Waddle, the Broncos’ prized offseason addition, who exploded for eight catches for 138 yards in the home opener. The two have met twice before, when McDuffie was with the Kansas City Chiefs and Waddle with the Miami Dolphins.

For now, McDuffie has earned the respect of Donald, arguably his generation’s best defensive player, and that goes a long way.