Jaylen Watson Injury Creates Major Question for Rams Secondary

When the Los Angeles Rams play the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 4, they may have to do so without their big free agent signing at cornerback. During the Rams’ Week 3 loss to the Denver Broncos, cornerback Jaylen Watson dislocated his shoulder and missed the second half. While Watson isn’t expected to go on injured reserve, he will likely be out against the Eagles.

“He won't go on IR, but he will probably be out for this week,” said head coach Sean McVay. “We'll see if we can get him strengthened and harness it. It's something that he's dealt with before, but it's not something that we've discussed IR.”

Watson was having his best game thus far with the Rams in the first half against the Broncos before his injury. In the first half against the Broncos, the Rams’ defense allowed -0.33 EPA per pass. However, in the second half, they allowed a -0.04 EPA per pass without Watson. They allowed just 53 passing yards and 4.4 yards per attempt in the first half compared to 133 passing yards and 6.05 yards per attempt in the second half.

Against Watson, Courtland Sutton had just one reception for 10 yards while Jaylen Waddle didn’t have a single catch on two targets while being covered by Watson. Sutton’s biggest catch of the night came against Wallace.

Replacing Jaylen Watson Won’t Be Easy

While the Rams are still in a better position at cornerback with Trent McDuffie than they were last year, there’s still a significant drop-off from Watson to Wallace or Emmanuel Forbes. Teams that have a good wide receiver group can pick on them, and that’s what the Broncos did in the second half.

Over the past few weeks, the Rams have played more man coverage, which doesn’t necessarily fit Forbes’ skill set. That’s where he struggled in Washington. The Rams have played the fourth-most press coverage this season at a 34.2 percent rate. Due to Forbes’ smaller frame, that’s where he can be taken advantage of by bigger wide receivers.

With Wallace, the Rams had more blown coverages, including on the costly 2nd-and-20 conversion. On that play, there was a miscommunication between Wallace and McDuffie. Given the familiarity between Watson and McDuffie, that may not have happened otherwise. That’s not to say that Wallace played extremely poorly as he made some plays in coverage. Still, it’s worth noting that his lone interception was created by Kobie Turner with a tipped pass.

Rams Will Miss Watson’s Physicality

It’s going to be difficult for the Rams to replace Watson. They will certainly miss him in coverage, but his physicality in the run game may be missed more. According to Pro Football Focus, Watson was the eighth-highest-graded cornerback against the run this season. Forbes has been better there this season, but some of that is also because the Rams have limited his snaps on running downs. Forbes has played just 13 run defense snaps this season.

Again, the Rams are better off at cornerback even without Watson because of what they have in McDuffie. The Rams will hope Watson’s dislocated shoulder doesn’t keep him out long. Until then, they will likely rotate Wallace and Forbes depending on the situation.

Watson Injury Tests Rams’ Aggressive Defensive Approach

After the Rams struggled at the cornerback position last year, they made it a point to rebuild that group around McDuffie and Watson. With Watson out, they’ll have to rely on some of their same depth from last year. Watson’s physicality allows the Rams to play tighter than they have in the past, which gives defensive coordinator Chris Shula more flexibility with his coverages.

Losing Watson will be a big test of whether the Rams keep that aggressive approach. His loss is significant with the Eagles and Bills on the schedule the next two weeks. Without Watson, the Rams are going to find out quickly if Wallace and Forbes can be reliable depth options.

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