This is what an all-in offseason looks like. The Rams landed Myles Garrett from Cleveland in a blockbuster that sent Jared Verse, a 2027 first-rounder and a 2028 second the other way, then flipped around and pried Trent McDuffie loose from the Chiefs. Throw Jaylen Watson into the same defensive backfield and you've got a roster that reads less like a normal training camp and more like a fantasy draft.
The Rams defense really is adding Myles Garrett, Trent McDuffie, Aaron Donald, and Jaylen Watson this offseason.
The McDuffie move alone is a heist by NFL trade standards. Kansas City sent the 25-year-old, second-team All-Pro corner to Los Angeles for the No. 29 overall pick plus a 2026 fifth and sixth-rounder, while the Chiefs got back a 2027 third. McDuffie's still on his rookie deal, with the Chiefs' fifth-year option already fully guaranteeing his 2026 salary, and word is the Rams and his camp will work toward an extension. He's also a hometown kid, from Washington, California, roughly 31 miles from SoFi Stadium.
Now put McDuffie in a building with Myles Garrett and ask him how the offense is supposed to game-plan against its own guys in practice. He didn't have a real answer, and neither did his coaches.
![SleeperNFL: Rams CB Trent McDuffie on the possibility of Aaron Donald and Myles Garrett being on the same D-line:
"[I've asked] Sea](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HPdeXFibMAA8Unz.jpg)
Then there's the part of this that isn't official yet but keeps getting closer to real: Aaron Donald. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year retired after the 2023 season, but the Garrett trade reportedly got him thinking about whether "that fire can light back up," as he put it back in June at age 35. Earlier this month he worked out at the Rams facility in a helmet, using team gear, in what was the closest thing to actual practice reps he's had since he walked away. Nothing's signed, but the door is clearly open.
That quote from Desjaun Johnson is the kind of thing that gets a fanbase's pulse up — Donald not just showing up, but reportedly looking faster and hungrier than before he left. If he actually suits up, the Rams would be fielding a line with a first-ballot Hall of Famer next to the guy who just won Defensive Player of the Year, in front of a secondary anchored by a corner Kansas City didn't want to give up.
None of this happens in a vacuum. Sean McVay and Les Snead have been building toward a Super Bowl swing all offseason, and stacking the defensive front is the clearest signal yet of the timeline they're on. Whether Donald actually puts pads back on will be the last piece of the puzzle, and it's reportedly not close to decided — but if it happens, this defense stops being a hypothetical and starts being a real problem for the rest of the NFC.