The Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl this past season due to being able to do something few other teams, if any, were likely able to do in the postseason: Beat the Los Angeles Rams. Ahead of free agency, LA made the bold move to trade for Trent McDuffie, an obvious attempt to try to stop wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
JSN was the best receiver in the league in 2025, of course, and a particular thorn in the side of the Rams. In the NFC Championship game, for instance, Smith-Njigba caught 10 passes for 153 yards and a touchdown. For LA to overtake the Seahawks in the future, they needed a cornerback who could match up well.
McDuffie might do that. He was a First-Team All-Pro in 2023, Second-Team in 2024, and has a career quarterback rating allowed of just 89.5. He is a very good player and is only 25 years old. He is entering the final year of his contract, though, so Los Angeles will need to sign him to an extension.
Rams add Trent McDuffie in hopes of slowing Seattle Seahawks' Jaxon Smith-Njigba
What is almost as stunning as the trade itself is what LA gave the Kansas City Chiefs in order to get the cornerback. The Rams gave up their second first-round pick of 2026 (No. 29 overall), a fifth-round choice, and a sixth-round selection, plus a third-round choice in 2027. Four picks for one player? McDuffie better be special for LA.
Of course, if not for Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the Rams might not have been so desperate as to give up so much draft capital to acquire the cornerback. The San Francisco 49ers don't have a wide receiver anywhere near the quality of JSN, and Marvin Harrison Jr. hasn't proven himself quite yet with the Arizona Cardinals.
It is clear that general manager Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay needed to make the move to try to stop the Seahawks' best receiver. Besides the playoff game, Smith-Njigba had 96 receiving yards in Week 16 against LA and 105 yards in Week 11. Seattle went 2-1 in those games, and by far the Rams' most glaring defensive problem was Smith-Njigba.
That problem wasn't going to change in the future unless the Los Angeles Rams made a move to correct the problem. They had the draft capital to make a bold move, and they did so. Good teams do that. Trent McDuffie still has to prove he can slow Jaxon Smith-Njigba, though.