La Rams Hidden Gems: 3 Secret Superstars On The 2026 Roster

Four points.

Four freakin’ points.

That’s what separated the 2025 Los Angeles Rams from an appearance in Super Bowl LX, as the Seattle Seahawks beat them, 31-27, in the NFC Championship game. The Rams had every reason to believe that they could have beaten, and subsequently become, the defending champs, because Sean McVay’s offense was the only one that consistently beat up on Mike Macdonald’s defense. In three games last season, Seattle went 2-1 in the series, with a point total of 88-85 in their favor.

Les Snead’s and Mr. McVay’s response was eminently predictable for anybody who has followed these guys and what they do over the last decade.

Build slowly to come up on Seattle from the back over time? Yeah, no.

Instead… well, if you’re reading this, you know what they did. They traded for Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie, signed McDuffie bookend Jaylen Watson in free agency, nabbed Myles Garrett away from the Cleveland Browns, and may have Aaron Donald coming back from retirement to possibly destroy every quarterback he faces.

Now, these Rams are as loaded as any Super Bowl contender we’ve ever seen — as long as everything clicks the right way. They have F’d Them Picks, and the rest of the NFL may have to suffer as a result.

“I’m really excited about our team coming together, because that’s what every single year is about,” McVay said on June 2, during the press conference announcing the Garrett trade. “That happens one day at a time. We’ll finish up this offseason program where it’s this week, the following week, and then we’ll come back for training camp and we’ve got to be ready to rock. Then, the goal will be to be able to peak when we start in Australia [for the regular-season opener]. Hopefully, we’re fortunate to stay healthy, and continue to build and adjust and adapt as we go but it’s a long journey. We’ve got to be able to handle it, but most important is the caliber of people. 

“How do we come together? How do we establish what this team really looks like? We are fortunate to have a lot of continuity, and there’s excitement being able to add a player like [Garrett]. It’s one day at a time. We’re not going to let the outside narratives affect our ability to be courageous every single day, and go swing, and see what the hell happens.”

Well, the Rams have certainly swung this offseason. The effects of all that activity remains to be seen, but it’s also true that the Rams wouldn’t be as good as they are without finding a lot of lesser-known guys to fill their roster with excellence.

So, while it’s easy to focus on the bigger names, I wanted to point out three Hidden Gems for the Rams — one underrated veteran, one underrated free agent, and one underrated draft pick.

Underrated veteran: EDGE Byron Young

Byron Young is used to living under the radar.

Nobody thought much of him when he came out of Carvers Bay High School in Hemingway, South Carolina, and he worked at Dollar General for 18 months to make money before walking on at Georgia Military College in 2020. That led to Young’s status as a highly-ranked junior college prospect, and his acceptance of Tennessee’s recruiting efforts. In 2021 and 2022 for the Vols, the 6’2”, 250-pound Young totaled 16 sacks and 74 pressures, which led to the Rams taking him with the 77th overall pick in the third round of the 2023 draft.

Young was unusual in that he was immediately more productive at the NFL level than he was in college. He jumped from 8 sacks and 51 pressures in his rookie season, to 11 sacks and 54 pressures in 2024, to a team-high 13 sacks in 2025; only Jared Verse (100) had more pressures than Young’s 74.

Moreover, Young can get to the quarterback any which way he chooses — this is no one-trick pony.

“I think what’s been great for B.Y. is he’s just gotten better every single year,” McVay said on August 13. “And when you know his backstory, what an incredible human being. You want to talk about a guy that’s mentally and physically tough. I thought his best practice of camp was against the Cowboys. We’ve obviously been smart with what his workload looks like. He felt good. I thought he had some good quick wins, being able to counter inside. I thought he was stout against the run. He did a really good job with everything that was asked of him the other day. He had another good day today.

“If you don’t love ‘B.Y.’, something is wrong with you. He’s a special human. His story’s incredible. I love everything he’s about.”

McVay may love everything ‘B.Y.’ is about even more when Young is on the other side of Myles Garrett, and dealing with the one-on-ones that will invariably generate.

Not that Young needs them. The next step for Young will be to grab a second contract in line with his productivity. That should happen sooner than later.

Underrated free agent: CB Jaylen Watson

Wait. What? Why are you featuring a cornerback who just signed a three-year, $51 million contract with $34 million in total guarantees? That’s not underrated!

Well, my counter to that would be that Jaylen Watson received below market value for his work to date — he’s currently 21st in Average Annual Value among cornerbacks, behind such luminaries as Deommodore Lenoir, Tyson Campbell, and DaRon Bland.

Chump change for a guy who, last season for the Chiefs, allowed 35 catches on 59 targets for 447 yards, 173 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, two interceptions, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 69.0. It was the 2022 seventh-round draft pick out of Washington State’s best NFL season to date, and it exceeded even McDuffie’s efforts — the more well-known McDuffie, who scored a four-year, $124 million contract extension with $100 million guaranteed after the trade. Last season, McDuffie allowed 37 catches on 55 targets for 342 yards, 130 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, one interception, six pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 94.7.

Watson and McDuffie do have different responsibilities, as Watson has noted. He’s more of an outside cornerback, while McDuffie is the movable chess piece.

“To be honest, I think that’s my strength,” Watson said in March about his ability to defend bigger receivers at 6’2” and 197 pounds. “That’s why I think me and Trent complement each other so well. His strengths are the short area, quick game and the smaller, shiftier guys. My strengths are the big receivers. We should be pretty diverse. We should be able to match up pretty well against a lot of different looks that we get.”

Not that Watson can’t erase other receivers with authority — check out what he did to the 6’0”, 200-pound Malik Nabers last season. Nabers is more quick and shifty than big and nasty, and Watson was all over it from step one.

One target, one pass breakup, one interception. Boom.

Another reason it’s good to remember that Jaylen Watson will be just as responsible for fixing last year’s cornerback issues as McDuffie will. Not enough of that recognition has happened yet.

Underrated draft pick: DI Tim Keenan III

Not that the Rams need more help along the defensive line — it seems like overkill at this point — but when the team took Alabama defensive tackle Tim Keenan III with the 232nd pick in the seventh round of the draft, that got my attention.

Over four seasons with the Crimson Tide, the 6’1”, 327-pound (at the scouting combine) Keenan had eight sacks, 45 total pressures, 61 solo tackles, and 55 stops. He became known more as a run defender than a pass-rusher, but the tape shows a guy who can get it all done at a pretty high level.

People knew all about Keenan when he came out of Ramsay High School in Birmingham, Alabama — he attended camps at Auburn and Alabama, and chose Nick Saban’s team over Gus Malzahn’s, as well as offers from Georgia, LSU, Georgia Tech and UAB. A spiritual shift in mindset had Keenan dropping 30 pounds before the 2023 season (“I was swole up like a puffer fish,” he later said), and per The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, Keenan became a Saban favorite because he gave everything on every rep.

Why did Keenan fall so far? Injuries played a factor, and maybe he was seen by some in the NFL as more of a one-trick guy. Not what I saw on tape, but whatever. Keenan is now part of the Rams’ stupid embarrassment of riches along the defensive line. Now, imagine Keenan flipping snaps between Kobie Turner and Poona Ford, wreaking utter havoc in four- and five-man fronts.

“It’s a team of killers over there,” Keenan said after he was drafted. “I’m just trying to make sure that I’m doing what I need to do to help that squad, and to help the Rams do what they need to do. Excuse me if I’m stubborn right now, but I’m pretty excited. Jared Verse and those guys, that would be an honor to learn so much, and be a fly on the wall, and be a sponge, and take up so much information, and just be on that field with those guys and look up to them.”

Well, Keenan won’t be able to work with Jared Verse, but that Myles Garrett guy should be a decent replacement.