Rams CBs under McV, & takes on Shula’s D

Sosa Kremenjas@QBsMVP
I don’t even give a shit about the numbers, though I’m sure they were pretty good. Emmanuel Forbes drew maybe the toughest assignment in football a lot on Sunday and competed all day.

Can tell he’s playing with maximum confidence right now.

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Sean McVay spent a portion of today’s presser raving about DBs coach/assistant head coach Aubrey Pleasant, who has shaped this secondary on the field and off.

For a window into it, here’s how he rewired Emmanuel Forbes Jr. after a benching and release:https://t.co/ebZBm710Cn

— Nate Atkins (@NateAtkins_) November 18, 2025

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from https://theramswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/rams/2025/11/05/the-rams-secondary-is-among-the-best-units-in-the-nfl-this-season/87105391007/?taid=690b7a705222da000106ffef&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=twitter

The Rams are a bend-but-don’t-break secondary. They rank 13th in passing yards allowed, third in yards allowed per passing attempt, seventh in passing touchdowns allowed, fourth in yards after the catch allowed and sixth in completion rate allowed.

And while those numbers are associated with some of the best secondaries in the NFL, the Rams are doing it all without a star in the defensive backfield. Cornerbacks Darious Williams and Quinten Lake are the only healthy Rams defensive backs with a Pro Football Focus coverage grade of at least 70.0 this season, and none of the Rams’ safeties are above 60.0.

This is where a combination of coaching and a top-flight defensive line comes in. Defensive coordinator Chris Shula is coaching incredibly well this season, and the Rams have been tremendous both at stopping the run and getting to the quarterback. That all trickles down to the secondary even without star players.

The Rams lead the league in dime personnel usage, but why do they rely on six-DB sets in key situations when some teams don’t use them at all?

Wyatt Miller

https://www.therams.com/news/feature-the-rams-lead-the-league-in-dime-personnel-usage-but-why-do-they-rely-on-six-db-sets-in-key-situations-when-some-teams-don-t-use-them-at-all

The short answer is that they have the personnel to do it, and often force situations where it’s advantageous to have six defensive backs on the field. The long answer is much more nuanced, and easier to show than to tell.

Two of the Rams’ biggest defensive plays against the Saints on Sunday came out of dime personnel.

On a 3rd-and-9 early in the game, the Rams showed blitz with two deep defenders, as safety Jaylen “Tank” McCollough crept up on the center from the linebacker spot. When the ball snapped, he dropped back into coverage, taking away the check down in the middle, and L.A. rushed four. Outside linebacker Jared Verse took on a double-team to give one-on-ones to the rest of the line, resulting in defensive end Braden Fiske’s first sack of the season.

McCollough’s presence in the middle of the defense caused confusion at the line and gave the Rams single-coverage advantages with defensive backs across the board. Even if Saints quarterback Tyler Shough was given time to throw, there would have been nowhere for him to go with the ball.

“The advantage of doing that from a defensive perspective is now we’re on the attack,” said safety Quentin Lake. “I think it’s really good for us because we have such a good rush and you want to get those guys a lot of the times in one-on-one situations and then bring an extra cover guy in when you know it’s passing situations.”

The Rams’ 34.6% dime personnel rate leads the league by a considerable margin, according to Next Gen Stats. It allows them to generate favorable coverage matchups, with McCollough as the extra defensive back, and defensive coordinator Chris Shula combines that with distinct pre-snap looks to make quarterbacks hesitate in obvious passing situations.

“It’s been our calling card,” McCollough said. “It’s been our advantage, I like to say.”

The Rams’ 5.5 yards per play allowed with that personnel grouping is the third-fewest among teams with at least 25 snaps – the Rams have 177, according to Next Gen Stats. Meanwhile, three teams haven’t rolled out a single dime package this season, and a total of 13 teams run it less than 5% of the time, which shows just how much of an anomaly this Rams defense truly is.

It helps that L.A. has forced the most third-and-longs per game (7.4), according to nflverse data, which has given them ample opportunity to bring an extra defensive back onto the field. They already use nickel personnel (five defensive backs) nearly half the time, so throwing McCollough in adds yet another wrinkle for offenses to deal with.

L.A.’s safety depth and versatility contribute to their success in dime. McCollough, Lake, Kam Kinchens and Kam Curl are all chess pieces that can be moved around to fit each play’s purpose, giving Shula the resources to creates a variety of looks within the dime package and stay unpredictable.

“You don’t want to be in it so limited that you’re playing the same thing every single time with the coverage variation and things like that, so we want to be able to play a lot of stuff out of dime, and Tank allows us to do that,” Shula said.

On 4th-and-4 with just over five minutes remaining against New Orleans, the Rams showed a six-man front with six defensive backs on the field and one deep safety in the middle. When the ball was snapped, two rushers on the left side dropped back and L.A. brought four, including Curl, again creating one-on-one matchups with simulated pressure.

This time, McCollough lined up 12 yards deep down the seam and then jumped forward to cover the underneath zone. He took away Shough’s first read, Taysom Hill on a short in-cut, as pressure forced the rookie quarterback up in the pocket. His off-platform throw to an improvising receiver was intercepted easily by cornerback Emmanuel Forbes Jr. for his first as a Ram, and Los Angeles iced the game from there.

Fishkiller@FV_Mylia_Lynn
The Rams have really improved in pass coverage this season. Only 6 teams have a lower percentage of open receivers per play, yet 13 teams are better at pressuring opposing QBs & 11 teams are better at converting QB pressures into sacks than the Rams are. Coverage unit doing work!

Only 4 teams have a better combined QB pressure rate & open receiver percentage than the Rams this season – which means the Rams defense is really marrying pass rush with coverage to a high degree & is legit. If pass rush picks up steam the League better watch out!

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FYI, article out Monday… 💥 https://t.co/jZliLHkcJb

— Cody Alexander (@The_Coach_A) November 19, 2025

Stu Jackson@StuJRams
Sean McVay said the back end of the Rams defense as a whole is playing “really well.”

Again praised assistant HC/pass game coordinator Aubrey Pleasant, safeties coach Chris Beake and defensive assistant Mike Harris for their work with that group.

“I’m just really, really pleased with how that’s looked.”

McVay on CB Cobie Durant:

“The landshark’s balling.”

https://t.co/NouYJKVqjQ pic.twitter.com/1s1v4jr00A

— Doug Farrar ✍ (@NFL_DougFarrar) November 24, 2025

lots of dime, few blitzes and working great pic.twitter.com/zgK7JXoZzx

— Jim Youngblood 53 (@53_jim70721) November 24, 2025

During the Rams' 6-game win streak, Emmanuel Forbes Jr. has played at an elite level.

He's either broken up or intercepted 10 of his 32 targets (31.3%) and allowed the lowest passer rating when targeted among qualified outside CBs (12.8) by over 20 points. pic.twitter.com/GNaNPbfWh5

— Wyatt Miller (@wymill07) November 25, 2025

zn wrote:

[Forbes] allowed the lowest passer rating when targeted among qualified outside CBs (12.8) by over 20 points.

That’s just insane.

InvaderRam wrote:

it’s crazy to think the rams could have forbes signed through 2027.

and they got this guy for basically nothing.

Nearly one year after being waived by Commanders, Emmanuel Forbes Jr. thriving with Rams

Stu Jackson

https://www.therams.com/news/feature-nearly-one-year-after-being-waived-by-commanders-emmanuel-forbes-jr-thriving-with-rams

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – This Sunday, the Rams will play the Panthers at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

It’s not just the date of the Rams’ Week 13 game, though.

A year ago to that day, Emmanuel Forbes Jr. was waived by the Commanders, the team that had drafted him 16th overall in the first round in 2023. Three days later, he was headed for Los Angeles after being claimed by the Rams.

Now, Forbes approaches that one-year mark with three interceptions across his last four games, playing confidently and as a key difference-maker in L.A.’s secondary.

“That’s something I always expected to do,” Forbes told theRams.com. “That’s how I always see myself playing (like that), and that’s just all the hard work paying off, honestly. But it’s big for the building that I’m able to produce and help my team win all like these games. And when I do my job, when the secondary do our job, honestly, we just feel like we can win any game. So it’s big.”

When Forbes was waived by the Commanders on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, he found out he was claimed by the Rams that Sunday night, right before the deadline for the waiver claim period (typically that claiming period lasts 24 hours).

“I was excited for a fresh opportunity, a fresh start,” Forbes said. “Got here and just got to work instantly.”

The work began well before Forbes stepped onto his new team’s practice field.

On his first day in the Rams’ facility – the same day his flight landed in Los Angeles – assistant head coach/pass game coordinator Aubrey Pleasant brought him into his office, “and we just talked for a long time, and even started watching film on me and how and why what happened in Washington.” Forbes said it’s a conversation he always remembers, one that is the reason he is the way he is today.

“Leave that in the past, like, that’s your past,” Pleasant told him. “You got a brand new start here. Don’t let nothing that happened to you in the past dictate how you going to perform here.”

Pleasant said it was “very similar” to the meeting he had with former Rams cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Jalen Ramsey when they first joined the team, in terms of expressing his delight and excitement about his opportunity to coach them, but also incorporating reflection about why they were in their respective situations to be here.

“Each of one of those gentleman had a different set of circumstances which gave me an opportunity to be able to coach them,” Pleasant told theRams.com. “I know in that first meeting, he (Forbes) thought we were gonna talk a lot about football, but we probably did everything but.”

The last 20 minutes of that first meeting were spent going over a film cut-up of Forbes playing his best ball for the Commanders, but also some things Pleasant thought he could do better.

“But it was easy to get that film,” Pleasant said. “Because of his transparency and his humility, he had already kind of talked about some of those things.”

Pleasant’s next step in restoring Forbes’ confidence involved both football and personal aspects.

From a football standpoint, Pleasant wanted Forbes to “delve deep into” being a technician, a coaching point that came from what Pleasant had seen on film.

“I knew he had been blessed with an unbelievable set of skills, but I knew that if he honed in on his technique, he would watch some of the plays he would’ve struggled to make at this level become a little easier,” Pleasant explained.

From a personal standpoint, Pleasant wanted Forbes to “calm over-eagerness to go out and prove the world wrong.” Pleasant explained they had “really good play” at the cornerback position at that time with players playing to their full potential, so it would be up to Forbes to be a “really good” role player and learn until his opportunity arrived.

Asked if it was difficult to curtail that over-eagerness initially, Pleasant said the first thing he said to Forbes was that he saw frustration come when Forbes was told he wasn’t going to be playing, but he also explained that because of the way Forbes was perceived at the time, everything from that point was going to be building what they needed. They wanted to have a long-term plan, and Pleasant said Forbes bought into that.

“I did promise him that before the season’s over, he if followed what we thought was the plan, he would find himself an opportunity to play,” Pleasant said. “Now, how much that would be, when that would be, we would never know, but I promised him, if he took care of what he needed to, he would get a chance to play.”