Safety Eric Weddle hasn’t played any games with the Rams yet, but he’s already drawn a couple of conclusions about his new teammates.
One of them is an opinion that probably formed after a minute or two of offseason work. Weddle called two-time defensive player of the year Aaron Donald “one of the best players in the NFL at all positions” and he’s unlikely to hear much dissent on that front.
Weddle also said that he’s been very impressed by what he’s seen from cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib in their first months working together in Wade Phillips’s defense.
“Those guys are super, super smart,” Weddle said during an appearance on NFL Network. “The instincts are off the charts. Play-making ability. . . . Those two are the best I’ve ever played with in my career of guys that play with vision, play the ball, understand routes, trust a safety that is going to alert them and put them in a position to make plays knowing that I have their backs. I’m extremely excited to get on the field with them, give ‘em those live reps, live-game atmosphere and take this secondary to the next level.”
Weddle said earlier this offseason that he hopes his mentoring can push safety John Johnson to another level and the Rams have a capable slot corner in Nickell Robey-Coleman to fill out a secondary that they’ll hope looks as good on the field as it does on paper.
