Turf Show Times
History favors draftees in the battle to make the roster
Looking back over the Les Snead/Sean McVay years, the Los Angeles Rams have not been afraid to put draft capital into the safety position. Starting with John Johnson (Rd3, #91) in 2017, then on to Taylor Rapp (Rd2, #61), and Terrell Burgess (Rd3, #104), before finishing up with Kamren Kinchens in 2024 (Rd3, #99), L.A. has gambled a Round 3 or better pick every couple of years. What they don’t do is hand out second contracts to safeties. Not one in the Snead/McVay years has been re-upped after their rookie contracts expire.
Obviously, the Rams don’t put long-term value on safeties. Another thing they don’t do is plug in many undrafted free agents (UDFA) at safety. Late round picks, yes, but not so much on UDFAs. Jaylen McCollough was an outlier in 2024 with 335 snaps and his work came primarily as a hybrid linebacker/safety. You would have to go back to Cody Davis in 2017 (285 snaps) to find a UDFA safety receiving any real action.
That brings us to this year’s UDFA safeties. Can they press McCollough for a roster spot, special teams work, and possibly earn defensive snaps?
Pro Day: 1.55/4.53 forty 6.90 shuttle 4.13 3cone 34.5” vert 9’ 8” broad
Originally signed with South Dakota and was limited to the COVID19 limited schedule, four games on special teams, in the spring of 2021. Transferred to Northern Illinois for the full fall slate later in 2021 and stayed four full seasons for the Huskies. Recruited as a cornerback, Valcarcel switched to safety midway through his tenure and blossomed into a starter. All told, he had 25 starts in 51 games with 111 tackles, four for loss, 2.5 sacks, five interceptions and 14 passes broken up.
Lean build. Valcarcel’s pursuit to the ball, both on the ground and through the air stands out. Played a lot of single-high safety and his film bears out his strong testing numbers on balance, flexibility, agility, and change of direction. Versus the run, he shows good pursuit angles, quick read/react processing, and an aggressive demeanor. His tackling is good, breaking down and getting himself under control, and wrapping up. Against the pass, his cornerback past clearly shows. He reads the quarterback well, shows route recognition, and is adept at both breaking downhill or flipping his hips open and turning to cover deep routes. Northern Illinois used him to blitz and he showed he can get to the QB, even from 20 yards deep.
Valcarcel is an athletic prospect with plus ball-hawking and pursuit skills and has made steady upward progress in his college career. He offers some good film vs. better competition than the MAC generally provides. While a shade on the thin side, his frame could easily add and handle the six pounds a pro strength/conditioning/menu program would provide and bring him...
