Trent McDuffie (born September 13, 2000) is an American professional football cornerback for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Washington Huskies and was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round of the 2022 NFL draft. McDuffie then became a starting corner for the Chiefs as the team won the Super Bowl of the 2022 season in his rookie season. In his second season, the Chiefs once again won the 2023 season Super Bowl with McDuffie as a starter. He was also named first-team All-Pro for his performances and had several prolific plays in the Super Bowl win.
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Early life
McDuffie attended St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower, California, after transferring from Servite High School, where he had played his sophomore and junior seasons. After earning All-Trinity League and All-CIF-Southern Section Division 1 honors his senior year, he was selected to the All-American Bowl. He committed to play college football at the University of Washington.
College career
McDuffie played in all 13 games with 11 starts as a true freshman at Washington in 2019. He had 45 tackles and one interception. As a sophomore in 2020, he started all four of Washington's games and had 14 tackles and an interception.
He wrapped up his Washington career with 94 tackles, four tackles-for-loss, one sack, two interceptions, 10 pass breakups, three forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries earning First Team All-Pac 12 honors as well as being named to All-American teams by several publications.
Following his junior season in 2021, McDuffie announced he was forgoing his senior season in order to declare himself eligible for the 2022 NFL Draft.
Professional career
Pre-draft
Dane Brugler of The Athletic ranked him as the top cornerback prospect in the draft. Pro Football Focus and NFL.com media analyst Daniel Jeremiah both ranked McDuffie as the second best cornerback prospect in the draft. ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. had him ranked third amongst all cornerbacks available in the draft. Michael Renner of Pro Football Focus listed McDuffie as the third best cornerback prospect (11th overall) on his big board. He was ranked as the fourth best cornerback prospect by NFL analyst Bucky Brooks.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs selected McDuffie in the first round (21st overall) of the 2022 NFL draft. The Chiefs orchestrated a trade with the New England Patriots to acquire their first-round pick (21st overall) to immediately select McDuffie and in return sent their first (29th overall), third (94th overall), and fourth-round selections (121st overall) in the 2022 NFL draft. He was the third cornerback selected and the first of three cornerbacks selected by the Chiefs in 2022, along with fourth-round pick (135th overall) Joshua Williams and seventh-round pick (243rd overall) Jaylen Watson.
On May 6, 2022, the Kansas City Chiefs signed McDuffie to a four–year, $13.99 million rookie contract that is fully-guaranteed and includes a signing bonus of $7.35 million.
Throughout training camp, he competed to be the No. 2 starting cornerback against Rashad Fenton following the departures of Charvarius Ward, Deandre Baker, and Mike Hughes. Head coach Andy Reid named him the No. 2 starting cornerback to begin the season and was paired with L'Jarius Sneed.
On September 11, 2022, McDuffie made his professional regular season debut and earned his first career start in the Kansas City Chiefs' season-opener at the Arizona Cardinals and was limited to one solo tackle and 12 snaps before exiting in the first quarter of their 44–21 victory after injuring his hamstring. On September 13, 2022, the Chiefs placed him on injured reserve due to his hamstring injury he suffered in Week 1. On November 1, 2022, the Chiefs activated him off of injured reserve and added him back to their active roster after he was inactive for six games (Weeks 2–7). In Week 10, he collected seven combined tackles (four solo) and set a season-high with two pass deflections as the Chiefs defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 27–17. On January 1, 2023, McDuffie recorded seven combined tackles (four solo), forced a fumble, and made the first sack of his career on Russell Wilson for a 12–yard loss during a 27–24 victory against the Denver Broncos. The following week, he set a season-high with six solo tackles (seven combined) and made a pass deflection during a 31–13 victory at the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 18. He finished his rookie season with 44 combined tackles (28 solo), seven passes defensed, one sack, and one forced fumble in 11 games and starts. He received an overall grade of 73.6 from Pro Football Focus as a rookie in 2022.
The Kansas City Chiefs finished the 2022 NFL season a top of the AFC West with a 14–3 record to clinch a first-round bye. On January 21, 2023, McDuffie started in his first career playoff game and made four combined tackles (three solo) and one pass deflection during a 27–20 win against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Divisional Round. The following game, he recorded six solo tackles and made two pass deflections during a 23–20 victory against the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship Game. On February 12, 2023, McDuffie started in Super Bowl LVII where he recorded five combined tackles (four solo) in the Chiefs' 38–35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Los Angeles Rams
On March 11, 2026, McDuffie was traded to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for the Rams' first-round (29th overall, which the Chiefs used to select Peter Woods), fifth-round and sixth-round picks in the 2026 NFL Draft and their third-round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft. Immediately after, McDuffie and the Rams agreed to a four-year, $124 million contract extension that made him the highest-paid defensive back in NFL history. When the Rams debuted their new uniforms for the upcoming season, team social media outlets showed McDuffie wearing No. 22 (as he did while playing for Kansas City), a number previously worn by running back Blake Corum, who switched to No. 24.