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- At 37 years old, Eric Weddle will have the most important role on the Rams defense in the Super Bowl.
- Less than a month ago, he was retired. It’s a remarkable story.
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Eric Weddle did not play a single snap of football from Dec. 29, 2019 to Jan. 17, 2022. And now he is set to hold the most important defensive position in the Super Bowl.
After 13 seasons in the NFL, Weddle retired from football on February 6, 2020. He did not play the entire 2020 season and he did not play the entire 2021 regular season.
However, he has played the entire 2021 postseason with the Rams.
After the end of the regular season, Los Angeles was going to be without starting safety Jordan Fuller for the entire playoffs due to an ankle injury. Its other starter, Taylor Rapp, was in concussion protocol and was going to miss the Wild Card game.
Although the team had two backup players at the position, they needed depth and experience. As a result, head coach Sean McVay called up Weddle and asked him if he was still in playing shape.
Weddle said yes and McVay offered him a contract. Weddle agreed and signed with the practice squad before being elevated to the active roster ahead of the Wild Card game.
He quickly became a crucial component to the Rams defense.
In the NFC Championship Game against San Francisco, Weddle had a team-high nine tackles. At 37 years old. After playing just two games in the two years prior.
Now he is the most important player on the field in the biggest game.
Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris said earlier this week that Weddle will be wearing the green dot on his helmet. That dot signifies that he will be the one getting the play calls from the sideline and will be the one to relay the calls to his teammates on defense.
It’s remarkable. The plan was never to have to sign Weddle. The plan was never to have him play every single snap on defense. The plan was never to have him be calling plays.
And yet, here he is.
“We had set a bar for him, these expectations that he was going to be a ‘spell’ guy and then he evolved to where he could play a little bit more, so he takes some extended plays the next time we went out,” Morris said. “And then the last game, he went out and played every snap. And this game, he’s going to go out and hopefully play every snap, God willing.”
After the game, Weddle will go back into retirement. Stories like this are what makes sports so awesome.