Eric Weddle hopes his Hollywood story has a super ending with Rams

Eric Weddle seemed perfectly content with his decision to retire after the 2019 season, his 13-year career as an NFL safety giving way to a less stressed life filled with pick-up basketball games, coaching his son’s football team and shuttling his three daughters to and from basketball, volleyball and soccer practice.

The only time the Poway father of four felt even a pang of regret in two years away from the game was on Sept. 13, 2020, when the Rams — the team he played his last year for in 2019 — beat the Dallas Cowboys 20-17 in the season opener.

“When I saw everyone hugging up after that huge win, that was the only moment over the last year and a half that I was like, ‘Man, I wish I was there,’ ” Weddle said. “The raw emotion, the excitement, the grind, everything that goes into getting a win … you just can’t replicate that outside of football.”

Weddle missed that feeling far more than he had realized, which is why, when the Rams put out an SOS for their injury-plagued secondary in early January, the 37-year-old jumped at the opportunity.

Three playoff victories later, Weddle will experience perhaps the greatest adrenaline rush in all of sports when he and the Rams take the SoFi Stadium field for the Feb. 13 Super Bowl LVI game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

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“This is an opportunity of a lifetime, a second chance at your dream,” Weddle said on a video call this week. “I’m playing with house money. There’s no pressure on me. I’m here for a reason, so let’s go play ball and do what I’ve done my whole life and leave everything on the field.”

The words “crazy” and “surreal” and “mind-boggling” came up in Weddle’s first video call after his Jan. 12 signing, and he didn’t necessarily disagree with a reporter who asked if it was “nuts” to think a 37-year-old who was a full two years removed from his last NFL action could contribute to a playoff team.

“I love challenges, and I knew the outside perception was gonna be like, ‘This guy can’t do it, what are they thinking?’ ” Weddle said. “And that just fuels me to the core. I’ll bet on me any day of the week.”

The gamble has paid off for the Rams, as Weddle has bolstered a secondary that lost starting safeties Jordan Fuller (ankle) and Tyler Rapp (concussion) to injuries and moved Nick Scott and Terrell Burgess to starting roles.

Weddle played 19 of 56 defensive snaps (34%) in a 34-11 wild-card win over the Arizona Cardinals on Jan. 17, most of them in the first half, and 61 of 72 snaps (85%) in a 30-27 divisional-round win over Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Jan. 23.

Rams safety Eric Weddle watches from the sideline during a wild-card playoff win over the Arizona Cardinals on Jan. 17.

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

He then played all 51 snaps in last Sunday’s 20-17 win over the 49ers in the NFC championship game, making a combined nine tackles, one for a loss, and helping the defense limit San Francisco to 282 total yards — 232 of them passing — and three of nine conversions on third down.

“It’s outstanding — I’m not surprised,” Rams coach Sean McVay said earlier this week. “It’s just one of those deals that, for him to be able to pull this off and what he’s done, the juice, the energy, the leadership that he’s brought over the last couple weeks has been palpable. I’ve loved having him around.

“What he’s done, playing as many snaps as he has the last couple weeks, it’s incredible. It’s remarkable. But if there was anybody that was going to be able to do it, it would be him. His knowledge of the game, his instincts, his natural toughness, his feel, all those things were on display.”

Pro Football Focus graded Weddle below average in overall defense (64.2 on a 0-100 scale) against Arizona, but he improved against Tampa Bay, with a grade of 69.5.

Weddle’s low coverage grade (47.5) against the 49ers was offset by his high marks in run defense (91.0) and tackling (83.7). Weddle made a key stop early in the fourth quarter, dropping Elijah Mitchell for a one-yard loss on a second-and-one.

The 49ers, who led 17-14 at the time, were stuffed on third down and forced to punt. The Rams took over and drove for a game-tying field goal.

“He would be the first to tell you there’s a couple things we can clean up, but I thought he played a great game,” McVay said. “I thought the second-and-one tackle that got them to third-and-two was one of the biggest plays of the game. If you just watch the way that he was able to have the concept recognition, trigger in the backfield and get it for a minus one, it was some great stuff.”

Weddle, a two-time All-Pro and six-time Pro Bowl selection during a career spent primarily with the San Diego Chargers and Baltimore Ravens, said one of the first questions defensive coordinator Raheem Morris asked in that initial phone call in January was, “You’re not fat and out of shape, are you?”

Weddle assured Morris that conditioning wouldn’t be an issue.

Since his retirement, Weddle has been “training like a mad man” and playing full-court basketball, a sport he played every offseason during his 13-year NFL career because so many of its movements — running, jumping, stops and starts, backpedaling, change of direction — simulate those of a defensive back.

Weddle watched every snap of every Rams game during the regular season. He stayed in regular contact with McVay and several players, including star cornerback Jalen Ramsey. He had a good feel for the defensive scheme and how he might best fit in and help.

“Even though I haven’t been here all season, I feel like I’ve been through every game because I’ve watched every play,” Weddle said. “I know what has happened. I know the ups and downs, the losses. So I feel like I’ve been here even though I haven’t.”

The 5-foot-11, 195-pound Weddle acknowledged an element of danger to his return. Sure, he was in great shape, but he hadn’t collided with a massive tight end such as Arizona’s Zach Ertz (6-5, 250) or San Francisco’s George Kittle (6-4, 250) on a crossing route in two years.

“Hopefully,” Weddle said in January, “I’ll be able to walk off the field, not crawl off the field.”

Rams safety Eric Weddle, who had been retired for more than two years, is introduced before a game against the 49ers in the NFC Championship at SoFi Stadium.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Weddle survived three rounds of the playoffs, but last Sunday’s NFC title game left a mark.

“Thirty-six hours after that game, I was in a rough spot,” Weddle said. “I haven’t been in that much pain in a long time, and it was a harsh reminder of what this game is about. It brought me back to Earth to understand that’s why I left. I couldn’t have done this for 16-20 weeks, but I can muster it up for one more.”

Weddle, a former Utah standout who was a second-round pick of the Chargers in 2007, thought he would play in multiple Super Bowls after the Chargers advanced to the AFC title game in his rookie year.

The Chargers beat Tennessee in a wild-card game, and Weddle, who had 29 career interceptions — six returned for touchdowns — intercepted a Peyton Manning pass in their 28-24 upset of Indianapolis in a divisional game.

San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers suffered a torn knee ligament in the fourth quarter of the Colts game, but played when the Chargers lost to New England 21-12 in the AFC title game. That Chargers roster was full of young stars, but the team hasn’t won a divisional playoff game since.

“When you’re young, you’re naïve to the game and how hard it is to just make the playoffs, let alone advance and have a chance to be a game away from the Super Bowl,” Weddle said.

“When we played in that AFC championship game, I thought everyone was gonna come back, we’ll be healthy and back playing. We went to the second round but never sniffed the championship game since my rookie year.”

Fifteen years — 13 with football, two without — later, Weddle finally will play in a Super Bowl, where he figures to play a key role in slowing Cincinnati’s prolific receiver tandem of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. They combined to catch 155 passes for 2,546 yards and 19 touchdowns during the regular season and 34 passes for 488 yards and a touchdown in three playoff games.

“It’s a great story,” McVay said of Weddle. “It’s almost like some movie stuff that you would write, but he’s doing it in real life.”

Weddle would love nothing more than to ride into the sunset after a Rams victory over the Bengals.

“I go back to my old life after the Super Bowl, right? There is no tomorrow. There is no next season. This is everything,” Weddle said. “I’m getting myself ready to play my very best game in the last game of my career, and hopefully holding that trophy and celebrating with my teammates, celebrating with my family.

“And then I’m going to pull an all-nighter until the sun comes up Monday morning and all the way to the rest of my life, I’ll forever be a champion.”

The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Annie Heilbrunn contributed to this report.