Los Angeles Rams
The reigning NFC Champions have influenced many teams this off season to try to replicate what the Rams have with young offensive genius head coach Sean McVay. The Packers and Bengals hired former McVay assistants Matt LaFleur and Zac Taylor while the Cardinals went for their own version of a young offensive genius in Kliff Kingsbury. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. McVay’s offense has been the centerpiece of the Rams resurgence. RB Todd Gurley did the lion’s share of the lifting for most of last year and then his knees started to give out. The team is trying to lighten his load with the return of a healthy Malcolm Brown and rookie RB Derrell Henderson hoping to help out. Jared Goff had a very good year last season and they team hopes to build on that. Goff had two 1000-yard WRs in Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods and he was missing one of his favorite targets, Cooper Kupp, for much of the year. Gerald Everett and Tyler Higbee are a solid duo at TE. The team will see some turnover on the offensive line as C John Sullivan is gone but they are hoping to coax (at least) one more good year out of LT Andrew Whitworth. He’s an important part of their success. The biggest concern is Gurley’s health and they are hoping that lessening his workload will keep him healthy all year long.
The defense is led by 2-time defending Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald. He’s a menace to all opposing offenses and he doesn’t look like he’s slowing down any time soon. As long as Donald is wreaking havoc the rest of the defense will play off of him. The team wanted a better outside pass rush from their 3-4 scheme so last season they traded for Dante Fowler at the deadline and then they re-signed him. He’s better than what they had but that’s not saying much. This off season they signed Clay Matthews and they hope he can find a little bit of the pass rushing skill he used to have in Green Bay. I’m not sure counting on Matthews is a great plan considering he hasn’t been elite in quite some time but as a part-time pass rusher he might be effective. Cory Littleton and Micah Kiser are no name ILB but they actually aren’t too bad. The secondary has some big names that the team needs to play up to their reputations. Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib are the starting CBs and when they are on, they are excellent. Talib isn’t quite as good as he used to be but that’s to be expected at 33. Peters needs to be more consistent. S Eric Weddle was signed when the team lost Lamarcus Joyner in free agency, Weddle is no spring chicken either but he was pretty good in Baltimore last year.
Sean McVay may be the darling of the NFL coaching circles right now but the team came up short against one of the great defensive minds in the NFL last season in the Super Bowl. Bill Belichick had an answer for basically everything McVay threw at the Patriots last. If other teams study up on what the Patriots did than McVay will need to be even more innovative this year. It would help if both Gurley and Kupp are healthy. The defense is still in the capable hands of Wade Phillips so they should be good enough on that side of the ball. The Seahawks aren’t going to be a pushover and the 49ers are hoping a healthy Jimmy G gives them a chance in the division but until someone takes it away from them the NFC West is the Rams to lose.
Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks offense is still very reliant on Russell Wilson to create plays and bail them out of bad situations. That job is going to be a bit harder this season with his favorite go-to target Doug Baldwin retired. The team tried to replace Baldwin with rookie DK Metcalf but he’s injured to start the year. David Moore was looking like a guy that might bring something to the passing game but he’s banged up too. That leaves the uninspiring Jaron Brown as the best option to line up opposite Tyler Lockett. Lockett is a good WR but I’m not sure he’s up to the task of being the team’s #1 guy. Seattle has to hope Chris Carson can get healthy and stay on the field or that second-year RB Rashaad Penny breaks out or their running game will remain pedestrian. Carson has talent he just can’t seem to stay on the field. Penny was over drafted a year ago but he’s a talented back too. TE Nick Vannett is the best of a less than impressive TE group so he’ll have to do for now. The offensive line played better last year as LT Duane Brown stabilized that position after years of uncertainty. They aren’t the best line in the NFL but they aren’t the worst anymore like they once were.
The Seahawks have taken a few hits on defense to start the year and it could hurt them. First, DT Jarran Reed was suspended to start the season. He was breakout player last year and the team was hoping he would build on the momentum. They will have to wait for that to happen. Then 1st round pick DE LJ Collier sprained his foot/ankle in practice and his return date is still undetermined. The team was hoping he would help replace the traded Frank Clark and some of his pass rushing production. The team didn’t have much in the way of proven pass rusher and with Reed and Collier missing time so they pulled off a trade for Jadeveon Clowney from Houston. Clowney was franchise tagged and wanted out of Houston. The Seahawks need a pass rusher and while Clowney is a bit overrated as one he’s better than what they have. He might be a better one when lining up at DE as opposed to OLB like he did in Houston. At LB the team should be fine with Bobby Wagner getting is extension in the off season and he’ll be flanked by KJ Wright and Shaquem Griffin. The secondary needs Shaquill Griffin and Tre Flowers to establish themselves as legitimate NFL CBs. They both have the talent they just need to show some consistency. The days of Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor scaring the hell out of the Seahawks opponents officially ended when Thomas signed in Baltimore and Chancellor was forced to retire due to injury. Tedric Thompson and Brad McDougal are not terrible but they are definitely not Thomas and Chancellor.
Pete Carroll is still going strong but the days of his coordinators being hot commodities seems to be over. Dan Quinn and Gus Bradley were hotshots at one time on the defensive side but Carroll seems content with Ken Norton Jr and Brian Schottenheimer running the defense and the offense respectively. I don’t think they are the most inventive play callers in the league and it shows in the team’s performance. Once again, this team is the Russell Wilson show and they will only go as far as Wilson and the defense take them. This year that puts them behind the Rams once again and they better hope San Francisco doesn’t make a leap with Jimmy G back under center or Seattle could be looking at third in their division.
San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers are hoping for their major investment in Jimmy Garoppolo to finally pay off after he missed last season with an injury. This team will only go as a far as he can take them. The offense needs the Jimmy G that played in those first seven games he started for them two years ago because they aren’t exactly teeming with great skill position players. Don’t get me wrong they have some solid starters but they aren’t the Chiefs or Browns at the skill positions. The team added RB Tevin Coleman and he should pair nicely with Matt Breida but that’s hardly a dynamic duo. At WR Marquise Goodwin is good but Dante Pettis has failed to impress this preseason. Rookie Deebo Samuel should contribute but fellow rookie Jalen Hurd, who has looked good at times, is banged up and probably won’t be ready for the start of the year. The only skill position where the team has an elite player is TE. George Kittle was a record-setter last season and with Jimmy G back there is no reason to think he’ll slow down. He’s a dynamic weapon in the seam and the only guy opponents have to game plan for at this point. The offensive line is fine but they need Weston Richburg to stay healthy at center and for their guards to be more consistent.
The defense added some key pieces in the off season. DE Nick Bosa was drafted #2 overall and the team traded for Dee Ford from the Chiefs to juice up the pass rush. This team wasn’t great at getting to the QB last season so they are hoping these two can get it done. Bosa was banged up and missed most of the preseason but the team is hoping he is back and healthy early this season. The team signed Kwon Alexander from Tampa Bay to add speed and athleticism to the LB corps and he certainly does that. The rest of the group isn’t great but they are hoping with better play up front it will make the LBs better. The secondary isn’t great but CB Richard Sherman showed he still has something left in the tank last year and the team is hoping he can do it again. A better pass rush would help their coverage unit a lot but they still need to add some talent and depth here. It’s not a position where a lot of good players get cut but the team should be scouring the waiver wire after the final roster cuts to see if there is any available help.
Kyle Shanahan is in his third year as head coach but things stalled last year when Garoppolo went down for the season early on. Once Nick Mullens stepped in at QB the offense wasn’t horrible but it just didn’t have the dynamic element Jimmy G brings. This is no doubt a Shanahan production on the offensive side and he will use Tevin Coleman and his two rookie WRs to try to add some punch. The defense is still a bit lacking, especially in the back seven. Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh still doesn’t have enough to work with but this team should be better than they were and they will finish ahead of the Cardinals.
Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals are going all in on Kliff Kingsbury and QB Kyler Murray. This either works out and completely changes the NFL or it’s an abject failure and Murray is playing baseball in three years while Kingsbury is back coaching in college. Murray had his moments in the preseason but the truth is it’s hard to assess anyone playing behind this offensive line. The one major thing that could derail this entire experiment is having Murray get beat up behind a terrible offensive line and his career goes the way of RGIII. Murray can only run around so much against NFL defenses before he gets creamed and that will be the end of that. He has some players to work with on this offense if the line can do anything worthwhile. RB David Johnson is a fantastic player if you give him some room to work. He’s multi-dimensional and dynamic. WR Larry Fitzgerald is a future Hall of Famer who still has a little left in the tank and his veteran savvy is worth his weight in gold. WR Christian Kirk can be a player too. He had an up-and-down rookie year and was banged up some but he’s actually a really solid fit in Kingsbury’s scheme. The team even signed Michael Crabtree who I’m sure has something to contribute. At TE they are pedestrian to say the least but I don’t think Kingsbury’s offense is going to live and die by the TE position. The line is horrendous. LT DJ Humphries has never lived up to his draft billing and I don’t think he’s going to turn it on now. OGs JR Sweezy and Justin Pugh are serviceable veterans but that’s about all. C AQ Shipley is fine but he’s undersized and always has been. The team traded for RT Marcus Gilbert from Pittsburgh but there’s a reason the Steelers gave him up so easily.
The defense is a mystery. Vance Joseph comes in to take over after being fired as the Broncos head coach after two years. He failed at the head coaching gig but he’s been a good defensive coordinator before. The team will play a 3-4 defense primarily and the three-man front will consist of holdover Corey Peters and Rodney Gunter and rookie Zach Allen. I like Allen, he’s a tough player with some solid moves. At LB they signed Terrell Suggs from Baltimore to pair as the other OLB with Chandler Jones. Suggs was still a useful player last season even at his advanced age. It’s a homecoming for Suggs as he played collegiately at Arizona St. If he can still generate some pressure, he will really help Jones, he really hasn’t had a good running mate while in Arizona. Jones is an effective player but he needs some help. The team also signed the oft-injured Jordan Hicks to pair with Hassan Reddick at ILB. Reddick has failed to get his feet under him at ILB and I guess the hope is that Hicks’ veteran presence will help him figure it out. The best player on the defense would be Patrick Peterson but he’s suspended to start the year. The suspension might not matter since the team was looking to trade Peterson, all the suspension did was put that on hold. Peterson is very expensive and probably not worth the money while this team is rebuilding. He would have fetched a nice trade package before the suspension, now the team will wait and see what they can get for him. Byron Murphy was a possible first-round pick who fell to the second where the Cardinals picked him and now, he’ll start at CB opposite Trumaine Brock. It’s not a Pro Bowl pairing but the team could do worse. Budda Baker is a solid safety but I’m not a fan of DJ Swearinger, although I don’t think this defense is going to struggle because of Swearinger, they have plenty of other reasons to struggle.
The Kingsbury/Murray experiment is an interesting one and could have major implications moving forward. Murray is an undersized uber-athlete with a live arm and a tendency to hold the ball too long and try to make a play. That’s a lot of compliments and complaints about someone in the same sentence. Kingsbury was a Texas Tech alum who failed to turn his former team into a winner and got fired from his college job and then somehow went from accepting a college offensive coordinator job (at USC) to being hired as the head coach of an NFL team. There are a lot of ways this goes bad and for this season I’m pretty sure it’s going to be bad. I can’t predict where this will go but if I were a betting man, I would say there’s a better chance Kliff Kingsbury is Urban Meyer’s offensive coordinator at USC in three years than there is he’s still coaching Kyler Murray in Arizona.
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