San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers went to the Super Bowl last season on the strength of an impressive running game and an outstanding defense. They hope the passing game can come around a little bit this year and give them a little more balance. That’s going to take some development by QB Jimmy Garoppolo and some young WRs. Jimmy G is a talented guy who just needs to put it together. It would go a long way if he could get some help in the passing game from someone other than TE George Kittle. Kittle is one of the two best TEs in the game but he would be even more productive if the WRs would take some pressure off of him. Deebo Samuel started to really come on last year as a rookie but they need more. The team drafted Brandon Aiyuk out of Arizona St. and he has big play potential. They still need more but Samuel, Aiyuk and Kittle are the passing offense for now. Luckily, this team runs the ball as well as anyone in the league because Kyle Shanahan is as great at calling a running game as his father. Raheem Mostert returns to be the lead guy and Tevin Coleman will be his complement. The team traded Matt Breida to the Dolphins to clear up the rotation a bit and hey, perhaps this is the year the team finally gets something out of Jerick McKinnon. The offensive line brought in Trent Williams to replace the retired Joe Staley at LT and they have to replace two interior players. One of those guys is C Weston Richburg and that hurts because he’s quite good, however, it’s hard to bet against Kyle Shanahan having a good offensive line.
If your team is going to be predicated on running the ball and playing defense, this is the defense you want to have. Up front this team is loaded and that’s after trading away DeForest Buckner. At DE they have Nick Bosa and Arik Armstead with Dee Ford as the third guy. Ford would not only be a starter on most teams, he would be the #1 pass rusher on about half the teams in the league. At DT DJ Jones is the unsung hero, he gets no press because of the enormous shadows of the guys around him but he is good. The team drafted DT Javon Kinlaw with the pick (or actually one pick later after trading down one spot) they got from the Colts for Buckner. Kinlaw should start but former top three pick Solomon Thomas hasn’t handed over the job just yet. He will though, it’s just a matter of time, Kinlaw is a monster. When you have six d-linemen like those guys it makes the back-seven’s jobs that much easier. The three LBs are all tackling demons who run free most of the time because everyone is dealing with the front four. Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw are both second-year guys who aren’t household names but they are highly effective players. Kwon Alexander was a big free agent signing a few years ago and he completes this trio of tackling machines. CB Richard Sherman is still getting it done at one spot while the other corner is held down by Emmanuel Moseley. Moseley replaced Ahkello Witherspoon after he proved less than effective. Jaquiski Tartt and Jimmie Ward man the safety spots and while they aren’t flashy, they do get the job done.
Kyle Shanahan proved to be an excellent head coach as he got the 49ers to the Super Bowl faster than what was expected. He really trusts his coordinators, it’s easy on offense because he is the coordinator and he’s arguably the best play caller in the NFL. Robert Saleh runs the defense and if the 49ers hadn’t been playing all the way to the Super Bowl last year someone might have hired Saleh away to be their head coach. The 49ers are lucky enough to hold on to him and he’s lucky to have a defense that is absolutely stacked with talent.
Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks offense used to be built around a power running game, now it’s built around whatever Russell Wilson can do for them. Wilson is one of the best QBs in the game but the team asks a lot of him. The running game now consists of Chris Carson, who is frequently banged up, and the newly signed Carlos Hyde. Carson can be effective but he needs to stay on the field. Hyde can be a power back but he seems to always be just good enough that his team wants to replace him. Maybe as the backup to Carson he’ll find a home. Tyler Lockett has proven to be Wilson’s favorite target in the passing game and he plays like a legitimate #1 WR. The passing attack got a shot in the arm with rookie DK Metcalf proving to be a perfect partner for Lockett. The team relies heavily on these two as they don’t have much else at WR. At TE the team signed veteran Greg Olsen to give them a consistent player at the position. Olsen is aging but he can still get it done. Will Dissly is a nice, young developmental TE if he can come back from his injury. The offensive line has 35-year old LT Duane Brown and 33-year old LG Mike Iupati protecting Wilson’s blindside so they have to hope they have another year in them. Ethan Pocic is taking over at center while rookie Damien Lewis steps in at RG and Brandon Shell comes in as a free agent at RT. This isn’t the greatest o-line ever but Wilson makes it work.
The Seahawks built their championship teams on their defense, this isn’t that defense. Up front they need last year’s first-round pick DE LJ Collier to actually show up, he was a complete non-factor as a rookie and now he’s a starter. Benson Mayowa was a pass rushing specialist last year for the Raiders and now he’s the other starting DE in Seattle. They need both of these guys to be more than they were. They are better inside with Jarran Reed and Poona Ford at DT but there is no depth behind them. At LB, Bobby Wagner is the best MLB in football with Luke Kuechly retired. Veteran KJ Wright is a high-volume tackler who’s been around a long time. The team brought back Bruce Irvin to be an OLB and they hope he can juice up the pass rush a bit. They also drafted Jordyn Brooks and he looks like the eventual replacement for Wright. The secondary has been overhauled over the last year or so. It started with the trade last year for safety Quandre Diggs from Detroit. It continued with the early off season trade for CB Quinton Dunbar from Washington. Finally, they traded for safety Jamal Adams from the Jets just a few weeks ago. They join holdover CB Shaquill Griffin to form a new Legion of Boom, or so everyone in Seattle hopes. There’s going to be a lot of pressure on the secondary if they team can’t manufacture some pass rush but this group might actually be able to withstand it.
Pete Carroll’s team is always tough and they will give the 49ers everything they can but they will come up short. I question the defensive front four and with San Francisco’s running game that is going to come back to bite the Seahawks. Arizona will be an improved team but I don’t think they will be quite ready to overtake Seattle for second in the division
Arizona Cardinals
Kyler Murray was the Offensive Rookie of the Year last season after carrying the load for an offense that lacked a lot of playmakers. The team did trade for RB Kenyan Drake during the season and he finished strong and they brought him back to solidify the running game. That’s a solid addition. They followed that up this off season with the major trade for WR DeAndre Hopkins from the Texans. That is an amazing addition and it only came at the cost of trading David Johnson and a draft pick. They gave Hopkins a big extension to be Murray’s go to guy. Hopkins joins Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk as a pretty good trio of WRs who should make Murray that much more effective. The offensive line is still a bit suspect. They brought back DJ Humphries at LT and Justin Pugh, Mason Cole and JR Sweezy make up the interior. Kelvin Beachum is slated to start at RT over last year’s starter Justin Murray. That should be an upgrade but not by a lot. Kyler Murray’s elusiveness comes in handy behind a line that struggles with consistency. Maxx Williams is the starting TE but the team doesn’t really include him in the passing game.
The defense is built around OLB Chandler Jones who is one of the better pass rushers in the NFL. To be more precise, Jones was the Cardinals defense last year and this year he’s hoping for some help. Up front, the three-man front consists of Zach Allen, Corey Peters and Jordan Phillips. Phillips comes over from Buffalo and the Cardinals hope he brings some consistency and playmaking they have been missing. The team signed Devon Kennard to play OLB opposite Jones and while he’s not the most impressive pass rusher he won’t be worse than they had. The big addition at LB came in the draft as they got the most athletic player in the 2020 draft in Isaiah Simmons from Clemson. He steps in at ILB next to veteran Jordan Hicks. Simmons is multitalented player that defensive coordinator Vance Joseph can deploy in a variety of ways. The secondary is still led by CB Patrick Peterson even though he is chronically mentioned as a trade candidate. He may not be as elite as he once was but he’s still the best CB they have. Byron Murphy is the other starter but the team recently signed Dre Kirkpatrick after losing Robert Alford to an injury and Kirkpatrick is a steady veteran, they might find him more reliable. Budda Baker has proven to be an excellent safety and he is becoming a leader of the secondary. Jalen Thompson didn’t become a starter right away last year but he worked his way into the role and seems to have solidified the job.
This team isn’t quite ready to compete with the big boys in the NFC West but they should be better than they were last year. Murray gets a lot of help with Hopkins and having Kenyan Drake all season long. The defense should improve with more consistency up front and Isaiah Simmons as a playmaker in the middle.
Los Angeles Rams
The Rams were 9-7 last year but it was an ugly 9-7 at times. Sean McVay clearly agreed as he brought in Kevin O’Connell as the new offensive coordinator and Brandon Staley as the new defensive coordinator. You don’t change coordinators when things are going well. The team had plenty of injuries to deal with especially on the offensive line and to RB Todd Gurley, who was never himself even when he played. This season the team is trying to replace Gurley with three RBs; Malcolm Brown, Darrell Henderson, and Cam Akers. Not a great strategy in my opinion and I don’t think it will take too long for them to realize Brown and Henderson aren’t the guy and go to Akers. He’s a talent but he’s also a rookie. At WR, the jettisoned Brandin Cooks, while that doesn’t seem like a huge dea,l Cooks was the real deep threat of the team and he made teams have to cover deep. Cooper Kupp is a reliable player when healthy, Robert Woods moves the chains and Josh Reynolds is fine but none of them really threaten defenses down the field. At TE they have Tyler Higbee, an emerging talent, and Gerald Everett who is a steady veteran. The offensive line needs health more than anything because there is little depth. LT Andrew Whitworth is 38-years old to start the year and that is worrisome. Austin Blythe stepped in at center last year, moving over from guard, and looks to solidify that spot. Joseph Noteboom is returning from injury and he and Austin Corbett, the guy that replaced him, look to be the new starting guards. Rob Havenstein is the RT, he’s fine but not really noteworthy. Jared Goff was paid a lot of money to direct this unit and he struggled last year when the running game came to a screeching halt when Gurley was ineffective. He needs the team to find balance to be effective because the offense works best when the play-action game is good.
The defense is where some real regression could take place. They still have Aaron Donald wreaking havoc up front and Michael Brockers came back after his free agent deal with Baltimore fell through. Donald is one of the most feared defenders in football but even he needs some help. The team lost Cory Littleton and Clay Matthews at LB and even though Matthews wasn’t great I don’t think his replacement Leonard Floyd is going to be a big upgrade. They will certainly miss Littleton in the middle. The team traded for Jalen Ramsey last year and recently gave him a huge extension, that makes one great CB on the team. However, that just puts a whole lot of pressure on Troy Hill on the other side. If he crumbles under that pressure it gets ugly quickly because this team only has one elite pass rusher, Donald. Taylor Rapp and John Johnson III are a decent safety duo but the team will miss the leadership and experience of Eric Weddle who retired this off season.
The 49ers and the Seahawks are going to be good, that’s a given. The Cardinals look like they will be much improved with the additions they made in the off season. The Rams look like they downgraded at several key positions; RB, LB, WR, maybe more. Two new coordinators means there will be some adjustment time needed too. Unless Sean McVay can pull a rabbit out of his hat, this season could be a struggle.
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