Biggest remaining needs for each team in the NFC

NFC West

Arizona Cardinals introduce Kyler Murray

Arizona Cardinals – Veteran quarterback

I might fall into the trap of valuing the draft too highly so shortly after the event, but when I just look at bodies and how I had all those guys graded, the Cardinals seem to really have one of the more well-rounded rosters in the NFL all of a sudden. As bad as their offensive line was a year ago, they just had to deal with a lot of injuries last season and they added J.R. Sweezy and Marcus Gilbert.

The Cards’ are looking to dust off David Johnson, who not too long ago was in the conversation the top running back in the league, they obviously got their guy of the future to run Kliff Kingsbury’s system and they added a multitude of weapons for Kyler Murray with the rest of their draft. Being without Patrick Peterson for six weeks because of the PED news obviously sucks, but they added Robert Alford and the top corner in the draft.

They have a tremendous safety trio and new defensive coordinator Vance Joseph will figure out what to do with all these different bodies in the front-seven. Of course this is a young team that still needs to grow, but they have plenty of veteran leadership over the entire field. However, they are lacking that at one position – quarterback.

The most experienced guy in that locker room might be their head coach because Brett Hundley only played in the absence of Aaron Rodgers two years ago and had his fair share of struggles filling in, while Kingsbury at least was part of several NFL training camps and even played a year up in Canada. I’m sure those two will spend a lot of time together, but having an experienced guy behind Murray to teach him some stuff would definitely help.

Los Angeles Rams – Left guard

The Rams are coming off one of the biggest let-down games in a 13-3 Super Bowl loss to the Patriots. Their young genius head coach Sean McVay was humbled by meeting the master in Bill Belichick, Jared Goff looked completely lost, the O-line got beaten up by New England’s pass-rush and there are still question marks about Todd Gurley’s knee after being ineffective for the team’s playoff run.

While they did lose Lamarcus Joyner and Ndamukong Suh on defense, they added two safeties in veteran Eric Weddle and Taylor Rapp at a great value out of Washington, plus they got Rapp’s teammate in run-plugger Greg Gaines as a good match for Aaron Donald’s upfield style of play. If there was one area that I think they aren’t quite set, I would look at the left guard spot.

Rodger Saffold was signed to a big deal by the Titans and the Rams don’t really have a clear replacement. They have three tackles still developing with last year’s third-round pick Joseph Noteboom from TCU, this year’s third-rounder Bobby Evans from Oklahoma and fifth-round selection David Edwards out of Wisconsin. The weird thing is I really like all three of them, but none of them really fit naturally inside.

Since they all have experience running those zone schemes in college, I would guess that one of them will take over that position with nobody else on the roster having any true game experience. Since Noteboom has spent a year on the bench learning the system, he would be the prime candidate, but he is a tackle long-term.

San Francisco 49ers – X receiver

Year three for Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch – time to show some results! The 49ers were a popular darkhorse contender ahead of last season. While I thought they weren’t quite there, they should at least be in the hunt for a playoff spot in 2019. They have slowly rebuilt the offensive line to protect their franchise investment Jimmy Garoppolo, who will have high expectations once again this season.

Defensively, they all of a sudden have one of the best front-sevens in football with the additions of Dee Ford, Kwon Alexander and Nick Bosa to go along with what they already had, especially an under-the-radar star in DeForest Buckner on the interior. I’m interested to see what they do personnel-wise on the back-end, but I think they have the pieces they need for that cover-three based scheme, as long as the pass rush gets home.

Back to the offense – I like a bunch of those skill-players on the Niners. They have an excellent running back trio and several slot receivers in Jordan Matthews, Trent Taylor and now early second-round pick Deebo Samuel. With that being said, where is the true outside threat, who can win on the perimeter consistently?

Third-round pick Jalen Hurd even played in the slot for Baylor after transferring from Tennessee as a running back and should be more a chess piece than an actual outside receiver. Samuel is absolutely the most talented guy among that group and can create a lot of separation, but part of what makes him special is the versatility he brings in the screen games, on jet sweeps and other stuff.

Seattle Seahawks – Right tackle

Boy, that was a quick “rebuild” up in the Pacific North. I thought the Hawks would be a sub-.500 team last season and at the start of the season that is what they looked like. The offensive line could not slow down some of the league’s top pass rushers in Von Miller, Khalil Mack and their respective teammates, and Russell Wilson ran around like a maniac.

As the defense started supporting them more and the pressure was taken off the O-line with the heavy run game and play-action off it under Brian Schottenheimer, they started looking like the Seahawks of the old days that pounded defenses and got after quarterbacks themselves.

When they met the Cowboys in the Wild Card Round and saw them shut down the rushing attack with penetration, forcing them into more obvious passing situations, you saw that their true dropback protection was still not nearly where it needed to be.

They added two road-grading guards in Mike Iupati and D.J. Fluker who will also help out their issues in the protection. But I am getting sick of saying it – Germaine Ifedi is not a starting offensive tackle. His sack numbers were not catastrophic because having Duane Brown on the opposite end allowed Seattle to slide the protection the other way, plus most of their deep shots in the passing game came off play-action, which put less pressure on him. With the additions the 49ers have made on the edges and Aaron Donald demanding double-teams when facing the Rams, this could get ugly.