{"id":49962,"date":"2025-05-14T17:48:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T17:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/49962\/"},"modified":"2025-05-14T17:48:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T17:48:09","slug":"nfc-west-notes-rams-kittle-hawks-cards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/49962\/","title":{"rendered":"NFC West Notes: Rams, Kittle, Hawks, Cards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tyler Higbee<\/a> has been the Rams\u2018 top tight end for many years, dating back to the team\u2019s separation from Gerald Everett<\/a> in 2021. Higbee, however, is now in Year 10 and coming off a three-game season. The Rams have attempted to install an heir apparent on multiple occasions, most notably failing in an attempt to trade up for<\/a> Brock Bowers<\/a> last year. Los Angeles then was tied to an effort to move up for Colston Loveland<\/a> last month, and ESPN\u2019s Jeremy Fowler indicates<\/a> the team did discuss trades with teams holding top-10 picks.<\/p>\n

Once Loveland went to the Bears at 10, the Rams regrouped and traded down, picking up a 2026 first-rounder (from the Falcons<\/a>) to do so. Upon leaving Round 1, however, the Rams eyed the next wave of tight ends in this draft. Both Mason Taylor<\/a> (LSU) and Terrance Ferguson<\/a> (Oregon) were on the team\u2019s radar, per Fowler, who notes Ferguson was rated higher despite Taylor going to the Jets four spots earlier<\/a>. The Rams have Ferguson (591 receiving yards in 2024) readying to become the Higbee heir apparent.<\/p>\n

Here is the latest from the NFC West:<\/p>\n

Ferguson is unlikely to unseat George Kittle<\/a> as the NFC West\u2019s top tight end anytime soon, as the 49ers extended their All-Pro dynamo recently. San Francisco\u2019s four-year, $76.4MM deal<\/a> includes $35MM guaranteed at signing. Beyond fully guaranteed money in 2025 and \u201926, Pro Football Talk\u2019s Mike Florio notes<\/a> $2MM of Kittle\u2019s 2027 pay ($17.15MM) is locked in at signing. The 49ers have also dived into the option bonus game, which will help keep Kittle\u2019s cap hits under $19MM until 2029. Kittle can unlock $5MM more in 2027 guarantees by being a 2026 Pro Bowler or landing on the All-Pro first or second team that year; reaching a number of statistical benchmarks that year also could allow Kittle to cash in on that $5MM 2027 bump, Florio adds.
\nSam Darnold<\/a>\u2018s three-year, $100.5MM<\/a> Seahawks contract became classified as a pay-as-you-go pact<\/a>, and ESPN\u2019s Brady Henderson provided<\/a> an important detail here. Seattle gave Darnold a $15MM roster bonus, but it is not due until February 13 \u2014 five days after Super Bowl LX. The Seahawks can cut bait during that window, reminding of the Raiders\u2019 2023 Derek Carr<\/a> divorce, if the Darnold partnership does not pan out. Seattle would still pick up a $25.6MM dead money hit (due to signing bonus proration) by cutting Darnold after one season.
\nDC Aden Durde pushed for Rylie Mills<\/a> in Round 5 (via the pick obtained in<\/a> the Sam Howell<\/a> trade), but the Seahawks will wait a bit to see the Day 3 D-lineman in action. A torn ACL sustained in December is expected to keep the Notre Dame product out until at least midseason, John Schneider said (via Henderson<\/a>). A late-season return is also in play for a player who will be more of a long-term option in Seattle.
\nNot rostering a fullback in many years, the Seahawks had planned to add one<\/a> to work in Klint Kubiak\u2018s offense. They did so in the draft, as Schneider confirmed (via Henderson<\/a>) Alabama tight end Robbie Ouzts<\/a> \u2014 a fifth-round pick \u2014 will begin his career at fullback. The 274-pound SEC product will compete with Brady Russell<\/a>, who has played 26 Seahawks games (zero starts) since arriving in September 2023.
\nA former South Carolina defensive back, Landon Grier made an early foray into the NFL scouting ranks. The Cardinals hired him straight out of college to be a scouting assistant<\/a>. The son of Dolphins GM Chris Grier, Landon is not expected back with the Cards in 2025, with InsidetheLeague.com\u2019s Neil Stratton noting<\/a> the younger Grier is on track to return to the college ranks for a personnel role.
\nThe 49ers are also parting ways with a scouting staffer, with Stratton adding<\/a> Michael Zyskowski is moving on after three years with the franchise. Late spring regularly serves as a point teams reshuffle scouting staffs, as contracts usually run through the draft in an effort to ensure continuity ahead of the event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tyler Higbee has been the Rams\u2018 top tight end for many years, dating back to the team\u2019s separation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[390,2872,7,6066,16942,1014,58,2444,2611,280,16943,6,424,1429,1878,252,261,584,7448],"class_list":{"0":"post-49962","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-arizona-cardinals","9":"tag-brady-russell","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-george-kittle","12":"tag-landon-grier","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-rams","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangelesrams","17":"tag-mason-taylor","18":"tag-michael-zyskowski","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-rams","21":"tag-rylie-mills","22":"tag-sam-darnold","23":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","24":"tag-seattle-seahawks","25":"tag-terrance-ferguson","26":"tag-uncategorized"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114507448654208814","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}