Since then the dominoes continue to fall in one of the league\u2019s most competitive divisions:<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s dive into some thoughts on each of the NFC West rivals:<\/p>\n
You can nitpick the Rams\u2019 roster in places (such as inside linebacker, EDGE depth, and WR#3); however, Les Snead has made the most of free agency in order to ensure he has all options open next month in the NFL Draft. LA has taken a glaring weak spot at corner and turned it into a position of strength. This will help maximize an aggressive pass rush and work towards a more complimentary defense.<\/p>\n
Does Snead still have some more work to do, especially on offense? Sure. But the Rams have ample draft capital and are the predominant Super Bowl favorites in March.<\/p>\n
For a team with ample cap space coming into the offseason, Seattle seems to be a team that is hemorrhaging talent instead of reloading. The pending contract extensions to Sam Darnold, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and Devon Witherspoon could be more cost-prohibitive than initially thought, and the Rams did their rivals no favors by inking McDuffie early (and possibly Puka Nacua too).<\/p>\n
The Seahawks have lost Walker, Mafe, and Bryant. These were important players and it\u2019s unclear who will fall in place after them. With Mafe, for example, they lose a starting EDGE and DeMarcus Lawrence is another year older.<\/p>\n
For an offense that was heavily reliant on the running game, Seattle doesn\u2019t seem to have capable options in the backfield. Zach Charbonnet will likely miss the first half of the season.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s difficult to say the arrow is pointing up for the Seahawks. They\u2019ll need to keep pace with the Rams.<\/p>\n
These are the ages of the 49ers\u201d offensive core:<\/p>\n
San Francisco can put up points with the best of them. No matter how many players are out injured, Kyle Shanahan is able to pull the play calling strings to maximize the talent they have available. But we\u2019ve seen the wheels come off before, and this group is only getting older. There is no real threat of dynamism or speed that should scare defenses.<\/p>\n
The 49ers\u2019 defense is improving but it\u2019s still a ways off their peak. They\u2019ll cross their fingers that Mykel Williams had a rough rookie season and isn\u2019t a draft bust, or else they could end up with a huge whole opposite Nick Bosa.<\/p>\n
By naming Jacoby Brissett the team\u2019s starting quarterback, the Cardinals are effectively signaling they won\u2019t be competitive in 2026. Brissett is an odd pairing with new head coach Mike LaFleur, and he\u2019s pretty much only good enough to make bad teams mildly interesting. Maybe next year, Cardinals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since then the dominoes continue to fall in one of the league\u2019s most competitive divisions: Let\u2019s dive into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[7,1014,58,4200,2444,2611,6,424],"class_list":{"0":"post-803839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-los-angeles","10":"tag-los-angeles-rams","11":"tag-los-angeles-rams-news","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-losangelesrams","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-rams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116203279025892057","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803839","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=803839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}