One Bold Draft Move for Every NFC West Team
Presenting one scenario for each team in the NFC West that would shake up the draft.
If you’ve watched professional wrestling, you know that boldness is a must-have quality. Being shy and out of the spotlight doesn’t work; every performer must do everything they can to stand out and get noticed.
It feels like some NFL front offices treat the offseason the same way. New Orleans is always making big moves despite the salary cap and the plea of analysts to rebuild. The Saints often stand out when adding players.
The meek stay quiet, but the bold are undying in their will and ability to be right (for better and worse).
I am going through each division and naming one bold move each team could make either during or around the draft. For some, this means aggressively adding a player at a position of need; others would be bold by changing their usual strategy.
Let’s finish up in the NFC West, where the 49ers have maybe the best roster in football, and the other three have varying degrees of uncertainty.
MORE: AFC West, South, North, East; NFC South, North, East
Arizona Cardinals
Choose the top wide receiver and the top cornerback or edge rusher in the draft
The first part of this is easy: Arizona just needs to sit tight and take Marvin Harrison Jr. fourth overall (assuming the top three picks are all quarterbacks). The next handful of selections would dictate if Arizona were able to accomplish this task, but many projections have the first 10 picks including just one or zero defensive players.
If that holds, the Cardinals could look to be active with their second first-round pick at No. 27 complements of the Houston Texans. The Broncos at 12 are missing years of high draft picks from acquiring Russell Wilson and Sean Payton, and they could be interested in some of the treasures Arizona has at their disposal.
With three third rounders, the Cardinals currently own seven picks in the top 104. The Jimmy Johnson trade chart says Arizona could give up either their second rounder (No. 35) or two of their third-round picks (66 and 71) and swap the 27th pick with the 12th pick. With a lot of draft capital, it would be a defensible move to bring in two elite prospects if Arizona feels they have the guys.
Toledo’s Quinyon Mitchell and Alabama’s Terrion Arnold are the top cornerback prospects, while Alabama’s Dallas Turner is generally seen as the top pass rusher with UCLA’s Laiatu Latu a step behind due to injury concerns. Both positions could use upgrades, too.
The team signed Sean Murphy-Bunting to play one cornerback spot, but 2023 third rounder Garrett Williams is currently slotted on the opposite side with no other corner on the roster drafted before the fourth round.
Dennis Gardeck led the team with six sacks last season; nobody else had more than four. I didn’t know who Gardeck was before seeing his name in the stats. Turns out he’s an undrafted free agent from Souix Falls entering his seventh season. He had seven sacks in 2020 but has otherwise totaled one sack in four other seasons.
There are a lot of holes on Arizona’s roster, and they should probably be looking to trade down rather than up, but Houston showed last season what can happen when you bring in two top prospects.
Los Angeles Rams
Make a first-round pick
This is a little tongue-in-cheek, but it’s true that the Rams haven’t chosen a player in the first round since Jared Goff in 2016. When those picks are being used for superstars like Jalen Ramsey or a quarterback like Matthew Stafford, it’s defensible to take that strategy. It worked, as the team won the Super Bowl after the 2021 season.
They have done well finding impact players later in the draft, with Kyren Williams and Puka Nacua as recent examples. Aaron Donald retired this offseason, meaning the top-end talent took a big hit. Rather than finding more good players, the team could use another superstar-level prospect on defense; those players are usually found in the first round.
It’s hard to identify those guys at the top of the draft, let alone No. 19, but the Rams may have a chance at a player who can approximate some of the value Donald brought, which would give them a chance to build a competitive defense without changing their whole scheme.
Byron Murphy III from Texas is seen as the clear top defensive tackle prospect and the best bet to be a force inside. LA still has a talented roster, but they need to add more if they want to be in position to make the playoffs after losing a generational talent. Murphy or another defensive lineman may be able to fill that void.
San Francisco 49ers
Get a starting right tackle in the top 20
San Francisco just doesn’t have many holes. They have drafted and developed talent as well as anyone and hit on the few big moves bringing in players from outside the organization. Most importantly, they found a good quarterback with the last pick in the draft.
Despite having the best offense in football, the 49ers ranked just 20th in pass block win rate and 23rd in run block win rate last year according to ESPN. Trent Williams is one of the best left tackles around, but San Fran can probably upgrade on right tackle Colton McKivitz, a fifth-round pick in 2020.
This year’s tackle class is seen as being very deep, to the point the team could possibly wait at No. 31 and still get a good player capable of starting Week 1. With such a talented roster, though, they can take turns to upgrade important positions, especially as they routinely grab compensatory picks.
Using the Johnson draft chart, the 49ers could send their second- and third-round picks to Seattle to move up to No. 16, and it would be a perfect match. Trades within the division don’t happen often, but these teams both like being active, and the Seahawks have a reputation for trading down. I’d bet they’d go for this trade if San Francisco threw in one of their four Day 3 picks.
With the edges secured, the 49ers would be in position to repeat their league-best offensive performance and maybe even improve if Brock Purdy continues to grow.
Seattle Seahawks
Get the first interior offensive lineman in the draft, by any means necessary
They might be able to sit tight and grab guard Troy Fautanu from Washington with the 16th pick. Guards have been valued quite a bit lower than tackles in the past, but that’s changing in terms of the top average salaries, with guard being treated more like a premium position.
Fautanu played left tackle in college, giving him the upside of being able to hold down one of the outside spots or at least fill in at left tackle if needed. Seattle’s biggest need is probably at guard, where Damien Lewis left to sign a big contract in Carolina. The fit is perfect.
What if Seattle thinks Fautanu will be picked before they are on the clock, though? Would Seattle look to trade up with the Broncos at 12 or even get into the top 10 by way of Chicago at No. 9?
Using the Johnson chart again, they could get to the 12th pick by giving up their third rounder (81) and maybe a late-round pick or pick swap in Denver’s favor. Without a second-round pick, it would be a little tougher to get inside the top 10.
The Bears only have four selections in this draft, so they could be tempted by No. 81 and Seattle’s two fourth-round picks (102 and 118). Picking up three picks in the top 120 sounds like a fair deal to move down seven slots, though Chicago would be missing out on a top-level prospect.
Seattle usually stays put or trades down, but this would be a move geared toward filling their biggest hole with eyes on competing immediately.
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