One Important Storyline for Each NFC West Team this Offseason
As the league heads into the NFL offseason following the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl 58 victory, important developments will be undergone this offseason. Free agent acquisitions and departures, pre- and post-draft trades, and important additions through draft picks will add and subtract players from teams, changing roster compositions, and possibly team outlooks for the 2024 season.
I’ll be going over one important storyline that will be important to watch for each team as they carry out their offseason endeavors. I’ll start with the NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers.
SAN Francisco 49ers
Storyline: Will Brandon Aiyuk be extended, or outprice himself into a trade?
The San Francisco 49ers will have a difficult path to retaining 2nd-team All Pro Brandon Aiyuk.
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With just $570,837 in cap space, and 19 unrestricted free agents including starters such as Chase Young, Tashaun Gipson, Jon Felciano, and Ray-Ray Mcloud, as well as important rotational pieces such as Randy Gregory, Oren Burks, Clelin Ferrell, and Javon Kinlaw, the path to retaining a portion of these players plus trying to extend Aiyuk seems complicated at best. Spotrac has Aiyuk’s projected market value at $22.9 million annually for a 4-year, $92 million deal.
Aiyuk is coming off the best season of his young career. The former 2020 first-round pick posted career highs across the board in a plethora of major Wide Receiver statistics, including yards (1342), yards per reception (17.9), catch percentage (71.4), and yards per game (83.9), while being one-shy of his career high in touchdowns (7), all while missing one game.
Aiyuk is widely regarded as one of the most dangerous route runners in the game, with underrated yards-after-catch potential, with an even higher ceiling to be reached if he ever gets the chance to be a team’s number-one option.
Teams will be calling. To be voted as an all-pro is a difficult feat in itself, and for Aiyuk to do so as a #2 wide receiver in an offense will have teams intrigued about acquiring his services. Rumors are already swirling, largely due to this post that came from Aiyuk’s best friend/brother:
Expect a plethora of headlines of “(Insert Team) is interested in trading for 49ers Wide Receiver Brandon Aiyuk”, or “(Team) has called about Brandon Aiyuk”. This scenario feels similar to Deebo Samuel’s in terms of how the desire for an extension is being handled, but their situations are quite different. Deebo was a #1 option already, where at times it seems like Aiyuk is an afterthought in Shanahan’s offense.
Losing Aiyuk would be a borderline devastating blow to the 49ers offense. Thus, this storyline will be one to keep an eye on during this 2024 offseason.
Seattle Seahawks
Storyline: Will Seattle draft their Quarterback of the future in the 2024 NFL Draft?
A new era is upon the Seattle Seahawks.
After parting ways with longtime Quarterback and franchise legend Russell Wilson a few offseasons ago, this offseason they parted with longtime Head Coach Pete Carroll.
Now, with a new regime in place that includes former Ravens Defensive Coordinator Mike Macdonald taking the reins as Head Coach, former University of Washington Offensive Coordinator Ryan Grubb in the same position, and son of new Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh, Jay Harbaugh, as the Special Teams Coordinator, they will facilitate the roster construction with a new vision.
One of those questions that the vision must address is the quarterback position.
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Geno Smith, 33, will be entering the second year of the 3-year, $75 million contract he signed before the 2023 season. Following his 2022 breakout season where was a Pro-Bowler, the Comeback Player of the Year, and finished 9th in MVP voting, 2023 provided more adversity for Smith. Dealing with injuries at times, he missed two games of the season. Although he did well limiting turnovers throughout the season, there was a noticeable drop-off in his accuracy (64.7 completion percentage in 2023 & 69.8 in 2022), and passing touchdowns (20, 4 percent TD percentage in 2023 & 30, 5.2 percent in 2022).
With Smith likely to remain the starting quarterback for the remainder of his contract, the quarterback position will not be a pressing need for the Seahawks at the moment, but whether they draft a Quarterback will be an incredibly important development. With Geno Smith aging, his successor might be the one who will learn from him for a few years and then take over, a la Jordan Love.
With the 16th pick in this April’s draft, options at 16 include Quarterbacks with deep ties to the new staff in Michael Penix Jr, who Offensive Coordinator Ryan Grubb coached at Washington, and Michigan Quarterback and National Champion J.J. McCarthy, as Jay Harbaugh was on the Michigan Staff and whose father was McCarthy’s Head Coach. These ties are hard to ignore, especially since Grubb and Harbaugh have extended experience working with these Quarterbacks. Another thing to note: there is a very real chance that this pick at 16 is not a quarterback, and that they will still be available on Day 2 of the 2024 NFL Draft. The premise, however, is still the same: will they take one of these Quarterbacks?
However, with Penix’s age (23), and McCarthy’s limited upside as a Quarterback Prospect, passing on these options and waiting for the 2025 class for a better fit and more direct path to their development (one year of Geno, then 2025 Quarterback draftee takes over), would make sense as well.
Even so, with Seattle aiming to be a playoff contender once again, it might make sense to capitalize on this year’s higher draft pick, in case Seattle improves next year and receives a worse pick. One cannot rule out a trade either, especially with an immensely high-upside prospect like Drake Maye projected to be drafted within the top 5 picks.
It’ll be interesting to see which direction Seattle goes this offseason.
Los Angeles Rams
Storyline: Can the Rams build a contender this offseason to maximize the rest of Matthew Stafford’s prime?
The Rams, against all odds last season, established themselves as a dangerous playoff team.
Former Rams Defensive Coordinator and now Falcons Head Coach Raheem Morris took a wildly young and experienced unit and coached them to a respectable defense (22.2 opponent points per game, 19th in the NFL). However, while the Rams’ offense with a still-excellent Matthew Stafford, breakout Running Back Kyren Williams, and a dynamic Wide Receiver tandem of Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua were the reason the Rams won a majority of their games, their defense was the reason they lost the majority of their 7 losses.
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Losses like their losses against the Eagles (454 yards allowed), the Cowboys (43 points allowed, 387 yards allowed), the Ravens (37 points allowed, 449 yards allowed), and the Lions in the Wildcard Round (Goff — 22-27, 277 yards, Amon-Ra St. Brown — 7 catches, 110 yards) are exemplary as to why this Rams defense will need to make significant additional to infuse this young, but talented defense with proven talent, especially in the secondary.
The Rams are projected to enter the 2024 offseason with $35.3 million in cap space, the 12th-highest in the league. With an extremely strong secondary free agency class entering free agency including Cornerbacks Stephon Gillmore, CJ Gardner-Johnson, Jaylon Johnson, L’Jarius Sneed, and Steven Nelson, and Safeties Eddie Jackson, Micah Hyde, Jayron Kearse, Darnell Savage, Mike Edwards, and superstar Antoine Winfield Jr (who will probably be tagged), and the Rams have a plethora of solid options to pursue as upgrades.
They’ll likely only be able to add one, or maybe two of these players, but if they add one of these free agents, plus another pass rusher to compliment Aaron Donald such as Danielle Hunter, Za’Darius Smith, Chase Young, or star Josh Allen (who’ll probably be tagged by the Jaguars, but still), and that would be a wildly successful offseason for the Rams.
Improving a weaker defense unit to complement the effective Rams offense, led by Sean McVay, could lead to the Rams becoming a dangerous contender and a threat to win the NFC West. What General Manager Les Snead does to upgrade the defense will be a key storyline to watch this offseason.
Arizona Cardinals
Storyline: Who’s the Pick at #4?
It wasn’t a pretty season for first-year Head Coach Jonathan Gannon and his Arizona Cardinals, but there are reasons to think that the 2024 Cardinals could be better than their 4-13 record in 2023.
For one, they led the league in losses where they blew a lead. They also only had Quarterback Kyler Murray for eight games of the 2023 season, and went 3-5 in those eight games, a vast improvement from the 1-8 record they had without him. In those eight games, although he looked rusty at times and threw five interceptions, he threw ten touchdowns, rushed for three, and had to deal with a bad offensive line that allowed a sack in all eight of those games.
The Cardinals’ Wide Receiving Room was also a big issue as to why Murray ran into some struggles. The Cardinals’ leading receiver was breakout Tight End Trey McBride with 825 yards, who built a nice rapport with Kyler Murray. However, their leading Wide Receiver in terms of yardage was Marquise Brown, who is a free agent this offseason and only caught 51 balls for 574 yards, while missing three games.
The Cardinals have the fourth pick in this year’s NFL Draft. It just so happens that it’s likely a generational Wide Receiver prospect might fall into their lap at pick No. 4. Enter Marvin Harrison.
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Harrison is about as elite and complete as a Wide Receiver prospect can be. With a massive 6’3”, 202-pound frame, great athleticism, and is elite at attacking catch points, is a smooth route runner, and is elusive after the catch, Harrison would fit into any NFL Offense.
The Cardinals are a unique case where they are a team with a top pick in the draft but already have a franchise Quarterback and a deficiency in skill positions.
With the odds indicating that the first three picks will be Quarterbacks, there is a good chance that Harrison falls right into their lap at pick No. 4. Harrison seems like the most natural fit, and likely draft pick at pick No. 4 if he’s available. However, in the scenario where that doesn’t happen, the Cardinals still have effective options.
If Harrison is picked before their pick, they still have options to upgrade the Wide Receiving room at pick 27, while upgrading other pressing needs, like their offensive line, at pick four. Scenarios that would like this could be Notre Dame’s Joe Alt or Penn State’s Olumuyiwa Fashanu at pick 4, and then Oregon’s Troy Franklin or Florida State’s Keon Coleman at pick 27. They also could be aggressive in upgrading their Wide Receiver room and pick LSU Wide Receiver Malik Nabers a bit ahead of his projections at pick 4, as Nabers is immensely talented as well.
Another option would be going defense at pick 4, or trading down into the lower end of the first round’s top 10, to improve their 31st-ranked defense (26.8 points per game allowed). Options for this plan include improving their pass rush in Alabama’s Dallas Turner or UCLA’s Laiatu Latu, or their secondary with Clemson’s Nate Wiggins, or Iowa’s Cooper DeJean.
All in all, the Cardinals have plenty of options at pick 4. Although they have a plethora of holes they need to fill on both sides of the ball, the Cardinals have 10 other picks besides number 4, 6 of which come in the first three rounds. They should be able to fill gaps on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball in the 2024 NFL Draft. However, the number 4 overall pick is their most crucial pick, and who they may or may not take will be a key storyline to focus on this offseason.
