What's the biggest weakness remaining on each NFC West roster?
Matt Williamson is a former scout for the Cleveland Browns and spent the last 10 years at ESPN as a scout and co-host of "The Football Today Podcast."
The time between the end of the draft and the start of training camp is one for eternal optimism among NFL fans. Their favorite team is going to be so much better in the coming season. That club fixed its problems through free agency and the draft. Its incoming crop of rookies will all work out wonderfully. Injured players from the year before will return better than ever. No one will get hurt in 2017. You get the idea.
Unfortunately, this is most likely the best your favorite team's roster will look all season. Much will happen between now and the Super Bowl, and much of it will be negative. With that in mind, this is a divisional series highlighting the biggest area of concern for each team right now. Here is the NFC West.
Cardinals - Cornerback
Patrick Peterson is probably the best cornerback in the NFL - but opposing offenses attacked the side opposite Peterson with great success last year.
With the draft additions of Haason Reddick and Budda Baker, the Cardinals have an abundance of athletic and highly versatile defenders. But for all that Baker can do, and despite the return of Tyrann Mathieu, Arizona still lacks a true every-down starting cornerback to line up opposite Peterson.
The Cardinals surprised many by selecting Brandon Williams in the third round a year ago. Williams is a plus athlete with good size, but doesn't grasp the nuances of the position. With Williams proving to be unreliable, Justin Bethel saw the field more than he ideally should have. Bethel is an elite special teams player, but not a starting caliber cornerback.
The Cardinals made a lot of moves this offseason, but ignoring the cornerback position might come back to bite them.
Rams - Cornerback
Wade Phillips is an all-time great defensive coordinator and has a remarkable track record of improving defenses immediately upon arrival. But his scheme is predicated on strong man-to-man coverage from his cornerbacks. With the exception of Trumaine Johnson, Phillips doesn't have the proven talent at this position that he did in Denver.
Johnson has excellent size and physicality. The Rams have franchised him two years in a row now and really should look to lock him up to a long-term deal. The rest of the cupboard here is a problem, but it is not totally empty. Lamarcus Joyner, Nickell Robey-Coleman, and E.J. Gaines all logged well over 500 snaps last year, though Gaines had a difficult season.
Joyner is a good player, but is reportedly seeing more time at safety, which is almost as troublesome a position as cornerback for the Rams. Still, Joyner will be on the field in some capacity, which is a good thing. Robey-Coleman is best as a slot cornerback. As is the case in Arizona, that leaves the starting cornerback spot opposite Johnson vulnerable - and as noted earlier, the safety situation is also far from ideal.
The Rams will need to put a lot of pressure on opposing quarterbacks in 2017. Fortunately, that's something Phillips' new defense should do rather well.
49ers - Offensive Line
This is a true rebuild - and we could go in a lot of different directions here. But this was one of the NFL's worst offensive lines a year ago, and the new front office didn't do a whole lot to improve it this offseason. None of the 49ers' 10 draft picks were used on offensive linemen.
They did acquire Jeremy Zuttah on the cheap; he should be a serviceable starting center. San Francisco can only hope that Joshua Garnett, a first-round pick a year ago, will improve in his second season as the starting right guard. At left guard, Zane Beadles has been extremely underwhelming since the 49ers signed him in free agency.
Joe Staley has had an outstanding career and remains a force at left tackle. He is clearly the 49ers' best offensive lineman, but Staley's age is a concern; perhaps San Francisco would be best served shipping him out for draft picks. Right tackle is the most troubling spot on this line at the moment. Former Seahawk Garry Gilliam will have to compete with Trenton Brown for the starting role, but both players were beaten repeatedly in 2016.
Seahawks - Offensive Line
Russell Wilson was under far too much pressure last year and this unit certainly did not do a good enough job in the run game either.
The Seahawks' offensive line is much maligned, and plenty has been made of how Seattle does not prioritize this position overall, especially from a salary-cap percentage standpoint. While that is somewhat true, the Seahawks added disappointing former second overall pick Luke Joeckel in free agency this year while also drafting two linemen.
In fact, including the most recent selections of Ethan Pocic and Justin Senior, Seattle has drafted nine offensive linemen in the last four draft classes - six of those in the fourth round or earlier. So it is about time that the Seahawks begin to see some returns from the draft capital they have invested up front. None of Seattle's offensive linemen are world-beaters or even above-average starters at this point.
Justin Britt at center is the best of the current bunch. But there at least is some upside here, especially with Pocic and last year's first-round pick Germain Ifedi. It isn't exactly clear, however, where everyone will be lining up. Britt was a tackle in college, but is the starting center while Pocic was a center at LSU and could be a starting tackle.
Will Ifedi ultimately remain at guard or kick out to tackle? Can Joeckel resurrect his career in Seattle and hold down the left tackle job? None of this is clear at this point. But one thing is: Seattle has allowed at least 40 sacks in each of the last four years. That needs to change.
Biggest Weakness Remaining