Biggest remaining needs for each NFC team heading into the 2023 NFL season

Arizona Cardinals, NFC West – Center

Los Angeles Rams v Arizona Cardinals

Unless you are a hardcore NFL fan like me – and maybe even then, if you haven’t really studied rosters across the league this offseason – I would like to challenge you to name the current starter at center for the Cardinals. Nothing? Well, don’t feel bad for not getting Hjalte Froholdt’s name right.

He was another one of those New England fourth-rounders three years ago, considering they just drafted three guys in that range this past April. Since then, he’s been waived by the Patriots, the Texans and the Browns, in part due to ultimately landing on the reserve list for all of them.

This offseason, a week after releasing Rodney Hudson – who was already contemplating retirement at that point – Arizona signed Froholdt to a two-year, 2.6-million-dollar contract. And looking at the five games he started at the pivot in Cleveland last year, his average PFF grade across those was just 55.8.

The reason a player like that, who hadn’t started a game until the Browns were dealing with injuries, can even get a deal above the veteran minimum, is that the Cardinals didn’t have a single schooled center on the roster. In fact, the only interior O-linemen other than Will Hernandez currently under contract, who didn’t get drafted on day three in either of these past two years is journeyman Elijah Wilkinson.

I did like Lecitus Smith and Marquis Hayes as late-round flyers for this group from 2022, but you better hope Froholdt can step up his game and is able to stay healthy. Even then, I would not be comfortable with that being plan A.

Los Angeles Rams, NFC West – Defense around Aaron Donald

I know this sounds a bit excessive, but please look at the Rams depth chart on defense and tell me you didn’t either smirk or raise your eyebrows reading through all those names. If you do so on ourlads.com, the amount of green (indicating rookies) across the second and third strings is wild.

Overall, the fact that Sean McVay and Raheem Morris are coming back to lead both sides of the ball forward are major benefits, looking at where their strategy of stars and scrubs-oriented roster construction has led them. However, there’s a lot more to work with offensively, if the O-line can come together with some young and hopefully healthy pieces.

The defense is experiencing a complete overhaul though, as the only three players even left from that championship run are Aaron Donald, Ernest Jones and Jordan Fuller (the latter two are on the third and final years of their respective rookie contracts). Cobie Durant had some nice flashes as a play-making slot cornerback and Quentin Lake showed some of the high-level instincts and intelligence I liked at UCLA late in the year, after missing almost his entire rookie campaign with a knee injury.

Aaron Donald #99 of the Los Angeles Rams reacts after a sack of C.J. Beathard #3 of the San Francisco 49ers

Beyond that, there’s very little to hang your hat on, with major question marks at all three levels. If I had to choose one specific position, it would be boundary cornerback. I think with a guy like Derion Kendrick, who they selected out of Georgia in the sixth round last year, you really limit what you can do schematically, considering he ran in the high 4.7’s at his pro day.

I believe a fourth-rounder from two years ago in Robert Rochell presents a pretty high-variance profile in terms of coverage and tackling. And the one guy I’d feel okay about getting an extended run for them is this year’s sixth-rounder Tre Hodges-Tomlinson (TCU), but at 5’8”, 180 pounds he’s probably a pure nickel in the pros.

San Francisco 49ers, NFC West – Proven right tackle

First and foremost, this 49ers roster is loaded, and if you really go through it, there aren’t many weaknesses or even question marks that you can find. Of course, we will need to see how this whole triangle of quarterbacks plays out and they’re probably depending on their third-round pick Ji’Ayir Brown to give them quality play as a starting safety right away, but I do think he’s a great fit for that defense and the reports out of camp have all been great.

So even right tackle I’d say isn’t like a position that I look at as a definite hole for them. If Matt Pryor is more so looked at as the designated backup at left tackle and they want to let one of their young guys earn that gig on the opposite end, it'll just be filled with an unproven commodity, as Colton McKivitz, Jaylon Moore and Nick Zakelj are competing for it.

Colton McKivitz #68 of the San Francisco 49ers looks on during the third quarter against the Seattle Seahawks

The first among those names is the one whose been part of the system the longest, entering year four in San Francisco. He did play 300 snaps at right guard as a rookie but has only logged 29 total at right tackle so far, with underwhelming results overall.

Moore is somebody I really liked as another fifth-rounder two years ago and he’s filled in pretty well for Trent Williams on the left side when needed, but literally, his two worst-graded PFF games among the eight in which he played 10+ snaps came when he lined up on the opposite end.

Finally, Zakelj was looked at as a transition candidate to guard anyway, considering he only has 32 ½-inch arms. And he only played 12 snaps as a sixth-round rookie last year. The way Kyle Shanahan can mask weaknesses across the O-line should mitigate the worries that spot may bring along, but if they fall behind in a game and any of those dudes have to protect against some top-flight edge rusher, that could spell trouble.

Seattle Seahawks, NFC West – Nose-tackle

And the final team of this edition is one that is kind of being slept on I believe, when looking at the betting markets. The Seahawks were looked at as a rebuilding program last offseason, once they traded Russell Wilson to Denver. However, that offense actually improved under the new leadership of Geno Smith and with the additions of Ohio State wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and UCLA running back Zach Charbonnet, they’ve really built out that skill-position group.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba poses with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after being selected 20th overall by the Seattle Seahawks

Defensively is where things kind of fell apart for them last season, as they really struggled to stop the run and get home with a fairly unproven group of pass-rushers. They handed free agent Dre’Mont Jones $51.3 million over the next three years, as a guy who can play some base end in even fronts and be a versatile piece on passing downs.

If Uchenna Nwosu can replicate what he did over the second half of last season (as one of the more consistent pressure players off the edge) and they collectively get quality play on the opposite end between the three second-round picks they’ve now spent on that position, I think we could see that unit be a lot more disruptive, especially with a tremendous young duo of corners in Tariq Woolen and now fifth overall pick Devon Witherspoon.

Where I’m still worried is how they get to those longer down-and-distances and in particular the very middle of their defense. Bryan Mone is the only true nose on that roster, who has an average PFF grade of 53.3 across his four seasons in Seattle, where he’s combined for just under 1,000 snaps, in large part due to injuries to their front-line starters.

Cameron Young as a fourth-round rookie was a part-time A-gap defender for Mississippi State, but optimally plays 3-4 end and I recently outlined Jonah Tavai as a potential impact UDFA, who did line up as a shade one-technique at times, but in a role where he just crashed through the center’s shoulder rather than ever having to read-and-react.

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