the other 3 NFC West teams (ie. the ones who didn't & won't win the division)

Cards QB Sam Bradford still expected to open 2018 season as starter

http://www.theredzone.org/Blog-Description/EntryId/70619/Cards-QB-Sam-Bradford-still-expected-to-open-2018-season-as-starter

It is “hard not to see” veteran quarterback Sam Bradford as the opening day starter for the Arizona Cardinals according to Darren Urban of azcardinals.com.

That was the expectation when the team handed Bradford a two-year, $40 million free agent contract in March and it remains the plan despite trading up to land UCLA QB Josh Rosen in the draft this past May. The Cardinals are proceeding cautiously with Bradford’s troublesome knee but Urban reports that the now-30-year-old has looked good when on the field.

Whether Bradford remains the starter is another matter altogether. The former No.1-overall pick has been plagued by injuries his entire NFL career and has not played a full 16-game season since 2012. He remains one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the league, however, and the team’s best chance of winning games in 2018 is likely starting the veteran while Rosen develops

Will Earl Thomas still be with the Seahawks this upcoming season? "We keep hearing Dallas."

ICYMI: https://t.co/7qj50Cr8mM pic.twitter.com/s9Zn0eUbWH

— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) June 19, 2018

Jalen Ramsey: Jimmy Garoppolo "not yet" ready to be among NFL's top 100 playershttps://t.co/E7KrZs3soM pic.twitter.com/5n0JRQKM3N

— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) June 26, 2018

Kam Chancellor: Time for the next chapter https://t.co/Mn1XKu4VCs

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) July 2, 2018

==

Kam Chancellor tweets that he’s played his last football game. Word was he’s been down around 200 pounds or so and this has been coming. Still, end of an era. https://t.co/DMxN1iUsy1

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 1, 2018

==

Now former #Seahawks S Kam Chancellor isn’t officially retiring, he just wasn’t cleared medically to play again. Big difference. That means $6.2M this year and $5.2M of his base salary next year are guaranteed.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 1, 2018

Cliff Avril: We knew Earl Thomas loves the Cowboys, but didn't take it seriously https://t.co/0Ai2u7uPYw

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) July 3, 2018

Shutdown Corner
2018 NFL Preview: 49ers are grateful the Patriots gifted them Jimmy Garoppolo

Frank Schwab

https://sports.yahoo.com/2018-nfl-preview-49ers-grateful-patriots-gifted-jimmy-garoppolo-132725117.html%5B/b%5D

Yahoo Sports is previewing all 32 teams as we get ready for the NFL season, counting down the teams one per weekday in reverse order of our initial 2018 power rankings. No. 1 will be revealed on Aug. 1, the day before the Hall of Fame Game kicks off the preseason.

Imagine if New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick hadn’t texted San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan last October with a gift out of the blue.

We’d be talking about a 49ers team that started 0-9 and probably would have finished with three or so wins. We’d be wondering about some of Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch’s personnel moves. We might focus more on star linebacker Reuben Foster and his off-field issues. We’d look closer at the roster and see the warts and the work that needs to be done.

Good thing Shanahan checks his messages. The 49ers are this year’s fun sleeper, all because of a text from the Patriots about Jimmy Garoppolo and a five-game winning streak to end last season.

The conversation between Belichick and Shanahan came down to one shocking offer: Garoppolo was suddenly available, for the unbelievable price of a second-round pick. Presumably, had the Patriots shopped Garoppolo around they would have gotten a first-round pick and then some. Maybe they’d have landed two first-round picks. There’s no question he’s worth at least that now.

Instead, Shanahan got a random text from a fellow coach, and it turned the direction of the franchise. It was that easy.

“I called [Belichick] back and he told me [Garoppolo] was available,” Shanahan said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “… So now he was available when he wasn’t earlier in the year. There really wasn’t much talk. It was just that: He wasn’t available and now he is. And that was intriguing.”

Intriguing? You think?

If Garoppolo wasn’t so cheap, or if Belichick didn’t hand-pick Garoppolo’s landing spot, the 49ers probably wouldn’t have pursued it. Shanahan loved Kirk Cousins. Nobody has denied that after the fact. It seems clear the 49ers were going to blow him away with an offer in free agency. But Belichick gave the 49ers the deal of the century, for whatever reason.

It’s not hyperbole to say that conversation might end up changing NFL history. Whether the Patriots’ generosity was because Belichick liked and respected Shanahan’s father Mike, the former Broncos coach, or that Lynch spent a bit of time at the end of his career in New England, or whatever conspiracy theory you have about why Belichick sold Garoppolo for a couple quarters on the dollar – we’ll presumably never hear Belichick discuss it at any length – the 49ers turned around their franchise’s future with one move.

Still the hype seems a little too much and too soon, for Garoppolo and the 49ers as a whole. The five-game winning streak was great but you can pour some cold water on it if you look closely:

Win 1, 15-14 at Chicago Bears: The 49ers beat the Bears, who finished 5-11, on a field goal with four seconds left. San Francisco didn’t score a touchdown. Any win in the NFL is an accomplishment but let’s not put this in the “quality wins” bin.

Win 2, 26-16 at Houston Texans: The Texans went 1-9 without Deshaun Watson. T.J. Yates, who doesn’t have a job in the NFL right now, was Houston’s starter. The Texans still led in the second half before fading.

Win 3, 25-23 vs. Tennessee Titans: The Titans were technically a playoff team but also one that needed overtime to beat the Browns and got its final six regular-season wins against the Colts (twice), Browns, Bengals, Texans without Watson and a Jaguars team with nothing to play for in Week 17. And the 49ers, at home, needed a field goal as time expired to win. The 49ers didn’t score a second-half touchdown. It was fine, but …

Win 4, 44-33 vs. Jacksonville Jaguars: This was a good win. The Jaguars led 19-16 in the second half and then the 49ers got hot. Quality win.

Win 5, 34-13 at Los Angeles Rams: Hopefully we all remember that the Rams seemed determined to lose in Week 17 and get a more favorable playoff draw, and sat basically anyone who could help them win. This was the easiest win an NFL team had all year; it was the rare instance of one side literally trying to lose.

Winning five games in a row in the NFL is hard, no matter the opponents or circumstances. But if we’re jumping fully on board with the Garoppolo 49ers after those five games – in which he had six touchdowns and five interceptions – it’s fair to look at it through a realistic lens.

Here’s where the eye test matters. If you watched those games, Garoppolo really did look like a future star. He handled himself as you’d hope a franchise quarterback would. He made everyone around him better. Four of the wins might have been against the awful Bears, even worse Texans, paper tiger Titans and the Rams’ junior-varsity team, but he definitely looked the part. Shanahan gave up his man-crush on Cousins, and the 49ers paid Garoppolo like he had already won an MVP. There’s risk in the five-year, $137.5 million deal. But what were the 49ers going to do, not pay him?

“I wouldn’t have signed with the team if I didn’t believe in Garoppolo,” new 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman said in an interview with the NFL Network. “I watched how he moved down the stretch, I watched how poised he was. I had conversations with his teammates, I had conversations with the head coach about how they coach him, about how he approaches the game.

“And just seeing his demeanor and seeing how he interacts with his teammates, I think I made a fantastic decision [to join the 49ers].”

The hype train isn’t going to slow down. We want to believe a star was born in December of last season, even if the hype got out of control this offseason. Given the way he got to the 49ers, with the Patriots’ confusing charity, it will be a part of NFL lore if Garoppolo is as good as everyone wants him to be.

And maybe the 49ers will be as good as everyone hopes. Shanahan believes running back Jerick McKinnon, signed from the Vikings, can be great in his offense. Pierre Garcon, Marquise Goodwin, Trent Taylor, second-round pick Dante Pettis and tight end George Kittle have promise as a skill-position group. The offensive line added tackle Mike McGlinchey, the ninth pick of the draft. The defense has intriguing pieces, especially if Sherman rebounds from an Achilles injury.

But the sunny outlook centers around Garoppolo. However the 49ers landed him, he’s there and will be for a while. Hope is a good thing, and the 49ers have plenty now.

OFFSEASON GRADE
The Jimmy Garoppolo heist has obscured that the 49ers have made some odd moves in the year-plus with John Lynch/Kyle Shanahan running the show. This offseason, the splashiest moves were to sign running back Jerick McKinnon, who Shanahan is convinced can be a star despite little NFL production to prove it, and 30-year-old cornerback Richard Sherman coming off Achilles surgery. The largest contract went to former Giants center Weston Richburg, who has concussion questions. The first-round pick was offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey, who was a bit of a surprise pick at No. 9 overall with some really good prospects still on the board, and the second-round pick was receiver Dante Pettis, who was also a surprise ahead of some other receivers. The moves could work out, and there’s nothing wrong with going against the status quo, but the 49ers see greatness in their acquisitions that other teams might not.

GRADE: C-

REASON FOR OPTIMISM
Since we spent many words on the obvious answer above, let’s pick something other than Jimmy G. I like what the 49ers are building in the front seven, though that progress will hinge on Reuben Foster not getting in any more trouble. As we’ve seen, expecting unreliable players to change can be a fool’s errand. The defensive line has DeForest Buckner, a fantastic player, and former first-round picks Arik Armstead and Solomon Thomas. Armstead has shown promise, though some injuries have slowed him down. Thomas was a blue-chip prospect. On the field Foster was great as a rookie, when healthy, and I like the third-round pick of BYU linebacker Fred Warner. It’s not a finished product yet, but you can see what the 49ers are building.

POTENTIAL PROBLEM
The two-game suspension for Reuben Foster was probably a best-case scenario from a football standpoint for the 49ers. The NFL did its usual dance around consistency and decided to suspend Foster for a marijuana possession arrest and pleading no contest to a gun charge, while practically ignoring a very serious domestic violence accusation. Foster’s ex-girlfriend recanted her statement and said in court she was lying. The NFL has ignored similar changes of heart in other cases, but Foster got just two games. It’s still a blow for the 49ers on the field. The 49ers start the season at the Vikings and then host the Lions, and will do so without one of their best defensive players. Given how tough the NFC will be, you don’t want to get off to a slow start. Malcolm Smith will probably get a bigger role, and that’s not the best news after he missed all of last season due to injury. Rookie Fred Warner could become a starter in place of Foster. The 49ers defense will be affected for a couple games by Foster’s absence.

QB REPORT
It’s fine if you don’t buy my argument above that we might be a little too early on the Jimmy Garoppolo love for 2018. But maybe you’d listen to Joe Montana?

“I think it’s still a little early for it myself,” Montana said on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” this offseason, via the San Francisco Chronicle.

“I still want to see a full season played, because it’s easy to come in at the end of a season when the team’s down and no one’s expecting things and be able to win. I won’t say it’s easy — that’s a bad word to choose — but I think it was set up for him to be successful that way.”

MOST IMPORTANT NON QB
Jerick McKinnon wasn’t considered a star, at least not until some glowing words from Kyle Shanahan and a large contract from the 49ers. McKinnon, who split time with Latavius Murray on the Vikings last season after Dalvin Cook’s injury, got a four-year, $30 million contract with $15.7 million guaranteed. That’s star running back money for a player who has never had 1,000 yards from scrimmage in a single season and has 1,918 rushing yards in four seasons. Shanahan clearly believes McKinnon will do far more in his offense than he ever did with the Vikings. Shanahan talked about watching McKinnon’s tape and visualizing all the ways to use his versatility.

“What is a huge bonus on him is when you talk about the pass game,” Shanahan said, according to the 49ers’ transcripts. “When it comes to separating and beating linebackers and safeties in man-to-man coverage, I definitely think he’s an issue for teams.

“There’s lots of things you can do with them and when you have a guy like Jerick, when he’s on the field, he’s not on the field just to run passes. He’s not on the field just to run the ball. He can do both and when you can do both, it puts defenses a lot more in a bind and gives us a lot more options.

“He’s good enough to make it as a runner alone in this league. He’s good enough to make it in the pass game as just a third down threat alone, but when you can do both of those, it gives you a lot of freedom as a coach. Based off of what downs you put him in and that when you do put him in, the defense doesn’t know exactly what type of plays you’re trying to run because he can do it all.”

YAHOO’S FANTASY TAKE
From Yahoo’s Dalton Del Don: “George Kittle fell to the fifth round despite off the charts workout metrics, thanks to playing in an Iowa system that didn’t utilize him much as a receiver. You can bet Kyle Shanahan has big plans for the sophomore tight end, who impressed as a rookie while playing through multiple injuries and often with poor quarterback play. Jimmy Garoppolo looks like a budding star in a productive (and fast-paced) system that’s short on threats in the red zone, where the 6-4, 250-pound Kittle should be targeted frequently. Kittle’s yards per route run (2.57) during Garoppolo’s five starts would’ve ranked first over the full season last year, so he’s primed for a breakout and should be treated as a top-10 fantasy tight end.”

STAT TO REMEMBER
If you believe extreme records in close games is a good way to predict regression, that’s another reason to like the 49ers. The 49ers became the first team in NFL history to lose five straight games by three points or less. They went 0-5 while being outscored by 13 total points. That includes two overtime losses on the road. Considering that stretch was historically unprecedented, it’s safe to say such bad luck in close games won’t repeat in 2018.

BURNING QUESTION…
ARE JIMMY GAROPPOLO’S RECEIVERS GOOD ENOUGH?

Everyone is excited about Garoppolo, but a lot of a quarterback’s success is based on how good his teammates are. The 49ers have some questions in their receiving corps, but there’s promise within the group.

Pierre Garcon is returning off a neck injury and is 31 years old, but if he’s healthy he has 1,000-yard potential. The 49ers rewarded Marquise Goodwin’s 962-yard season with a three-year deal worth a little more than $19 million. Tight end George Kittle, a fifth-round pick last year, looks like a steal. He was really good late last season. And the 49ers have doubled down at slot receiver, with 2017 rookie Trent Taylor and 2018 second-round pick Dante Pettis. Pettis should also help in the return game.

There’s uncertainty throughout the group, but on paper it looks good enough to help Garoppolo succeed.

BEST CAST SCENARIO
Maybe the five-game winning streak was a sign of things to come. I think the Rams would need to take on injuries to open up a window for the 49ers to win the NFC West, but injuries happen. Jimmy Garoppolo has looked like a future star for a while, and it’s not crazy to dream a scenario in which he’s an MVP candidate this season. After all, the 49ers have the most expensive offense in the NFL according to the San Francisco Chronicle. And if Garoppolo is one of the league’s best quarterbacks the 49ers can be in competition for a playoff spot, even in the brutal NFC.

THE NIGHTMARE SCENARIO
Welcome to life in 2018: It seems we intentionally overhype young players just to overreact when they have normal regression. That’s what happened with Dak Prescott. Jimmy Garoppolo is a really fun story, and I assume he’s going to be very good. It also wouldn’t be a huge shock if he struggles some in his first full year as a starter. Don’t forget, the 49ers were 0-9 just eight months ago; they still have issues to work on. If Garoppolo isn’t great right away, that would probably lead to a negative overreaction that would equal all the over-the-top gushing over him this offseason. That’s just how it works these days.

THE CRYSTAL BALL SAYS…
The 49ers might be the team people are most excited to watch this season. They are tied for the NFL lead with five prime-time games, a rarity for a 6-10 team. I think the expectations are just a little too high. While 8-8 would be a fine growth season, it wouldn’t meet the hype. I think Jimmy Garoppolo plays well, the 49ers finish about .500 and perhaps next year they’ll have a huge breakout.

Shutdown Corner
2018 NFL Preview: Cardinals start a brand new era with Josh Rosen and Steve Wilks

https://sports.yahoo.com/2018-nfl-preview-cardinals-start-brand-new-era-josh-rosen-steve-wilks-110130594.html

The Arizona Cardinals kicked off an NFC championship game in Charlotte on Jan. 24, 2016, only 29 months ago.

It seems like a generation has passed since then. The Carolina Panthers swarmed the Cardinals in the first quarter, went to Super Bowl 50, and a couple years later the Cardinals are expected to be one of the worst teams in the NFL. The speed in which the NFL world moves is unfair.

When Las Vegas oddsmakers posted their season win totals for 2018, the consensus lines have two teams at the bottom with 5.5 wins: the Cleveland Browns and Cardinals. Quarterback Carson Palmer retired, and so did coach Bruce Arians. Tyrann Mathieu, who for a flash was one of the best defensive players in the NFL, was cut for salary-cap reasons. There are still some big names remaining from the 2015 team that nearly went to the Super Bowl, but these Cardinals look a lot different.

The Cardinals still have elite talent. David Johnson, who missed almost all of last season with a wrist injury, is one of the NFL’s best backs. Patrick Peterson is a Hall-of-Fame cornerback, and Chandler Jones is one of the best pass rushers in the league. Larry Fitzgerald, another future Hall of Famer, had 1,156 yards at age 34.

That’s a good base, but it’s a new era in Arizona. Former Panthers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks takes over as coach, promising change on both sides of the ball. He wants to run the ball more, a thought that goes counter to modern NFL thinking and will be a heck of a culture change from Arians’ deep-passing ways. The Cardinals will also shift from a 3-4 defense to a 4-3. The Cardinals’ defense was good last season, finishing fourth in Football Outsiders’ DVOA, but it’s being overhauled with Wilks.

Not to mention, their quarterback is brand new. The Cardinals did what every quarterback-desperate team in the 2010s seems destined to do: They overpaid Sam Bradford because they panicked. Then Arizona caught a break in the draft when Josh Rosen slipped, and it wasn’t too expensive to go up and draft him 10th overall.

Rosen brings a desirable chip on his shoulder after falling in the draft.

“I was angry. I was really angry,” Rosen said in an interview with Westwood One Sports on draft night. “One, two and three went through, and I was really pissed off. But for some reason, the second I got that call, all of that went away and motivation stepped in.

“They made nine mistakes ahead of me, and I couldn’t be more excited to prove them all wrong.”

If Rosen can channel that, his “nine mistakes” comment will become legend. If not, it’ll end up more like Johnny Manziel proclaiming he was ready to “wreck this league” on draft night. But Rosen has the talent to make the Cardinals look smart.

We knew the Cardinals’ rise under Arians had an expiration date. Palmer was on the back nine of his career, Fitzgerald has flirted with retirement the past couple years and Arians had health issues. Still, it’s startling how quickly it came and went. Arizona was one step from playing for a title, then went 15-16-1 the next two seasons. This year, they are undergoing a transformation.

Just a reminder: If your favorite NFL team is good, enjoy it. It can turn quickly.

The Cardinals made two of the better value picks in the draft, with Josh Rosen at No. 10 and receiver Christian Kirk in the second round. Kirk should seamlessly replace Larry Fitzgerald whenever Fitzgerald decides to step away, and NFL Films’ Greg Cosell thought Rosen was the best quarterback in this class. Center Mason Cole was a good third-round pick, too. The rest of the offseason wasn’t so kind. Signing guard Justin Pugh was fine, but they’ll regret overpaying Sam Bradford because everybody regrets overpaying Bradford. It was sad to see Tyrann Mathieu go. And for all his ups and downs, Carson Palmer made the Cardinals a (fleeting) contender. The Cardinals are restarting, but the draft was a good step.

GRADE: B-

Steve Wilks has some pieces to work with on defense. Cornerback Patrick Peterson and pass rusher Chandler Jones are All-Pro candidates. Linebackers Deone Bucannon and Haason Reddick are impressive athletes, and pass rusher Markus Golden had 12.5 sacks two years ago when healthy. How will the pieces fit going from a 3-4 to 4-3? Will Jones and Golden still thrive as ends? Can Bucannon and Reddick make plays as outside linebackers? But there is talent; the defense carried a poor offense to an 8-8 record last season.

It seems like the Cardinals have been searching forever for a cornerback opposite Patrick Peterson. They squeezed a surprisingly good year out of Tramon Williams last year, but Williams is gone. And there’s no proven replacement. Brandon Williams, a 2016 third-round pick who played one snap on defense all last season, seems to be the favorite to start. Arizona didn’t draft a corner before the sixth round. Veteran Bene Benwikere might win the job, but he has just 14 starts in four seasons. If the Cardinals can’t figure out that position it lessens the impact of having a great talent like Peterson; teams will avoid him and relentlessly pick on the other cornerback.

The Cardinals have said Sam Bradford is the starter, though there will be a competition between Bradford and Josh Rosen. History says Rosen will start at some point. Since 2006, the year after Aaron Rodgers was picked by the Green Bay Packers, only two first-round quarterbacks (Jake Locker and Brady Quinn) didn’t start at least one game as a rookie. That’s 27 of the past 29 first-round quarterbacks who got at least one start. Considering Rosen is the quarterback of Arizona’s future and the Cardinals don’t look like playoff contenders, you have to assume the team wants Rosen to start as soon as possible. It wouldn’t be entirely shocking if that happens by Week 1.

There are plenty of candidates, but David Johnson tops the list. In 2016 he was one of the best players in football, an NFL offensive player of the year candidate after posting 2,218 yards from scrimmage and 20 touchdowns. When Johnson’s 2017 season ended after just 17 touches due to a wrist injury, the offense suffered. And the Cardinals still have one of the steepest drops from starting tailback to backup in the NFL. Johnson, who wants a new contract and skipped minicamp to make a statement, will be the focal point of Steve Wilks’ run-first approach if he’s healthy. If he’s hurt again, Arizona doesn’t have Plan B.

From Yahoo’s Dalton Del Don: “David Johnson is an easy top-three pick. He’s coming off a season-ending injury, but it happened in Week 1 and was to his wrist. So Johnson enters with fresh legs in his prime, having totaled 2,118 yards with 80 catches and 20 touchdowns as a sophomore in 2016. Johnson is the league’s most dangerous receiving back by a mile, and he’ll be the centerpiece of an offense relying on newcomer (and brittle) Sam Bradford or rookie Josh Rosen at QB behind an offensive line that looks improved. There’s some risk using such a high pick on someone who played just 75 snaps last season, but Johnson offers as much fantasy upside as any player in the NFL.”

[Yahoo Fantasy Football leagues are open: Sign up now for free]

Football analyst Warren Sharp annually calculates strength of schedule using Las Vegas’ projected win totals for each team, which is a much better way of predicting SOS than looking at last year’s records. Sharp found that the toughest projected schedule in the NFL this season belongs to Arizona. For a team undergoing a lot of changes, that’s bad news.

HOW LONG CAN LARRY FITZGERALD KEEP DOING THIS?

Nobody knows when Fitzgerald will retire. There were rumors 2016 would be his last season, and Fitzgerald is still going two years later. It wouldn’t be a surprise if this is it, or if he keeps playing after this season. He could play, and play well, beyond this season if he wants to.

One of my favorite stats of the offseason was this: Rotoworld’s Evan Silva noted that Fitzgerald’s average yards of separation actually improved last season: 2.4 yards in 2016 to 2.6 in 2017. Yes, he was better at getting open at age 34 than he was the year before. Fitzgerald’s move to the slot has rejuvenated his career. The past two seasons he has 216 catches, 2,179 yards and 12 touchdowns. His numbers improved across the board last season. There are only 17 instances of a 35-year-old receiver posting 1,000 yards, according to Pro Football Reference, and the great Jerry Rice has three of those spots. Don’t count out Fitzgerald being the 18th. Maybe the 19th in 2019, too.

Let’s get really, really optimistic. The Cardinals went a respectable 8-8 last year and while there’s a new quarterback, it’s not like those seven starts by Carson Palmer last season were magical. David Johnson’s return can’t be understated. It’s hard to say Steve Wilks is better than two-time NFL coach of the year Bruce Arians, but he might be, and a new voice often invigorates a team. If everything comes together – someone emerges as a productive quarterback, Johnson looks like he did in 2016, the Cardinals’ stars on defense take to the scheme change, Wilks is a coaching dynamo – Arizona could stay in the playoff race for a long time.

The offense could struggle. The Cardinals will presumably have a rookie quarterback at some point, a bad offensive line, no backup to David Johnson and at some point Larry Fitzgerald will look like he’s in his mid-30s. Then if there’s a tough transition to a new defense and a rookie head coach makes rookie mistakes (perhaps something like promoting a run-first foundation on offense in a pass-first NFL world), it’s easy to see how this could get very ugly. There’s a reason the Cardinals’ win total is just 5.5.

The Cardinals will find a way to crawl past that 5.5-win mark despite a tough schedule because they have some true superstars. But the fringes of the roster need work, and it’s alarming Steve Wilks believes the best way to win in 2018 is to run the ball more. What has happened to the Cards happens to most non-Patriots teams in the NFL: You make a run at the ultimate prize, and the bill comes due sometime soon after. The Cardinals are starting over with the Wilks-Josh Rosen nucleus, and it will take at least a couple years to rise again.

Richard Sherman says ‘mistakes and poor judgment’ ruined the special Seahawks

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/richard-sherman-says-mistakes-and-poor-judgment-ruined-the-special-seahawks/

Richard Sherman says ‘mistakes and poor judgment’ ruined the special Seahawks
Sherman is now with their division rival 49ers

Back in 2012, the Seattle Seahawks came out of pretty much nowhere to win 11 games and emerge as one of the best teams in football. Led by a third-round draft pick at quarterback (Russell Wilson), a Buffalo Bills castoff at running back (Marshawn Lynch), and a group of defensive backs that would become known as the Legion of Boom, the Seahawks bruised and bullied the rest of the NFL.

Things continued on that way for the next few seasons as the Wilson-led offense improved and the LOB-led defense added even more talent. Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, and Kam Chancellor were joined by Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright, Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, and more, and the Seahawks made the playoffs every year from 2012 through 2016, winning one Super Bowl and narrowly losing another along the way. During that five-season span, only the Patriots and Broncos won more games than Seattle, and only New England had a better point differential.

Last season, things finally slowed down for the Seahawks amid injuries and inconsistency. Sherman ruptured his Achilles tendon. Avril and Chancellor each suffered potentially career-ending injuries. And the offense couldn’t quite pick up all the slack.

A few months later, much has changed. Sherman’s a 49er. Avril was released. Chancellor’s retiring. Even defensive coordinator Kris Richard, who was with the team from the beginning of the LOB era, has moved on to take a position with the Cowboys.

Sherman, never one to mince words, did not hold back when asked by The MMQB’s Robert Klemko about the breakup of the Seahawks. Here’s what he said:

“It’s just unfortunate. It’s really unfortunate. I think it’ll all come out when they do the 30 for 30. Mistakes and poor judgment on things ruined what could have been a really special deal. You don’t have much left right now. And to say you’re not going to pay Earl Thomas is just … There’s no decline in play there. He’s played the game the right way. Who do you have to pay? You have the two best linebackers in the game. You have the quarterback. You have a great wide receiver in Doug [Baldwin]. And you’re paying Duane Brown.

“They’ve lost their way. It’s as simple as that. They’ve just lost their way. When you make too many mistakes over a long period of time, you kind of dig yourself a hole. And then when you backtrack, you gotta make a bunch of rash decisions to try and fill the hole and hope that it holds up.

“When we were rolling it was an environment for pure competitors. When it becomes something else, then it’s more difficult to thrive in, and I think that’s what was tough on Earl, that’s what was tough on a lot of guys. But I think as it kind of progressed, you start seeing the writing on the wall. You’re like, ‘Not only are they probably moving in a different direction,’ but it’s like, ‘Ah, well, I kind of want to move in a different direction, too.’ So it happens like that. All great things must come to an end, I guess.

“I’m not even going to worry about it now. I’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

Some of those mistakes have been talked about ad nauseam (the goal-line interception that cost the Seahawks a second Super Bowl) while others will probably take a few years to come out into the open. Either way, Sherman is surely correct that all great things must come to an end. The Seahawks were always going to break up eventually, for one reason or another. It just happened to come this year, and for reasons both within and beyond their control.