2010 NFL Team Needs: NFC West

Arizona Cardinals: OT, TE, 3-4 ILB, CB depth, 3-4 OLB

After moving Anquan Boldin to Baltimore, perhaps this would be a good time for a high investment in a tight end. The Cardinals have made attempts to bolster the position with late round picks, but none have really flourished. Levi Brown can continue to play the right side, which will now be the Cardinal’s blindside with lefty Matt Leinart taking control of the offense. The left side was terrible last year and caused a lot of problems for the offense in their worst showings. Defensively, they’ll have to replace Karlos Dansby inside and find a young pass rusher they can develop to bring more pressure from that unit. Porter will take the heat off the team to find an immediate upgrade, but grooming a long-term prospect makes sense. In the secondary, the Cardinals could use quite a bit of depth after being torched by both the Packers and Saints in the playoffs.

St. Louis Rams: QB, WR, DL, OG, OLB, CB

The Rams have a number of needs at key positions, but they need to provide some hope to the roster by finding a franchise quarterback and finally set sail toward their Super Bowl destination. In addition, they need to bring in a number one wideout to take the pressure off Steven Jackson and the running game. After searching for these two pieces, they can concern themselves with adding another guard, more offensive line depth, and other secondary weapons to bring the explosiveness back to St. Louis. The Rams haven’t seen any returns on their investment on their defensive line and their entire unit is suffering as a result. They need to continue adding more pass rushers, or bring in a defensive tackle they can rely on to take the heat off the other guys. James Laurinaitis was a nice selection to lead the reconstruction, but they need a solid weakside linebacker next to him. At cornerback, the Rams project to start the talent duo of Ron Bartell and Bradley Fletcher, but should continue adding depth to push them and solidify the subpackages.

San Francisco 49ers: CB, OT, 3-4 OLB, QB, SS, OG

The Niners will know after this season what they have at quarterback. Will Alex Smith build off of a good season, or regress and ultimately become the draft bust we had initially pegged him as? They could add a quarterback if one falls into their lap to improve the odds of having their ultimate solution on the roster. More likely though, they’ll hope to land a right tackle early on and solidify the interior line in the middle rounds to push an inconsistent David Baas. On defense, the Niners have done a nice job of bringing a pass rush from various positions, but don’t have anything consistent from the outside. The Niners did a nice job in the secondary last year, but for the defense to take the next step, they’ll need to improve at cornerback and safety to play with the more talented receivers.

Seattle Seahawks: WR, RB, OT, DE, S, DT

Pete Carroll has a lot of work cut out for him, but also a lot of ammo in this year’s draft to cut into that talent deficit. It should start by rebuilding the offense piece by piece. With Whitehurst and Hasselbeck at quarterback, I’m sure the Seahawks want to fairly assess their roster talent for a season before making a long-term decision. To do that, they will need to add a true number 1 receiver, a running back, and a left tackle. Simple enough? It’s difficult to prioritize each of those pressing needs, so I say just take best players available and make certain that you get good value with each selection, chipping away slowly and rebuilding the core. On defense, the Seahawks have a few more cornerstones to build on. Next to Brandon Mebane, they could search for a nose tackle and on the outside, another pass rusher to jumpstart an anemic rush. They’re thin at cornerback and could search for some depth, but will more importantly need to find a pair of safeties in the secondary that aren’t considered a liability and perhaps one that can even make some plays.

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