The NFC West has been ruled by the Seattle Seahawks in recent years, though both the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers have provided resistance off and on.
2016 NFL Draft grades: Seahawks make smart picks, 49ers criticized for trade in NFC West
The Seahawks came out of the NFL Draft with the highest grades of their NFC West rivals.
San Francisco's time at the top was brief when Jim Harbaugh was in charge of the team, but the franchise has been in a steep nosedive for the past two seasons. The Cardinals have come close to tasting success, but injuries have largely kept them out of the top spot in the division. Jeff Fisher's newly relocated Los Angeles Rams are a wild card at best and have been at the bottom of the division for years.
But the balance of power could be shifting. The Seahawks, despite fielding a competent team last season, were relatively quiet while much of the focus was on the Cardinals. San Francisco also has a talented roster and made a switch to Chip Kelly at head coach, while the Rams are rebooting the offense as a whole and surely one of these offseasons the “team that could surprise” label they’re given will actually come to fruition, right?
With the 2016 NFL Draft in the rearview mirror, has the balance of power shifted at all? We take a look at how the major outlets graded out the teams in the division below:
Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks had to be salivating at all of the top defensive line talent still waiting for them at the back-end of the first round. There were plenty of top prospects still available, but they did the thing they absolutely needed to do: draft Germain Ifedi, an offensive tackle. Russell Wilson won't last much longer in this league behind the team's current offensive line, so the move simply made sense. But they got plenty lucky in the second, when Alabama DT Jarran Reed was still sitting there, waiting for them. They were praised for those top two picks by most experts.
SB Nation: B+
ESPN: B+
NFL.com: A
Sports Illustrated: B-
CBS Sports: B
Pro Football Focus: C
Arizona Cardinals
Arizona made as big a splash as they could have with the No. 29 overall pick, taking Robert Nkemdiche late in the first. Nkemdiche is a fiercely talented defensive lineman that could wind up being one of the best players on the team, but off-field incidents hurt his draft stock so many saw this selection as a risky pick. After Nkemdiche, it’s a quiet draft, with center Evan Boehm in the fourth round being recognized as a good value by most analysts. It was a good, not great, draft, say the experts. That might be enough to put them over the top, however.
SB Nation: C+
ESPN: B-
NFL.com: B
Sports Illustrated: B
CBS Sports: B
Pro Football Focus: C-
Los Angeles Rams
The Rams gave up an awful lot to move up to the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. That seems to be playing a factor in some grades but not in all of them. Many will tell you, and the Rams will likely agree, that you can't give up too much for a franchise quarterback and the Rams think they have one now with Jared Goff. Many liked the Pharoh Cooper and Michael Thomas (Southern Mississippi) picks, but few had much to say outside of their opinions on Goff, who will make or break this draft and Fisher's tenure as the team's head coach.
SB Nation: B-
ESPN: B-
NFL.com: C
Sports Illustrated: B-
CBS Sports: B+
Pro Football Focus: A-
San Francisco 49ers
Despite many experts loving the team's top selection of Oregon defensive end DeForest Buckner, the 49ers received mixed reviews at best. Buckner was the best pick at No. 7 and he will fit the team well, but the trade up back into the first round to get a guard was not met with enthusiasm. Despite the 49ers giving up very little in the trade, it was their most-panned move yet. Whatever the case, Buckner is the big name here and he could give San Francisco something its been missing since Justin Smith left.
SB Nation: C+
ESPN: C
NFL.com: B+
Sports Illustrated: A-
CBS Sports: C
Pro Football Focus: B+
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