NFC West Rookie Grades: Seahawks/Niners on Top

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The complete breakdown for each team is at the link, but the Niners and the Seahawks Rookies both received a B grade, while the Rams received a C- and the Cardinals got a D

IMO, it's a bit early to grade this year's class completely, because it often takes time for players to develop, but that doesn't stop it from happening, and I suppose there are things that can be learned by evaluating the rookie year, as long as it's taken with a grain of salt and not a stamp meant to hover over their entire career.

The Seahawks are one of the few teams in the NFL that counts on its undrafted free agents to make as many contributions as its top selections. To that point, the team found a left tackle in George Fant with long-term potential. Sure, he struggled on the island, but he definitely has the athleticism to play on Russell Wilson's blind side. The Seahawks' first-round pick, Germain Ifedi, cracked the starting lineup at right guard and held his own against tough competition. Nick Vannett, Alex Collins and C.J. Prosise made solid contributions in limited action. If they continue to progress over the offseason, they should be primed for bigger roles in 2017. GRADE: B

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That's a lot of faith in potential. Especially when the two standouts were part of a horrible line and everyone else couldn't stay healthy.

He's right that Fant and Ifedi were up against tough competition. I read somewhere that Seattle had the #1 toughest D-line schedule.

But they still need to get consistent in a hurry. Their schedule won't get any easier as long as we're 1) a top-8 contender every year and 2) in the NFC West.

I must have missed Vannett's "solid contribution".

Rat":20gluxv9 said:

I must have missed Vannett's "solid contribution".

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it was only one play but damned if it wasn't solid

Rat":1a1vmkwh said:

I must have missed Vannett's "solid contribution".

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Too late. You'll need to check in with solid waste management now.

Mention Vannetts solid contribution but nothing about Reed?

9ers are tops and Cards are power bottoms.

Largent80":38r60nan said:

9ers are tops and Cards are power bottoms.

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hahaha!

Looking at our list of UDFA's versus the rest of the division's, and it's obvious that we're still churning more of the roster than a lot of teams.

Hopefully this lights a fire with some of the vets. Younger, hungrier guys will come and take your job if you don't go full out all the time.

We still have some holes to fill, and the OL isn't primed to be helped by a good draft, but we can set up our secondary for the next 3-5 years with this draft alone, and Pete and John have shown a great aptitude for getting good secondary players in the draft.

If we can lock down the back end again that will help our edge rushers. If we can get a bit more interior pass rush, either through the draft or guys like Jefferson coming back and contributing, then our defense goes back to being elite (possibly historical again) and we can allow young OL to develop.

My takeaway from this is that one year out the whole NFC west really crapped the bed in last year's draft.

There's still guys with promise of course, but the only rookie who really played solidly and consistently well across the entire division was Buckner, and he was a top 10 pick (and still a rookie with major areas in which he needs to improve).

Edit -- worth saying that Buckner had 73 tackles and 6 sacks from the 3-4 DE position, which is just nutty (Justin Smith's best season in his career from that same position was 57 tackles and 8.5 sacks).

Buckner still needs to work on pad level and maintaining POA, but he's not going to be asked to two-gap all the time anymore, so he really has the ability to become a special player (still 22 years old also, so if he doesn't get stronger something will have gone dramatically wrong).