NFC West: Position rankings on offense

It’s been an annual tradition of mine to rank the NFC West players at their position based on their previous season’s PFF grades. I find it interesting to see what the grades and rankings look like on paper. Do you?

Note: I went strictly by Ourlads’ depth charts and took the players they have listed as starters.

https://www.ourlads.com/nfldepthcharts/depthchart/ARZ

https://www.ourlads.com/nfldepthcharts/depthchart/LAR

https://www.ourlads.com/nfldepthcharts/depthchart/SF

https://www.ourlads.com/nfldepthcharts/depthchart/SEA

Let the rankings begin!

QB:

1. Smith - SEA - 79.3
2. Purdy - SF - 77.7
3. Murray - ARI - 67.1
4. Stafford -- LAR - 67.0

RB:

1. McCaffrey - SF - 84.4
2. Akers - LAR - 80.7
3. Walker - SEA - 76.9
4. Conner - ARI - 69.9

TE:

1. Kittle - SF - 84.7
2. Fant - SEA - 64.5
3. Higbee - LAR - 62.7
4. Ertz - ARI - 62.5

WR1:

1. Kupp - LAR - 86.3
2. Metcalf - SEA - 77.7
3. Samuels - SF - 74.1
4. Brown - ARI - 69.2

WR2:

1. Aiyuk - SF - 78.7
2. Lockett - SEA - 77.9
3. Jefferson - LAR - 68.4
4. Moore - ARI - 63.2

WR3:

1. Jennings - SF - 68.1
2. Dortch - ARI - 64.2
3. Skowronek - LAR - 57.2
4. Smith-Njigba - SEA - R

LT:

1. Williams - SF - 91.7
2. Humphries - ARI - 72.3
3. Noteboom - LAR - 67.0
4. Cross - SEA - 63.1

LG:

1. Lewis - SEA - 72.5
2. Wilkinson - ARI - 64.3
3. Banks - SF - 59.5
4. Avila - LAR - R

C:

1. Brown - SEA - 64.8
2. Allen - LAR - 63.8
3. Brendel - SF - 62.4
4. Froholdt - ARI - 61.4

RG:

1. Hernandez - ARI - 65.4
2. Burford - SF - 61.8
3. Haynes - SEA - 57.1
4. Bruss - LAR - IR

RT:

1. Havenstein - LAR - 73.2
2. McKivitz - SF - 69.4
3. Lucas - SEA - 68.4
4. Johnson - ARI - R

Points Per Team

• 1st Place —- 4 points
• 2nd Place —- 3 points
• 3rd place —- 2 points
• 4th Place —- 1 point

Team Totals:

1. SF - 33
2. SEA - 29
3. LAR - 25
4. ARI - 21

Analysis:

Where the Cardinals appear to be lagging behind the pack is at WR and TE. The Cardinals have talent at WR, albeit mostly young, developing talent. At TE, Trey McBride could emerge as a go-to receiver and superb half of a dynamic TE duo when Zach Ertz returns from his ACL rehab.

Where the Cardinals stack up the best is on the OL. There is a possibility that the Cardinals could wind up having the best offensive line in the division. The OLs in LAR, SF and SEA are very suspect and not particularly deep.

Last year, QBs Geno Smith and Brock Purdy were was surprise stars of the division. But, if Kyler Murray comes back strong, could Kyler be the star of the division this year? Physical talent and skill-wise, wouldn’t you consider Kyler to be the frontrunner of this group?

Ergo, I believe that when the Cardinals coaches and players assess how they stack up talent-wise versus the rest of the division, they could feel very encouraged and highly motivated to change the dynamic of these rankings, especially, if this time around, they stay healthy and the others are the the teams slowed by injuries.

The big question is whether the Cardinals’ revamped defense this year can improve the team’s chances to compete and prevail in close games.

Therefore, we will take a look at the NFC West defensive rankings next.