NFC West foes still view Seahawks as formidable

INDIANAPOLIS — Where’s Bruce Arians when you need him?

It took less than an hour on the first day of the NFL combine to miss the retired Arizona Cardinals coach telling it like it is.

Sean McVay is the Los Angeles Rams’ kid coach. He is 34 years younger than Arians. McVay spoke at the combine Wednesday about the state of the NFC West for 2018.

“The Seahawks are still a force to be reckoned with,” he said of the Rams’ aging, obviously transitioning rivals.

“You look at the consistency of Coach Carroll and what Russell Wilson’s done leading them. I think a lot of people forget that with two games left we’re really playing them almost for the division.”

He’s so kind. McVay left out the part about his Rams annihilating Seattle on its home field 42-7 in mid-December in that Week 15 showdown for the West title. It was the Seahawks’ worst margin of defeat of the Pete Carroll era.

Arians likely would have said something like, “we rule the division now,” or “the Seahawks and everybody else are chasing us.” He absolutely would have said that and more had his team recently beaten the Seahawks by 35 points to win the West.

Remember this, before December’s season finale at Seattle when the Cardinals beat the Seahawks at CenturyLink Field —again?

“We know that’s our home field. We’re goin’ up there to kick their (butts).”

That’s what Arians told his players in late December — before they did just that, to end the Seahawks’ season on New Year’s Eve.

Not so with these new regimes in the West. They are being complimentary at the combine about the Seahawks remaining at the top of a division that has undeniably, startlingly changed in the past year.

In his first season as a head coach, the 31-year-old McVay led the Rams in seizing the division title from Seattle. Though it lost at home in the first round of the playoffs to Atlanta, Los Angeles went 11-5 and became the first team besides the Seahawks or Cardinals to win the West since 2012.

Arizona is starting over, post-Arians. The Cardinals have an NFL rookie head coach in Steve Wilks, Carolina’s defensive coordinator last season. Arizona also has zero quarterbacks currently on its roster, after Carson Palmer retired.

San Francisco general manager John Lynch and 38-year-old coach Kyle Shanahan are at their second combine together with a new full-time starting quarterback for 2018, recently minted Jimmy Garoppolo.

Meanwhile in Seattle, Carroll is the league’s oldest coach at age 66. He and general manager John Schneider are at their ninth consecutive combine for the Seahawks this week. But as Carroll admits, “John and I have a huge job” this offseason.

This time last year, the Seahawks were the division’s undisputed kings. They were on a run of five consecutive playoff appearances. They had played in two of the last four Super Bowls, winning the team’s first NFL championship at the end of the 2013 season. They had a 28-year-old franchise quarterback in Wilson signed for three more seasons. They had seven Pro Bowl stars on defense.

Their reign seemed intact. Especially with Palmer’s health and age failing the Cardinals. With the 49ers coming off a two-win season and starting over with a first-time GM and coach. And with the Rams having a QB having just seven career starts in Jared Goff, plus a first-time coach who is younger than two of Carroll’s three children.

Now?

The NFC West couldn’t be more different.

“Aside from us, everybody has addressed the quarterback position,” Cardinals general manager Steve Keim said. “But I’m excited for our process moving forward. And it’s exciting from the fact, San Francisco is getting better, L.A. had a great year and Coach McVay has done a great job, Seattle is going to be a very good football team.

“But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I enjoy the challenge to be able to have a division so competitive.”

So, yes, it’s all un-Arians-like diplomacy here from division rivals about Seattle not falling off in the division.

But …

Goff and the Rams are the defending division champions. They have a relentless defense, an all-world defensive tackle in Aaron Donald plus a young core that isn’t going anywhere. San Francisco finished last season with five consecutive wins. Those were the first five starts by Garoppolo after the 49ers traded with New England for Tom Brady’s backup in October. The Niners just gave Garoppolo a record contract worth $137.5 million to be their guy for the next five years.

And the Seahawks have a world of issues beyond just missing the playoffs for the first time in six years.

Their “Legion of Boom” secondary that could be a bust after 2018, if Richard Sherman doesn’t rebound in the last year of his contract from a torn Achilles tendon, if Kam Chancellor can’t play again because of a serious neck injury and if Earl Thomas doesn’t get his money. Wilson suddenly has just this season and next remaining on his contract; this time next year may be seeking an extension above $30 million per year. Carroll has just two years left on his deal. He has a new offensive coordinator (Brian Schottenheimer) and defensive coordinator (Ken Norton Jr.) — and questions on how he’s going to make good on his vow to return to the offense to running effectively.

“For our division as a whole, you are excited about the competitiveness,” McVay said of day one of the league’s annual scouting extravaganza. “I don’t know that I can really say I’m ‘excited’ about it, but it’s going to be a great challenge for us going against those three teams next year.”

The 2018 Cardinals are going to be the 2016 Rams and 2017 49ers. That is, starting over with a new quarterback.

Wilks said Wednesday the Cardinals are going to be “aggressive” in pursuing a passer.

Then again, as Keim said: “When you don’t have one, there is no other way.”

The Cardinals are intensely scouting the quarterbacks at the combine, though Arizona would seemingly need to trade up from having the 15th-overall pick in the first round to get the most highly coveted QBs in this draft class. USC’s Sam Darnold, UCLA’s Josh Rosen, even Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield are likely to be selected before Arizona’s turn.

Or do the Cardinals go get a veteran one to replace Palmer? Free agency begins March 14. Kirk Cousins is going to be available after Washington traded with Kansas City to get Alex Smith. But that route is likely to cost perhaps $25 million or more per year.

“We will have plans in place for free agency,” Keim said. “But again, a trade option potentially, and the draft, it’s all three because we don’t have any (QBs) on the roster currently. Whether we are going to keep two or three, we’re going to have to have someone that’s experienced, and you’d like to be able to take a young guy and develop him.”

We spend a lot of time and type dissecting all the Seahawks’ concerns and needs. But the one asset they — and now the Rams and the 49ers — have that the Cardinals do not is a franchise quarterback.

And in Wilson, Seattle has the only passer in the division that has won a playoff game. Wilson’s won eight one them, in fact — including a Super Bowl.