We expected there to be some wheeling and dealing when NFL draft day rolled around on Thursday, but the craziness has started early, with Rob Gronkowski landing in Tampa Bay on Tuesday night. This is not one of those moves that will have an impact on how other teams go about their draft strategy, especially since Gronk was not really part of the picture, but it does set the tone for what could be a crazy weekend. While that move is going to send serious shock waves through the NFC South, it is the West that we are going to focus on right now. The San Francisco 49ers are the cream of the crop, but this is a division that has the potential to be very tough next season. Let’s take a look at how teams in the NFC West might tackle the 2020 NFL Draft and their betting odds.
NFC West Mock Draft For 2020 Draft
San Francisco 49ers
After a 13-3 season and a trip to the Super Bowl, which they ultimately lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, you might not think that the 49ers would have very many holes to fill. Like every team in the league, though, they have lost players through free agency, so they certainly have some things to think about. San Francisco as a pair of picks in Round 1, which they will almost certainly use to land themselves a WR. It’s a very deep pool this year, so they will definitely land themselves a legitimate playmaker if they do go that route. They will also look at getting a DT and a CB as the draft goes on.
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks began to see some success again once they committed to their run game, allowing Russell Wilson to stay in the pocket more and go deep. That helped them go to 11-5 last season, which got them into the Wild Card. They made it through the first round, but they ran into trouble in the NFC West Divisional Round. If Seattle plans on sticking with their current style of play, they will need to get some O-line help. More importantly, though, they really need a disruptive edge rusher, with a couple of good options sure to be available when Seattle gets to pick.
LA Rams
At 9-7, the LA Rams were certainly not awful last year, but the strength of the NFC West division as a whole meant that 9 wins wasn’t nearly good enough to get them close to the Wild Card. While the offensive line had a little it of a down year last season, there is every reason to believe that they will bounce back. The Rams have plenty of weapons at their disposal on the offensive side of the football, so we should expect to see them address their defensive issues in the early rounds. Expect to see a healthy dose of LB’s taken by the Rams, although they may also pick up a WR given that they are going to have problems keeping all their guys after this season.
Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals finished last season at 5-10-1, and while that left them well off the pace in the West, they have already shown that they are ready to go big this offseason, trading for DeAndre Hopkins from the Texans. The Cardinals could also use a tight end and some O-line help, but their early picks are almost certainly going to be defensive players. This is the team that gave up the most yards last season, so look for them to go after some help in the secondary, as well as trying to land a pass rusher.
