NFC West Camp Preview: 49ers and Rams Rebuild O-Lines

NFL Offseason - Allen Robinson. Marquise Brown. Drew Lock (stifles a giggle). There are plenty of new faces in the NFC West this year. There are also plenty of summer storylines: the Rise of Trey Lance, offensive line battles for the 49ers and Rams, some new defensive wrinkles for the Seahawks. Walkthrough's 2022 NFC West Training Camp Preview will get you ready for all of the preseason action, from camp battles to joint practices to preseason games that might actually be worth watching.

Arizona Cardinals 2022 Training Camp Preview

Heading Into Camp: Steve Keim and Kliff Kingsbury achieved all of their offseason objectives. 1) They earned lavish contract extensions despite having not accomplished very much for three years; 2) They successfully friend-zoned Kyler Murray; 3) They tossed more cookies and ice cream (Marquise Brown, rookie tight end Trey McBride) into their offensive shopping cart, even though they were sent to the grocery store for vegetables like reinforcements at cornerback, on the offensive line, and just about everywhere else.

Now it's time for Kingsbury to toss the roster into a blender and create another smoothie. This time, he needs to make sure that it's not cool and refreshing in the early autumn but lumpy and rancid come December.

Camp Battles to Watch: The Cardinals will try to replace Chandler Jones with some combination of Devon Kennard and rookies Myjai Sanders (Cincinnati) and Cameron Thomas (San Diego State). Kennard is a high-effort journeyman who has recorded just three sacks in the last two seasons. Sanders and Thomas are both big and toolsy as heck, but the Cardinals have a rotten track record with toolsy young linebacker/edge prospects (see Zaven Collins, Isaiah Simmons, Haason Reddick). J.J. Watt and Markus Golden are still around, but they are more like second and third pass-rush options these days than double-digit sack guys, and the Cardinals secondary is going to need a lot of help.

Fantasy gamers should keep an eye on the tight end battle, where Zach Ertz will start but McBride will battle Maxx Williams eat up some share of the targets. Williams is expected to start camp on the PUP list, which will open up opportunities for McBride, a smooth short-to-intermediate route-runner and pass-catcher in the mold of the young Ertz.

Newcomer to Obsess Over: Marquise Brown is an upgrade over Christian Kirk in the slot and should be a viable WR1 during DeAndre Hopkins' six-game suspension. Rondale Moore is also still in the picture, but there's plenty of room in Kingsbury's gadgety offense for two slippery slot guys, and Brown is a much better deep option. Brown will make the Cardinals even more fun to watch during the regular season. But then, fun has never been the Cardinals' problem in the Murray-Kingsbury era.

Training Camp Circle-It Date: The exact dates weren't official at press time, but the Cardinals and Titans will practice together ahead of their preseason finale in Nashville on August 20. The joint practices will provide many more opportunities for both press pools (and their social followers) to watch Murray throw to his battalion of playmakers than any preseason game.

San Francisco 49ers 2022 Training Camp Preview

Heading Into Camp: If "I Wrote 3,500 Words Breaking Down Each of Trey Lance's Nine Pass Attempts Versus Packers Backups and Discovered Some Good, Some Bad," is your kind of content, then this is the training camp for you!

Camp Battles to Watch: Jake Brendel, who has been knocking around the bottoms of depth charts since 2016, is expected to replace retired Alex Mack at center. But incumbent right guard Daniel Brunskill, coming off a shaky season, also has experience at center, and 49ers rumormongers think that JC Tretter could be signed if Kyle Shanahan doesn't like what he sees early in camp. Both guard positions are also in flux, though Aaron Banks, a second-round pick last year, is penciled in to replace Laken Tomlinson on the left side.

In summary, the 49ers are experiencing a lot of transition on the offensive line for a team that's also trying to remain in the playoff chase while handing the reins to a novice quarterback.

Newcomer to Obsess Over: Who needs newcomers when you have a Lance-is-the-next-Patrick Mahomes narrative AND a Deebo Samuel contract kerfuffle to hold your attention? But cornerback Charvarius Ward will both put Lance to the test in practice every day and low-key clown anyone who leans too hard into the Lance-Mahomes comparisons.

Training Camp Circle-It Date: Walkthrough may joke about obsessive preseason quarterback arm-angle coverage, but we'll be watching every move Lance makes too. The first half of the Packers-49ers preseason game on August 12 should be a blast. Of all the quarterbacks we want to see this offseason, Lance is the least likely one to be mothballed for the preseason, because he has barely played any football at all since 2019.

Los Angeles Rams 2022 Training Camp Preview

Heading Into Camp: Rams training camp is like a cross between America's Got Talent and a month of Shrine Game practices. It's a chance to watch people only draftnik completists have ever heard of compete to earn a recurring role with the top-heavy, cap-strapped, draft-denialist Super Bowl Champions.

Camp Battles to Watch: Third-round pick Logan Bruss (Wisconsin) is the favorite to replace Austin Corbett at right guard, but he has lots of competition. We would list all their names, but we have never heard of any of these guys and neither have you.

David Long is the likely starter at cornerback across from Jalen Ramsey with Troy Hill returning from the Browns to play in the slot. But keep an eye on rookies Decobie Durant (fourth round, South Carolina State) and Derion Kendrick (sixth round, Georgia). Durant is a bundle of raw speed and attitude. Kendrick is a step-and-a-half slow yet found a way to start for both Clemson and Georgia National Champions. The Rams have a knack for finding roles for sleepers and square pegs willing to work for tips.

Newcomer to Obsess Over: Allen Robinson will take over the old Robert Woods role after eight seasons in the "my quarterbacks stink so don't expect too much from me" role with the Jaguars and Bears. Robinson made soothing sounds on the Jim Rome Show in June about how well he will mesh with Cooper Kupp. After years of wilting on the vine as a WR1, Robinson is probably more eager than most big-name wideouts to step into a secondary role.

Training Camp Circle-It Date: None. Rams preseason games are dull by even preseason game standards, and there are no joint practices on the schedule. Rams camp is best admired from afar.

Seattle Seahawks 2022 Training Camp Preview

Heading into Camp: Oh, what to make of this soft Seahawks reboot? Perhaps the Seahawks are tanking in plain sight, with Pete Carroll providing cover from criticism. Maybe they really think they can turn things around quickly in the aftermath of the Russell Wilson trade. Maybe, just maybe, Carroll and Jon Schneider enjoyed some outrageous fortune in the 2010-to-2012 drafts, have been coasting on those bumper harvests for a decade, and have finally rolled to a stop. Whatever the case, the Drew Lock/Geno Smith quarterback controversy is just one of many rubbernecker's delights in store for Seahawks fans this summer.

Camp Battle to Watch: Lock versus Smith may be the weakest quarterback competition any NFL team has foisted on its fans since Mike Shanahan gave us Rex Grossman versus John Beck in Washington in 2011. Lock still looks like a mid-round rookie after three NFL seasons and 21 starts. Seven years on the bench have turned Smith into a typical journeyman dink-and-dunker who runs almost as well as he wishes he did. The Seahawks will surround both quarterbacks with just enough talent to really highlight their limitations: not enough playmakers to allow anyone to dink-and-dunk to glory, but too many to use as an excuse for failure.

With Chris Carson's future in doubt, rookie Kenneth Walker (Michigan State), Rashaad Penny, Deejay Dallas, Travis Homer, and possibly Shaun Alexander, Derrick Fenner, and Jim Jodat will compete for roles in the running back committee. The Seahawks will probably keep (and use) four running backs, but a chunky depth chart can make for some entertaining preseason viewing and fantasy football hand-wringing.

Newcomer to Obsess Over: New defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt has been a Seahawks assistant for years, but former Bears defensive coordinator Sean Desai was brought aboard as "associate head coach." Hurtt and Desai both coached for Vic Fangio in the past, and it sounds like Carroll has given them his blessing to Fangio-up the stale Seahawks defense with more blitzes and different looks in the secondary. These changes might have really helped the Seahawks defense over the last two or three seasons, when they still had enough Legion of Boom leftovers to scare opponents and the offense could contribute more than 20 points per game. This year, "blitz more" will probably mean "keep sending Jamal Adams after the quarterback, because if we drop him into deep coverage we might as well get the kickoff return unit ready."

Training Camp Circle-It Date: The Seahawks face the Steelers on August 13 and the Bears on August 18: two opportunities to watch both teams try to make sense of their quarterback issues.