NFC West Notes: 49ers, Cardinals, Rams

49ers

• Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee expects Eli Harold to start at strongside linebacker, while the plan for Solomon Thomas is to play the “Leo” defensive end on base downs, and then move to defensive tackle on passing downs.
• Barrows could see Thomas, DeForest Buckner, and Arik Armstead all rotate at defensive tackle in nickel sets.

Cardinals

• According to Ian Rapoport, Cardinals RB David Johnson has completely recovered from the wrist injury that cost him nearly the entire 2017 season.
• Rapoport says that Johnson has trained “harder than usual” and his goal for next season is to record 1,000 rushing and receiving yards.
• Regarding Johnson, Cardinals HC Steve Wilks said: “He looked outstanding today. It’s good to have him back out there. Just flying around and the things that he’s doing right now is pretty exciting.”

Rams

• Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Journal reports that the cost of the Los Angeles stadium is now over $4 billion.
• Rams owner Stan Kroenke and his wife, Ann Walton Kroenke, will contribute $1.6 billion of their own money to the project.
• In total, the L.A. Stadium and the surrounding business and residential area was expected to exceed $5 billion.
• The initial estimate for the stadium came in at $2.3 billion and has been slowly increasing ever since.