NFC Notes: 49ers, Cardinals, Seahawks

49ers DL Arik Armstead expects “great things” from second-year QB Trey Lance and is confident in the offensive players around him. 

“I’m expecting great things from him,” Armstead said, via 49ersWebZone. “I’m excited to see what he’s going to do, but he’s not alone when he takes the field. Our team is very talented, and it’s not just ‘The Trey Lance Show.’ He’s surrounded by a lot of talented, great players, and we’re all going to go out there and do what we can to help us win games. It’s not just going to be on his shoulders.”

Cardinals

Cardinals LB Isaiah Simmons said that he wants to exert himself as a leader around the locker room now entering his third year in the league.  

“I definitely want to exert myself as a leader because that’s who I’ve always been,” Simmons said, via Luke Lyddon of 12News. “I don’t really have a problem saying something to anyone because, at the end of the day, I am not trying to be anybody’s friend. We’re all trying to get to the Lombardi trophy.”

Simmons expects himself to become one of the best players in the NFL. 

“I’m my biggest critic,” Simmons said. “My expectation for myself is to be the best in the game, ever. Why not dream big and be the best player to ever touch the NFL? Until I get as close to that as possible or reach that, then those expectations won’t be met and I won’t stop working.”

Cardinals HC Kliff Kingsbury thinks that becoming a leader is the “next step” for Simmons in order to become an All-Pro caliber player. 

“I think to become what he wants to be, which is the All-Pro, Pro-Bowl type player, I think leadership is the next step for him,” Kingsbury said. “To be that guy you have to do everything right all the time and have a great work ethic and understand the system inside and out. I think he understands where he has to get to have that type of credibility on the field.”

Seahawks

• When projecting the Seahawks’ 53-man roster, Brady Henderson of ESPN writes that some within the organization expect Drew Lock to win the starting quarterback job over Geno Smith. 
• Henderson adds that HC Pete Caroll will lean on the preseason games to determine who wins the starting quarterback role. 
• At running back, Henderson thinks Rashaad Penny is in the “driver’s seat” for the primary role after his productive end to last season. 
• Henderson points out that veteran WR Marquise Goodwin is competing for a final spot on the active roster. 
• Regarding their outside linebackers, Henderson writes that Seattle added second-round Boye Mafe, fifth-round Tyreke Smith, and Uchenna Nwosu in an effort to incorporate more plays in the 3-4 set next season.
• Now that former Seahawks ILBs Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright are gone, Henderson points out that fourth-year LB Cody Barton is set to be the full-time starter.
• Seahawks TE Noah Fant doesn’t accept that the team is in a rebuild this year: “I see a young team that’s hungry, that has a lot of really talented players.” (USA Today)
• Seth Walder reports that the Seahawks are hiring Becca Erenbaum from the New York Knicks of the NBA as a Senior Football Research Analyst and Peter Engler from the Charlotte Thunder of the AAL as a Football Research Assistant.