NFC Notes: 49ers, Cardinals, Seahawks, Geno Smith

49ers

49ers DE Nick Bosa believes that DC DeMeco Ryans is going to be a great head coach not only for his scheme, but his ability to lead.

“He’s going to be a great head coach,” Bosa said, via 49ers Web Zone. “I think he’s as good as it gets when it comes to the scheme on defense. But as a leader of men, he’s as good as it gets.”

49ers HC Kyle Shanahan hopes to keep Ryans in San Francisco, but admitted that he’s more than ready to become a head coach.

“I think it starts as a man,” Shanahan shared. “He’s the ideal leader, whatever he does. He was that way when he came into Houston as a rookie linebacker. He took over that defense right away. You could tell he was in charge when he was a 21-year-old. He came in here as a quality control [coach], and within like six months, we moved him to linebacker coach. He’s just always been that guy. And then just watching him over these two years, what he took in his years learning to get there—he runs his system, and then he adjusts every week. He sees how to play an offense. He pays attention to offense and defense. I thought he was ready last year to be a head coach.”

Cardinals

• While making an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, Ian Rapoport mentions that it sounds like Sean Payton‘s interview with the Cardinals went well and it’s still a possibility that he signs with Arizona. 
• Payton describes that the Cardinals were interested in Cowboys DC Dan Quinn and Panthers’ new HC Frank Reich, and may now consider Payton as their best option after missing out on both coaches. 

Seahawks

Seahawks HC Pete Carroll is excited about the future of the team with QB Geno Smith and spoke about it during a recent radio show appearance.

“I can’t come out of a season after we just [lost] our last game and feel better about the future than I do right now,” Carroll said, via Brady Henderson of ESPN. “I just think that we’re on a great track. We’ve got our guy, and we need to hopefully work things out so he’s with us. I couldn’t be more tickled by the way the whole thing turned out and how he handled it. And really as we look to the future, he’s a big part of why we’re looking to the future so promisingly.”

Carroll also addressed the difficulties that DT Bryan Mone was undergoing with his knee surgery this offseason