NFC Notes: Cardinals, 49ers, Rams

Cardinals

The Cardinals’ trade for WR DeAndre Hopkins came as a major shock to the NFL world. Even Cardinals QB Kyler Murray thought the news was too good to be true at first, though he got on board quickly. 

“I didn’t believe it,” Murray said in an interview on ESPN via Dana Scott of the Arizona Republic. “As soon as I was told, I went to YouTube and watched his highlights. Obviously, I know a lot about DeAndre, watching him for years. I didn’t believe it.”

• The Athletic’s Sheil Kapadia predicts Murray will be the team’s breakout player in 2020 and establish himself as an impact starter and Pro Bowl player. 

49ers

• The Athletic’s Matt Barrows predicts 49ers LB Fred Warner will be the team’s breakout player in 2020 and establish himself as a Pro Bowl starter. 
• ESPN ranked the 49ers No. 3 in their power rankings for the next three years, citing strong foundational pieces on defense and one of the best offensive head coaches in the NFL in Kyle Shanahan. 
• While the front seven is elite, the secondary could need to be revamped soon with CB Richard Sherman, CB K’Waun Williams and S Jaquiski Tartt all in contract years. 

Rams

The Rams have a plethora of options on the roster to replace feature RB Todd Gurley in 2020. But instead of trying to pick just one player to shoulder the monstrous load Gurley carried for the Rams in his prime, HC Sean McVay suggests Los Angeles plans to take a page out of the 49ers playbook as far as utilizing a stable of players at running back. 

“I think it’ll just naturally work itself out. I think if you look at that success San Fran had last year with that running back-by-committee approach,” McVay said on The Helliepod. “What I thought Kyle (Shanahan) and their players did a great job of is, ‘Hey, we’re going to have an open-mind approach, we’re going to be committed to trying to have some balance and then we’ll go with the hot hand or whoever really expresses himself as deserving of the carries.”

As far as who that hot hand could be, McVay highlighted four options the Rams feel good about. There’s second-round rookie RB Cam Akers along with last year’s third-round pick, RB Darrell Henderson. The Rams also have veteran RB Malcolm Brown and McVay even mentioned 2018 sixth-round RB John Kelly who’s bounced around on the practice squad as a potential ball carrier. 

“We feel good. We’ve got three guys really on our roster that have played football when you look at Darrell Henderson, John Kelly is another guy, Malcolm Brown has consistently produced in that No. 2 role behind Todd,” he continued. “And then Cam Akers is a guy that we’re excited about. So we’ve got four backs that we feel like are all NFL-legitimate starting-caliber backs and not feeling like you’ve got to force carries or touches to any of them. Just open mind and see how these guys do.”

• The Rams rank ninth in the NFL in dead money for the past three seasons, according to Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap, with a total of $64.7 million.