NFC Notes: Cardinals, 49ers, Rams, Seahawks

49ers

Chargers DE Joey Bosa spoke about how his contract may have helped his brother DE Nick Bosa financially when it comes time for him to sign a new deal.

“Oh yeah, and I think he’s gonna far surpass it when the time comes because that’s the kind of player that he is, and not only him but every great young d-end that comes into the league now is gonna have a bar to get to and to surpass,” Bosa said, via Albert Breer of SI. “I’m sure it’s gonna be passed up pretty soon here. But just to do that for my brother, I mean, I can’t say enough about the player he is and the person he is, how hard he works. He’s gonna deserve every single penny he gets.”

• Matt Barrows of The Athletic notes that the runner-up between Daniel Brunskill and Tom Compton for the right guard position could end up playing several different positions on the offensive line and mentions that versatility may be key in who wins the battle.
• 49ers’ GM John Lynch also believes that rookie Colton McKivitz could potentially play guard as well: “The cool thing about McKivitz — we feel like he’s got some ability to play tackle but also has some ability to slide down and play some guard,”  Lynch said after the draft. “He’s a guy, during the process, the more we watched — that happens with a lot of guys — but the more you watch, the more you like.”
• 49ers FB Kyle Juszczyk has been impressed by RB Jerick McKinnon, who hasn’t played the past two years while dealing with the fallout from a knee injury: “You would never guess that this guy hasn’t been on the field in two years.” (Barrows)
• 49ers S Jimmie Ward hinted he might be moved around the defense more in 2020: “Just make sure you watch that first game, because I could be anywhere.” (Matt Maiocco)

Cardinals

• Howard Balzer of SI takes a look at the Cardinals’ offensive line situation following the opt-out of starting RT Marcus Gilbert.
• Balzer projects the starters to be LT D.J. Humphries, LG Justin Pugh, C Mason Cole, RG J.R. Sweezy, and RT Justin Murray.
• Due to the fact that they have both primarily played left tackle during their careers, Balzer notes that T Kelvin Beachum and T Josh Jones should be solid backups along with G Max Garcia and C/G Lamont Gaillard.
• As for the offensive linemen who are on the roster bubble, Balzer lists T Joshua Miles, T Brett Toth, C/G Sam Jones, G Koda Martin, and G Steven Gonzalez.
• Darren Urban of the team website says former Cardinals C A.Q. Shipley remains a free agent but he’s likely only an option for the team in case of injury. 

Rams

With RB Todd Gurley moving on to the Falcons, RB Malcolm Brown expects to be the leader of the Rams running backs group.

“It’s been easy to fall into that role,” Brown said, via Pro Football Talk. “I knew right when [Gurley] left, I would probably play a bigger of a role. It’s easy in that running back room because we all want to learn and we all want to get better. So there is nothing drastic that’s happened or anything like that. But, like I said, throughout training camp, we’ll see how we’ll fall into our roles and everything like that. But everybody in that room wants to learn and wants to get better and we play off of each other. It makes it so much easier. Whatever role that these guys have us playing, man. I know that all of us will buy into it, [we’ve] got a lot of different versatile guys we all have our own skillsets. I know that these coaches will do the best that they can, I know that they’ll do a really good job of putting us in position to succeed.”

Brown also mentioned running backs Darrell Henderson and Cam Akers, and what they would be able to bring to the offense.

“In this running back room everybody can really do everything,” Brown said. “I just know Darrell [Henderson] has a lot of speed. Cam [Akers] is a guy with a lot of speed and can get on the edges and do their thing. I’m a downhill guy, but like I said, Coach McVay, he’ll have me doing the same thing Darrell is doing and Darrell’s doing the same thing as I’m doing. We’re all playing a part in doing what we can to contribute.”