NFC Notes: Cardinals, Rams, Seahawks

Cardinals

• Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wonders if Cardinals’ HC Kliff Kingsbury will get a fourth year as Arizona’s head coach should they run into trouble this year, as no coach in team history has lasted longer than six seasons.
• Florio notes that with former No. 1 overall pick QB Kyler Murray in a contract year, Kingsbury is in a crucial season and could find himself on the hot seat.

Rams

Rams LT Andrew Whitworth says that new QB Matthew Stafford is “just yearning to have some success.”

“You know what, just being around Stafford, Matthew is one of those guys you can tell, [he’s] just a veteran QB who has played a lot of football and has been a really good football player in this league for a while and is just yearning to have some success,” Whitworth said on the Jim Rome Show. “And you see it in him, how hungry he is, how hard he works, and also just how talented he is. So I think our whole football team is obviously really excited about the opportunity to take the field with him this fall.”

Whitworth explained that there’s no substitute for game experience, no matter how talented a quarterback may be. 

“I think it’s pretty invaluable. It’s one of those things that you can’t — I don’t care what a quarterback’s done early in their career, you can’t replace experience and wisdom and the opportunity to see all these defenses,” Whitworth said. “And for Matthew, also, to play in a lot of different offenses. He’s had a lot of different schemes. He’s read things in a lot of different ways. So he’s had that opportunity of experience where there are things he can help young linemen with, there’s things he can help young receivers, backs, tight ends — just little tidbits that he can say, ‘Hey, against this coverage, this is what you’d want to do,’ that almost feels like a coach on the field a little bit.

“I think that’s that added level that a veteran QB gives you that’s just hard to replace. And a guy who’s as talented as him, I think, we’d be lying if we said we weren’t excited about our opportunity this season.”

Seahawks

Seahawks WR Penny Hart is competing for a spot on the 53 man roster and HC Pete Carroll explained that his versatility is something that should give him a good shot at securing a role in 2021. 

“Penny made the team last year because you can count on him,” Carroll said, via SeahawksWire. “You can count on him in a lot of ways—in running his routes right, knowing the offense, multiple positions, contributing on special teams, his toughness. The attitude is obvious, and he came out here this camp, these days we’ve had here, and probably had the best shot of making things happen.”

“So where is he in the competition?” Carroll continued. “He’s right in it. He made the club last year, we really can count on him. He can do a lot of things. He was really battling, and I was really fired up for him, we all were. He kind of lit it up out here.”