NFC West Notes: Cardinals, Rams, Seahawks

Cardinals

Cardinals CB Patrick Peterson says he’s “very excited” about the team’s new defensive scheme and is looking forward to getting back to “[his] playmaking ways.”

“[I’m] very excited, ’cause I’m gonna be doing a lot of new things that I haven’t done in my career — in my NFL career,” Peterson said, via AzCentral.com. “I’m just looking forward to getting back to my playmaking ways because I believe over the last two and half, three years, I’ve been kind of handcuffed in doing that, because obviously teams try to stay away from me. But now, Coach Holcomb and Coach Wilks are going do a great job of finding ways to install me into the game.”

Rams

The Rams have added some notable players to their defensive line and secondary this year offseason. However, their linebacking corps is without Alec Ogletree, Robert Quinn, and Connor Barwin and remains one of the biggest question marks on the team’s roster.

Even so, Rams DC Wade Phillips says he likes what he’s seen from the unit this offseason.

“We’ve got some good looking players,” Phillips said, via TheRams.com. “We’re not set there like we are in some other positions as we are with cornerbacks and safeties, but we’ve got some good players up front. So, we have a lot of strength, we just need some guys to come through, and it looks like they have the ability to.”

Rams HC Sean McVay singled out Cory Littleton as someone who has done a great job for them.

“I think when you just really look at it from a big picture standpoint on the defensive side of the ball, Cory Littleton playing that MIKE linebacker spot has done a great job,” McVay said. “He played our MOE spot when he had to fill in for Mark [Barron] last year, but he’s immediately stepped in, taken good control and command. I think he’s done a great job communicating.”

Seahawks

• Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times writes that neither S Kam Chancellor nor the Seahawks think he’ll be able to continue his career due to the neck injury he suffered last year.
• Chancellor announced that he doesn’t expect to resume his NFL career, so this shouldn’t come as a big surprise. However, Chancellor won’t officially retire any time soon, considering the guaranteed money in his contract.
• Joel Corry tells Condotta that Seattle’s best move is to hold on to Chancellor and hope he can pass a physical at some point, which would allow them to avoid paying him the $5.2 million in injury guarantees he has for the 2019 season.
• As for S Earl Thomas, Condotta mentions that no negotiations are believed to have taken place regarding an extension and it looks like the two parties are headed towards a stalemate in the coming weeks.
• The Chancellor news will likely only further harden the Seahawks stance regarding Thomas, according to Condotta.