NFC West Huddle: What moves to make before trade deadline?

This is the best time of the week as we welcome you to another edition of the NFC West Huddle. It's also the best part of the season because the 49ers finally lost and they've got to sit on it for an extra weekend. I'm Aaron Levine. As you couldn't tell, I'm in Seattle joined by our experts from around the division. In L.A., it's Gerard Moncure. In Phoenix, it's Robbie Baker. And in the Bay Area, we welcome Mike Meeback. I think this is your season debut, right, Mike? Season debut, second time around. Great to be here, boys. I said it was an extra special week, and Mike is joining us, although Mike is the lone survivor after the carnage in Atlanta last week. Let's start with a game preview of each of your team's game this week. The Rams facing the Chargers, the Cardinals are in Dallas, the Seahawks host the Bears on Monday Night Football, and the Niners are off. So, Mike, I'll give you the honors. You can go any direction you'd like with this one. What are you excited to see this weekend? Well, expectations this week kind of look just like my marriage. Health and happiness, guys. You know, I woke up Monday morning after getting spanked by the Falcons. You'd think I'd be mad, but I wasn't. I was happy. We're 6-1. We're 3-0 in the division. We're looking tough here. The only curveball so far this bye week has been up in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle making the big trade to bring in the big offensive guard. You know, you're going to be looking to run the ball more. Sammy Darnold's going to have more time to throw. Do you know who? So now I'm angry. I was happy, but now I'm angry on Tuesday saying, where's my GM? Where's John Lynch? Do something. And sure enough, just a few hours later, he brings in DeForest Buckner. So now I'm happy again, right? Happiness is contagious. When the locker room is happy, we tend to win. And then there is the health side, right? So let's use this week to get healthy, you guys. No stranger to our wide receiver room. The bumps and bruises we have, Mike Evans, Debo Samuel, just to name a couple, Christian McCaffrey pulling the hammy a little bit in Atlanta. I'd love to see Nick Bosa get back. So, long story short, the expectation for us this week is to be happy and to be healthy. And I'll leave it with this. Because we don't play on Sunday, I'm a little concerned about Saturday night. It's Halloween. You know Kittle's going to throw a party. You know Juice is probably going to throw a party, one of the two. So they're going to have costumes, you're going to have punch bowls, you're going to have red and gold jello shots. Have fun, but just be careful. No one get hurt. We'll see you at practice on Monday, and let's go beat the Raiders next week. Yeah, I'm a little disappointed none of us came to the party with a costume on Halloween week, but I am glad that the migraine didn't last longer than 24 hours down in the Bay Area for you, Mike. Let's head down to L.A. next. Gerard, you've got the Rams and Chargers both playing on their home field, although the... The Rams are the designated home team. What can we expect in that one with two teams that everyone expected to have a combined 10 wins by now instead of a combined 10 losses? Well, there's a little bit of disappointment to start with, Aaron. Of course, no Miles Garrett. The window to practice and come off the injured reserve list is not open yet. John McVay. He informed us that earlier in the week. So the wait continues for Myles Garrett. Now, the good news is the Chargers are, of course, winless. And the bad news on that end, though, is they're coming off a bye week. And most NFL teams play better off of a bye week. No one's ready to say that Jim Harbaugh's not a good coach yet. So I expect the Chargers, who I do cover down here as well, to come with everything they've got against the Rams in what could be a trap game for the Rams. Now, we all know Justin Herbert has had a tough time this year. They are 32nd in scoring, and they've had a hard time protecting him, and the Rams should be able to take advantage of that. He's been sacked 21 times, third most in the league, and even without Myles Turner, or pardon me, Myles Garrett, Kobie Turner, and Puna Ford, the Rams' defensive front should be able to make Sunday another rough day for Herbert. The Bolts are dead last, as I said, in scoring 27th in yards per game. And obviously, that plays into the Rams' advantage. They're coming off a pretty good game against the Raiders, where they allowed the Silver and Black to score just once out of five times in the red zone, complete just three of 14 converting third downs. So they're coming off of a really good game. And offensively, well, nice balanced attack, 35 points, high-scoring game of the year, 199 yards rushing. They were very balanced. So the Rams are in a good place right now, despite still missing some pieces. This is, uh... Just got to worry about the trap game, stay focused, and everything should be okay on Sunday at SoFi. It would be amazing for the Chargers to start the season 0-7, but the Rams certainly have the advantage there. Robbie, how about the Cardinals in Dallas? Can they stop Dak Prescott and company the way they shut down the Rams two weeks ago? I mean, that's got to be the blueprint, right, Aaron? They have kind of a game plan there that worked against what has become, surprisingly, a struggling Rams team. But it's kind of a different beast going up against this Cowboys offense with all their weapons on the outside that are healthy right now. And Javonte Williams, the way he's been running the ball and having to do it at AT&T Stadium. Kind of the caveat there, though, is the Cardinals, specifically when Kyler Murray was the quarterback, Had actually a lot of success when they not only played the Cowboys, but played the Cowboys in Dallas. So I don't know if that magic kind of carries over. Even last year on Monday Night Football when Jacoby Brissett took over this offense, they beat the Cowboys in a primetime game. That was one of the few wins the Cardinals had last season. I'm not sure if that magic continues this year, mainly just because the offense. While they moved the ball in between the 20s, when they'd gotten into the red zone, this team has struggled mightily. Michael LeFlore talked about that a lot at practice earlier this week, about just having to kind of get back to basics and execution in the red zone to get seven instead of having to settle for field goals. You're going to have to score touchdowns to beat the Dallas Cowboys, and this Cardinals defense, as we've talked about a lot all season, They have a hard time stopping people and slowing people down, unless it's unfortunately for Gerard the Rams a few weeks ago in the field goal fiesta. But I have a feeling this Cowboys offense could be a get-right game for them this Sunday with Dak Prescott and company getting going. Hopefully Jeremiah Love can help that red zone offense if he is healthy enough to play on Sunday. As for the Seahawks, a third straight primetime game, a chance to build off the momentum of that big Sunday night win over the Kansas City Chiefs. And I'm fascinated by this matchup between the two head coaches. You have Ben Johnson and Mike McDonald, who are the two main candidates to replace Pete Carroll back in 2024. The Hawks ended up going with McDonald. And now we get to see McDonald's defense against Johnson's offense, which I personally think is just as intriguing as the Seahawks facing Ken Walker III and the top-ranked Chiefs offense last week. And if the Hawks are going to shut the Bears down also, I'm going to continue to say that I believe this defense is actually better than the one that won the Super Bowl last year. And the only reason people can't see it yet is because of the four turnovers against the 49ers that led to 21 points and the three turnovers against the Commanders that also led to 21 points. Both of those games they lost, and it wasn't the defense's fault. The Seahawks are allowing 50 fewer yards per game than they did last season. They've held opponents scoreless in five of their last six quarters. And the scariest part is Nicky Manwari played only 30% to 40% of their defensive snaps from weeks two to six. He played 100% of the snaps against the Chiefs, and we all saw what happened. So this defense is doing its job and more. It's just up to Sam Darnold and this offense to avoid mistakes that make it easy for the other team. Okay, that's a great start. We're going to take a quick break, and we'll talk a little trade deadline that's coming up next here on the NFC West Huddle. Back here on the NFC West Huddle, the NFL trade deadline is less than two weeks away on November 10th. So what's your take on either what your team has done so far or not done so far or still needs to do before the deadline? Robbie, we'll start with you in Arizona. Is that because you think that we are going to be sellers, Aaron? Is there a hint of what the Cardinals may be doing? If there's a yard sale, everybody's buying. So go for it. Yeah, put out the signs in the front lawn, the great lawn in front of State Farm Stadium. Look, the Colts, in my opinion, have done this correctly. Their season has gone a certain direction, and they kind of got the jump start on this by saying, all right, look, you know, you want... Quenton Nelson, you got him. You went to Forrest Buckner, here's some draft picks. You got him. Jonathan Taylor may be next up. Somebody makes a world-beating offer. Maybe you have him, too. The Cardinals, if your name is not Jeremiah Love or Trey McBride or Michael Wilson because you got the big extension this offseason, the wide receiver, pretty much anybody else, I would say, on this team, if there's an offer good enough out there, the Cardinals should be open for business. The most interesting thing is, What they do in the next two weeks leading up to the deadline and amassing potential draft capital, is that draft capital going to be something that the current general manager, Monty Ossenfort, gets to cash in this next April in the draft? Or will Monty Ossenfort be making trades and acquiring draft capital for... A different general manager, depending how this season ultimately plays out and what Michael Bidwell decides to do with the GM position. They already changed the head coach last year, Monty Ossenfort, kind of the last holdover from the last failed era, if you will, with Jonathan Gannon at the helm. So I think the Cardinals will be sellers. I think that there will be draft picks coming in. It's just who will be able to cash in on those draft picks come April. Well, Gerard, you're up next. It's been pretty quiet in L.A. so far. What should they do and what will they do? Well, I think, Aaron, that General Manager Les Snead and Head Coach Sean McVay see the trade deadline as the Rams getting back players that have been injured that they've been expecting to be on the field for them. Trent McDuffie, shot he plays this week, missed the last two games with a groin injury. And, of course, we've already talked about Myles Garrett, who... Who knows, next week maybe, coming up before the D.C. game, gets off the injured reserve list, practices, and plays against the Commanders. So they're looking at it that way. Guys that are missing as acquisitions coming before the trade deadline. Now there's the Davante Adams situation. Obviously he got hurt against the Cardinals, scheduled to miss six to ten weeks. Just had the hamstring cleaned out. I'm not exactly sure what that means because I'm not a doctor, okay? But it was done. To make the injury time off the field closer to six weeks than the 10 weeks. Rams still have a couple of weeks to see how that turns out. And if he will actually be back in a month or it will be another month and a half. If that's the case, then maybe they go try and make a trade. Hey, Indiana. Indianapolis, we've been talking about them. Josh Downs appears to be available for maybe a fourth-round pick. And if you look at the Jacksonville Jaguars, there's been reports that Brian Thomas Jr. will be available for a second and a fourth. So there are options out there to go get another receiver if the Rams feel they need to do so. But right now, I think they're going to hold Pat, and I think they want to see if Davante Adams is going to be able They also have confidence in Kenetta Mumfield and some of the other receivers that they have on the roster. I'll teach you out well. My guess is the Rams probably stay pat as long as they continue to win. You know, we've talked about this a little bit on the show. I think six wins gets you a wild card spot. Seven with a little bit of luck. Rams are capable of doing that. So I'm not seeing them doing too much right now unless all of a sudden Davante Adams surely is just not going to be back. Then they might have to make a move. You mean six wins the rest of the way, correct, from here? No, I'm talking six losses. Oh, six losses, okay. We'll get you a wild card spot. That's usually the way it works in the NFL, seven if you're lucky. Got it. Let's head to the Bay. Mike, the Seahawks, as you mentioned, got a colt, so the 49ers followed suit with a colt of their own. What do you make of DeForest Buckner, and what else, if anything, will the Niners do? I love it. I'm so happy. Right now, I'll give the Niners an A- when it comes to a grade. I mean, nothing like bringing old Niners back. We see Dre Greenlaw is an absolute missile. Debo is the old Debo. And now we got DeForest Buckner back. I loved him when we drafted him. I hated it that he went to Indy, but I'm so happy that he is back, especially since our D-line has been depleted. I mean, we barely touched Penix Jr. in Atlanta. On Sunday, it was a disgrace, and I think that had the head coach thinking. I think that had John Lynch thinking, our GM going, hey, all right, we got to make a move, especially after Seattle did make that move early in the morning, and then just a few hours later, we get DeForest Buckner, and we only got him for a fourth-round pick. So I want an early Christmas gift. I want more because I know Seattle wants to repeat. I know the Niners won our sixth Super Bowl title, so we could swing for the fences because we haven't really given up. We haven't given up a first, a second, or a third. Maybe there's a Max Crosby out there. Maybe there's another big-name wide receiver out there. And I think they're thinking that, that we will make one more move. I'm not sure who it's going to be. But if we can get one more move during this bye week or even next week during the Raiders week, then we'll be set for a big run toward that Lombardi trophy as we got the Raiders. And I think we've got to go to Dallas. And then it gets a little tough with Minnesota and Seattle. I'm happy with the A-, but I want an A+, one more piece to this puzzle. I think they're going to need three more pieces if it's wide receivers because they all seem to get hurt down there in the Bay Area. But I understand exactly where you're coming from. It's also going to be like practices in Indianapolis with DeForest Buckner going up against an eight-time Pro Bowler, Quentin Nelson, who the Seahawks got for a third-round pick and the fifth-round pick. And based off of the draft stock that the Bears had to pay today for Jeffrey Simmons, talk about a steal for Seattle, Especially since Nelson, he's He's going to be a free agent at the end of the season, and if Seattle can't re-sign him, they will likely get a third-round compensatory draft pick in 2028. So it really only cost them a fifth-round pick with the safety net that would cover the third-rounder. Listen, John Schneider, he's been an absolute genius when it comes to making in-season additions over the years, going all the way back to Marshawn Lynch. Then there was Dwayne Brown, Quandre Diggs, and the last four years, they have acquired Leonard Williams, then Ernest Jones IV. Then Rashid Shaheed last year, this year it's Quentin Nelson. I'd say that's proof of concept, and it should really help a Seahawks running game that has struggled at times this year. I'm not sure John Schneider is done either. I mean, even with this trade, the Seahawks are projected to have 11 picks in next year's NFL draft, including five compensatory picks for the departures of Ken Walker III, Reek Woolen, Kobe Bryant, Boye Mafe, and executive Nolan Teasley. They have a ton of draft stock to still work with. I'm excited to see if they make another move as the arms race in the West continues. Okay, let's going to take one more break. We've got a couple more topics, maybe just one more topic, depending on time. That's coming up next here on the NFC West Huddle. Time for our picks to click here on the NFC West Huddle. This could be any player on any team in the NFC West this week. Gerard, we're going to start with you. Who are you going with? Okay, Rams and Chargers, we've already talked about the problems the Bolts have had protecting Justin Herbert, sacked 21 times, third most in the NFL. So I've got to go with the Rams defensive line, specifically Aaron Donald. Five solo tackles so far in five games since his return. Five tackles with assists, but no sacks. He's been a part of some sacks, but no sacks on his own. Give me Aaron Donald getting to Justin Herbert twice on Sunday. for his first two solo sacks of the year That's my pick to click Okay, watching big number 99 there. Mike, you're up. Who in the NFC West is going to click this week? God, you know, my heart wants to go with JSN. I mean, he's having this historic season so far, seven games in. But I think I want to go with the Seattle defense right now. I mean, what they did to Kansas City was super impressive. You got the high-flying Caleb and company coming to town under the lights. Can they back that game up with another superb game? They're the best defense right now in the National Football League, only giving up, I think, 233 a game. My spotlight tonight is going to be on that Seattle defense, and I want to see literally what they can do against that Bears offense. Okay, I'll go next. I'll stay in Seattle. I'll actually take Sam Darnold on Monday Night Football. There's been so much negativity around his decision-making lately. Had another horrible blunder in the back of the end zone at the end of the first half against the Chiefs. But with the addition of Quenton Nelson and the possibility of Zach Charbonnet or Jadarian Price coming back, That's really going to help Darnold and hopefully give him a little more time in the pocket this week. He's due for a big game. The Bears are in the bottom third of the league in passing touchdowns allowed. He's got the best receiver in all of football in JSN. Sam Darnold is my pick to click this week. And finally, Robbie, who's your pick to click? Yeah, I actually was going to go Sam Darnold as well. I want to see if he can overcome the turnover issues, eight touchdowns, eight interceptions so far. Can the bright lights of Monday night football maybe invigorate him a little bit? But I'll veer a little bit, and I'll throw a local flavor on this thing. I'll go Trey McBride, the tight end from the Arizona Cardinals. I don't know how many people have watched Cardinals games this year. If people haven't watched a lot, I don't begrudge them. But Trey McBride is still the best tight end in football, and no matter what this Cardinals offense is or isn't, the ball is still going to find Trey McBride plenty of times in this football game, and if you're a fantasy owner, you've got to love having Trey McBride just for the amount of receptions he brings in every week, and the touchdowns are always there, so if there's a Cardinal that's going to pop this week, it's going to have to be Trey McBride. You're preaching to the choir, since I do have Trey McBride on my fantasy team, and I have been watching Cardinals games this season for that very reason. Next topic, despite the 49ers loss last week, Vegas. Vegas still has the Niners, favored to win every game the rest of the season. So given that, how many games do you think ends up winning the NFC West and why? Mike, you're in Niners country, so we'll start with you again. Oh, geez. Okay, let me just tilt my head down and look at the standings real quick. So we all have 10 games left. I mean, if Seattle rolls, they end with 14. The Rams roll, that's 13. I'm starting to speak now. Okay. If we roll that 16, that's not, I mean, the odds of that happening, probably not. I'm going to say 13 wins the NFC West. I think 14 wins the West and maybe the one seed. But right now, I like 13 wins to win the West. Robbie, how many wins do you think the division winner will end up with? I was going to say the same thing as Mike. 14 games won it last year. It was 14 wins, 12 wins, 12 wins, and then the Cardinals at the bottom with three wins. The NFC West standings last year. I think 13 is probably a safe number, but it's going to be tight, and especially between the two teams that are at the top right now, Seattle and San Francisco. But the other thing is, as this schedule, you know, as we get later in the schedule, these teams are going to start to cannibalize each other a little bit, too. So the cream will rise to the top, but 13 seems like a good number. Gerard, if the Rams run the table, Mike said it, they're 13-4. Can 13 win the division? I don't think so. I think the Niners are going to lose two more games. I think as long as the Rams are healthy, they're going to beat them at Levi's later in the year. And I think that Kansas City might get the Niners as well. I think the Niners finish 14-3, win the division, have home field throughout the playoffs. Doesn't necessarily mean that they'll win the NFC Championship, but I think they're going to hit 14, and that's going to win the division. Okay, I'll go with a couple teams finishing with 13 wins to take this division and coming down to a tiebreaker. I think the Niners are going to drop the rematches with both the Seahawks and the Rams. They've got a tough game at Kansas City, as Gerard said. The Vikings come to town as well in the Bay Area, and there can always be that unexpected loss like the Atlanta Falcons last week. I think the Niners finish with 13 wins, so it's then up to the Seahawks or the Rams to catch them atop the division. We have a little bit more time, so I do have a bonus question. And it is this, was it appropriate for the Seahawks social media account to post Taylor Swift-style friendship bracelets saying Seahawks win after their victory over the Kansas City Chiefs? We've got about 20 seconds each for this one. Gerard, I know you've been tossing and turning every night over this. What are your thoughts? I didn't sleep a wink, Aaron. All right, Aaron. Okay. She's fair game. She's Travis Kelce's wife. She's one of the biggest stars in the world. It's social media. It's fair game. Okay, Mike, are you a Swiftie first off? And are you okay with it second off? No, I'm not a Swiftie, and I'm very okay with it. I can't stand the Kansas City Chiefs for what they did to us in the Super Bowl. I could care less. You know how many cutaways she gets a game? Forget about it. Have a little fun. Okay, Robbie, we've got a little bit more time. I've got about 30, 40 seconds if you want to do the whole Taylor Swift segment here. What do you think about this? I would probably Unfortunately, much like Mike, not a Swiftie myself either. But look, it's fair game, right? Like Gerard said. She's married to Travis Kelsey, right? And this whole, look, all this stuff we're doing, this is for the clicks, right? But, you know, it's the viral moments, everything on the internet, you know? So that's fair game. I'm sure the social media people had some fun there. The social media team up in Seattle enjoyed it. I wonder what was going through their mind as they hit send. They had to be thinking, this is it. This is the one. There's going to be so much engagement on this bad boy. There was a ton of backlash from the Swifties. And generally, listen, I would say leave the wives and girlfriends out. But the Kansas City Chiefs literally sell a hat with a friendship bracelet embroidered on there. So if they're going to commercialize something like that, then it is completely fair game for any other team to make fun of it as well. That's going to do it for us. A reminder, you can see the NFC West huddle anytime on the Fox local app. Guys, we'll see you next week and enjoy the games this weekend.