The NFC West hasn’t been the most active division in free agency. As a division, they have only signed a total of eleven players since free agency began. With that being said, which team has been most improved and which team has been the least improved are both easy calls.
The most improved team is the Arizona Cardinals. They’ve addressed their offensive line, running game, secondary, receiving corps, special teams, and defensive line. All of these areas were needs before free agency began and none of their signings broke the bank.
To get protection for their quarterback, they signed Jared Veldheer. In 2013 the Cardinals allowed 41 sacks, which ranked 14th in the NFL. In today’s passing league, that just isn’t going to cut it. With the sudden retirement of Rashard Mendenhall, the Cardinals went out and were able to sign Jonathan Dwyer to replace him as the number two running back. Another need they had on offense was to acquire a third receiver behind Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd.
By signing Ted Ginn Jr., not only did they get someone to compete in training camp for that third spot, they have someone who can return kicks and punts to give Patrick Peterson a break. Speaking of Peterson, the Cardinals were able to bring in someone to help Peterson out in Antonio Cromartie.
With him and Peterson on the outside, opposing quarterbacks really have their work cut out for them. Staying on the defensive side of the ball, they were also able to sign Matt Shaughnessy. He is a defensive end who is extremely versatile and can line up in a number of places. This signing is one of those under the radar types that might really make a difference during the season. With all of those additions, the Cardinals didn’t lose too much. Andre Roberts and Karlos Dansby signed elsewhere and, as I mentioned earlier, Mendenhall retired.
The least improved team is easily the Seattle Seahawks. First of all, they only have two signings during free agency and they were both guys on the team last season, defensive tackle Tony McDaniel and kicker Steven Hauschka (Michael Bennett is not on this list because he was re-signed before he was ever able to hit free agency).
While they have only been able to re-sign two players, they have a laundry list of players that they had to let walk: wide receiver Golden Tate, wide receiver Sidney Rice, defensive end Chris Clemons, defensive end Red Bryant, cornerback Walter Thurmond, linebacker O’Brien Schofield, offensive tackle Breno Giacomini, cornerback Brandon Browner, and defensive tackle Clinton McDonald.
To lose that many important players and only re-sign two, they are putting a lot of faith in their draft. But with the Seahawks, I think they’ve proven they can draft pretty well.
The NFC West is absolutely loaded. The most improved team thus far in the division won 10 games last season yet still missed the playoffs and the least improved team is the defending Super Bowl champs who plan to make another Super Bowl run for years to come. It’s a loaded division that no one is going to want a piece of and although free agency has slowed down considerably, a lot of power will shift one way or another during the upcoming draft in May.