49ers
49ers HC Kyle Shanahan said RB Christian McCaffrey is “doing great” after suffering a season-ending knee injury, but they always need to be prepared at the running back position.
“Christian is healthy. He’s doing great,” Shanahan said, via Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports. “You always hope to address it every year. Of course, we’re set with McCaffrey, but every single year we’ve gone through this except for two years, we’ve gone through four running backs. Most teams do, so you always got to be prepared for that.”
Shanahan thinks RB Isaac Guerendo has proven to be a “big-play guy.”
“Isaac is a big-play guy who can run hard,” Shanahan said. “I was impressed with how tough he competed as a rookie, how hard he ran. He ran harder as the year went on.”
Shanahan mentioned they are also encouraged by RB Patrick Taylor, and they may add another player through the 2025 NFL Draft.
“We got Isaac in there working, and we’re pumped to get Patrick back,” Shanahan said. “And we’ll see if we can add someone in the draft. We’d like to every year.”
Cardinals
Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort spoke about the importance of adding speed to his roster, specifically focusing on the wide receiver position, as did HC Jonathan Gannon.
“Speed always brings a different dynamic, but overall it has to fit into the construct of the offense,” Ossenfort said, via the team website. “Sometimes some of those speed receivers, they don’t check off all those boxes. Speed is great, no question. But it can’t just be speed. It can’t just be a one-trick pony. There are different ways to make the offense more explosive. Speed is one of them, running after the catch is another, big and strong is another. That’s all part of it.”
“Receivers all look a little different,” Gannon said during the owners’ meetings. “You’re always looking for all the roles of the guys you have up on gameday, they all play different roles. There is no doubt, guys that can stretch the defense vertically, especially on the third level, you have to account for those guys on defense because they can hit home runs and beat you. Whoever we acquire, I’m sure, will have an interesting skillset. Get open and catch it. That’s what I want those guys to do.”
Seahawks
Seahawks GM John Schneider said they feel good about how their offseason has progressed thus far, while trading Geno Smith to the Raiders and D.K. Metcalf to the Steelers wasn’t in their initial plans.
“You always feel good about it, you always feel good about the process,” Schneider said, via John Boyle of the team’s site. “The results are always — sometimes you hit on some guys, sometimes you miss on some guys, especially in free agency. We feel good where we’re at, but it’s so early. Free agency moves so quickly, then you have to be prepared at the combine for whatever is coming. That’s when you start talking to people, start negotiating with your own guys, try to get a feel for what the landscape’s going to look like around the league, then you have to be able to make those decisions. We made the trade with Geno and DK — it wasn’t in our plans, but we were ready for it, we were prepared for it.”
Schneider wants to continue evaluating the market following the 2025 NFL Draft, and they are still looking at more “trade possibilities.”
“There’s a long way to go, we want to get through the draft, see what the cap casualty guys look like after the draft… But all in all, really good,” Schneider said. “We’re really excited about Sam, (Josh) Jones, the tackle, was huge for us, getting a swing guy. Lawrence, big deal for us, AD (defensive coordinator Aden Durde) knew him really well. There’s still a lot of work to do. We’re in the midst of talking to people down here about a lot of things, trade possibilities, and just getting ready for the next three weeks before the draft.”
As for signing Cooper Kupp, Schneider said they decided to sign the veteran after Metcalf’s trade request.
“It was evident that Cooper was going to become available, then once DK wanted to be traded, we decided as an organization we were going to do that, talked it through with (Seahawks Chair Jody Allen), she’s thoughtful, she’s engaging, she’s willing to make tough decisions, so we decided to move forward with DK,” Schneider said. “Once we did that… we had a gap there, and Cooper was the guy we identified. (Offensive passing game coordinator) Jake Peetz had coached him in the past, so we felt like we really knew the person, knew what we were getting into. He had like three or four teams he was talking to, and he wanted to come home. He’s going to be great for (Jaxon Smith-Njigba)—he’s going to be great for the whole team—but you think about a guy like JSN, the guy’s just, what everybody says is he’s the ultimate worker. It was a huge get for us.”
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