Arizona Cardinals: Troy Niklas, Tight End

The Cardinals have lacked a decent tight end for years, their play at the position has honestly been dreadful for several seasons, and finally they have a tight end that can step in and immediately upgrade the position. In fact Carson Palmer has never really played with an above average, let alone average, tight end in his career, so both the Cardinals as a whole and Palmer are experiencing this for the first time.

Jim Dray had just under 700 snaps last season, and with his departure those snaps need to be filled. Enter Niklas, who is a better blocker, and a much better receiver. Although he had a weird stance in college, many refer to it as a “frog” stance, it won’t be much to adjust to a more conventional stance, where he should find more success. With the amount of snaps he’s going to see, and his overall ability, he’ll step in and put together a very good season for himself as long as the Cardinals use him properly.

St. Louis Rams: Lamarcus Joyner, Defensive Back

Joyner, like Niklas and these other rookies, is loaded with talent, and steps into a position where he’s primed for a lot of playing time. Not only are they primed for serious playing time, they’re simply better than the others on the depth chart that they’ll compete against. Joyner leaves Florida State a national champion, and immediately steps into the toughest division in the NFL, where he’ll be a key player in the Rams secondary.

With one of the best defensive lines in the NFL in the front the Rams defense, Joyner will get a lot of opportunities on the back end of the defense as the Rams disruptive front hurries quarterbacks and forces them to make mistakes. Those mistakes will be huge for a defensive back like Joyner who is aggressive and likes to make plays.

San Francisco 49ers: Jimmie Ward, Defensive Back

Much like Joyner, Ward is going to thrive in a position where he gets ample playing time, and he has a very solid defense in front of him to create pressure. Ward will be playing in the slot to start his career with the 49ers, replacing the departed Carlos Rogers. Rogers saw more snaps than any other 49ers defensive back last year, so Ward has relatively big shoes to fill, but he is a special talent that really only fell in the draft to his height.

Ward could struggle early on as he’ll be a member of a 49ers secondary that has few veterans, and he’ll be playing on a defensive front that will be without its best pass rusher Aldon Smith, who is almost guaranteed to be suspended. Those two problems, can create miscommunications, and mistakes, as quarterbacks will have longer to throw without the pass rush threat of Smith.

Seattle Seahawks: Kevin Norwood, Wide Receiver

Norwood, again, steps into a prime position where he has little competition, and quality players around him. Little would argue that Russell Wilson is an above average quarterback, he did just win a super bowl in particularly strong fashion. Factor in that his only real competition for the pure outside receiver spot is Doug Baldwin, who isn’t entirely ideal for the position, could mean a lot of playing time for Norwood. Percy Harvin, and Paul Richardson are likely to get moved around the field and see time in the slot where they can create mismatches.

Norwood, although he isn’t a very big receiver, is a very good possession receiver who may not be a huge vertical threat, but he opens up the field by making more tough catches, than flashy catches. Norwood won’t be the highlight real kind of breakout player, but he’ll be the player the Seahawks need.