Cardinals and Seahawks dominate our 2016 All-NFC West team

Over the next eight days, we will be unveiling our All-Division teams here at CBSSports.com. What does that entail? We're picking a quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, two tight ends, five offensive linemen, two defensive ends, two defensive tackles, four linebackers, three cornerbacks and two safeties from each division that we believe will have the best 2016 season. Over the last few weeks, we've narrowed down the final roster, and we'll present them in this space. We'll continue today with the NFC West.

Quarterback: Russell Wilson, Seahawks

If the quarterback position were only about throwing, we might have Carson Palmer in this spot. It's arguable that Palmer did the best job of throwing the football of any player in the league last season. He finished the year leading the NFL in yards per attempt and QBR, while he also ranked fourth in passing yards, third in passer rating, and second in passing touchdowns.

Wilson was right behind him in the passing categories, though. On the strength of a monster second half, Russell finished third in completion percentage, fourth in yards per attempt, sixth in touchdowns, fourth in QBR, and first in passer rating. From Week 10 on, Wilson completed 71 percent of his passes for 8.8 yards per attempt while throwing 24 touchdowns and only one interception as the Seahawks went 6-1.

And none of that even mentions Wilson's ground exploits, which are among the best in the NFL for a quarterback as well. Wilson has run for at least 500 yards in three of his four NFL seasons, and in the other season he ran for 489. Only Cam Newton, Michael Vick, and Randall Cunningham have more 500-plus yard rushing seasons at the position. Among quarterbacks with at least 2,000 career rushing yards, Wilson has the highest yards per attempt average and the third-highest (behind Vick and Newton) yards per game average.

Seattle's offense puts him in position to succeed with both his arm and his legs, and he takes advantage about as often as a quarterback possibly can.

Running Backs: Todd Gurley, Rams; David Johnson, Cardinals

Todd Gurley burst onto the scene last season and almost immediately became one of the best running backs in the NFL. He started off slowly, playing only 14 snaps in his first NFL action upon returning from an ACL tear suffered in college. He carried the ball six times for nine yards.

In his next five contests, Gurley blitzed through defenses for 655 yards and four touchdowns on 112 carries (5.9 per carry). He topped 100 rushing yards in the first four of those five games, totaling 89 in the final one.

Gurley slowed down a bit over the second half of the season as defenses devoted nine and even 10 men to the box because they knew the Rams couldn't throw the ball, but he finished the year with 1,106 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns in 12 starts. He did that behind a below-average offensive line, with horrifying quarterback play, and largely in games where the Rams were behind. With improvements all over, he should be free to run even more wild this season.

Johnson, like Gurley, busted out with a string of huge performances. His just came later in the year, once injuries had knocked out Chris Johnson and Andre Ellington. After receiving only 17.7 percent of the Cardinals' carries through 12 weeks, Johnson toted it 90.1 percent of the time in Arizona's final five games. He took his 90 carries for 442 yards and four scores, tacking on 17 catches for 216 yards and a touchdown for good measure. And that was all after he'd proved himself an explosive playmaker over the first half of the season, scoring once every 7.7 offensive touches and averaging 27.3 yards per kick return.

Johnson's expected to be the primary back for Arizona this season, and he should run over, around, and through NFL defenses on the way to a monster year.

Wide Receivers: Larry Fitzgerald, Cardinals; John Brown, Cardinals; Doug Baldwin, Seahawks

Fitzgerald may or may not be human. He just racked up 109 catches for 1,215 yards and nine touchdowns ... at age 32. That's one of just nine seasons since the AFL/NFL merger where a receiver age 32 or older recorded at least 100 catches and 1,200 receiving yards. Most of the other names on the list are, like Fitz, no-doubt Hall of Fame types: Jerry Rice, Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson (plus Ed McCaffrey and Jimmy Smith).

Fitzgerald isn't quite the downfield receiver he was in his prime, but he is a slot monster and chain-mover extraordinaire these days. His size and blocking skill from the slot also help the Cardinals open up their offense, and of course, he is still incredible after the catch.

Brown didn't have quite as big a breakout 2015 season as some people expected, but he still showed real strides in his second year in the NFL. His catch rate spiking from 47.1 percent to 64.4 percent led to a 17-catch increase despite actually seeing one fewer target than he did during his rookie campaign; his yards per catch crept up from 14.5 to 15.4; and he scored two more touchdowns despite playing two fewer games. As NFL.com's Matt Harmon showed with his #ReceptionPerception project, Brown was also effective on every route in the tree.

Hopefully healthier this season than he was last year, Brown should take on an even bigger role in the Arizona offense.

Baldwin, meanwhile, broke out in a huge way over the second half of 2015. From Week 9 on, he had 47 catches for 724 yards and 12 touchdowns. As mentioned multiple times on CBSSports.com, that full-season pace of 94-1,448-24 has never been reached in NFL history.

While the touchdown spike is what brought major attention his way, though, the truth is that Baldwin has been one of the better snap-by-snap receivers in the league for a while. Football Outsiders pegged him as its No. 2, No. 34, and No. 1 receiver by DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average, which adjusts performance for down, distance, and opponent) the last three seasons. When Seattle moved to its shorter, quicker passing attack over the second half of last season, it simply allowed Baldwin (and Tyler Lockett, a tough cut from this team) more opportunity to make plays. That should continue in 2016.

Tight Ends: Jimmy Graham, Seahawks; Vance McDonald, 49ers

The NFC West has a massively uninspiring tight end crop. The Rams have Corey Harkey and Lance Kendricks, either of whom puts any fear in defenses. The Cardinals have Jermaine Gresham, but he can't be counted on to actually be on the field. The 49ers have Vance McDonald, whose career-best season last year saw him catch 30 passes for 326 yards and three scores; that's not exactly the stuff of legend, but it's good enough here.

Graham, despite his rocky stint with the Seahawks last season, is the clear class of the group. When healthy, he is as terrifying a force at tight end as anyone not named Gronkowski, and on some days he's arguably Gronk's equal (at least as a receiver). His "down" 2015 worked out to a full-season pace of 70-880-3, numbers that have been hit by only 26 non-Graham tight ends since the merger. And that was his bad season.

Offensive Linemen: Jared Veldheer, Cardinals; Joe Staley, 49ers; Mike Iupati, Cardinals; Evan Mathis, Cardinals; A.Q. Shipley, Cardinals

Again, this division does not have the best group of offensive lineman overall, but the cream of the crop is actually quite good. The fact that neither the Seahawks nor Rams had a lineman good enough to sniff the All-Division team and that only one 49er could crack it probably says more about Seattle, LA, and San Fran than it does about Arizona, though.

Veldheer and Iupati comprise the left side of Arizona's offensive line, and both represent nice free agency hits for the Cards. When Arizona went shopping for Veldheer in 2014, all they wanted was a player that could be an upgrade over Levi Brown and Bradley Sowell. He's been much more than that, and is a borderline top-10 left tackle now.

Iupati was as expected not quite as good a pass-blocker as he was in the running game, but good lord was he excellent in the running game. He just mauls people and hurts their feelings. He received Pro Football Focus' third-best run-blocking grade among all guards.

New teammate Mathis was first in PFF's run blocking ratings, even after an ugly initial transition to Denver. He's getting up there in age, but he still might be the best guard in the division, even on a team with Iupati.

Shipley's been on four teams in four years, but he's acquitted himself decently in each stop, and he's basically the center by default because nobody else in the division has a reliable one. All of them working together should give Arizona one of the 10 or so best offensive lines in football this season.

Staley's spot on our team isn't a case of trying to boost the 49ers' contingent. He's now made five consecutive Pro Bowls and has three All-Pro seasons under his belt. He's no longer quite at his peak, but he is still damn good. It's just a shame he's toiling away on what will probably be one of the league's worst teams next season.

Defensive Ends: Calais Campbell, Cardinals; Robert Quinn, Rams

While several offensive positions were tough because there weren't enough good candidates, the defensive slots in the NFC West were almost impossible because there were too many. As you'll see in the next few sections, we had to do some position fudging just to get guys onto the roster and we still couldn't manage to squeeze the very deserving Cliff Avril on here.

It's a bit of a cliche to say that a guy might be the most underrated player in the league, but Calais Campbell might be the most underrated player in the league. He does everything for the Cardinals, moving all over the defensive formation and obliterating the offensive linemen in front of him. He's a stud against the run and gets the pocket moving backward when he sets up to rush the passer. He has at least five sacks in each of his seven seasons as a starter, and that figure severely underplays his impact.

Campbell is a straight-up star, no questions asked. With the Cardinals having imported some more pass-rushing help this season, Calais should be able to wreak even more havoc up front.

Quinn racked up three straight seasons of 10-plus sacks from 2012 through 2014 (including 19 in 2013) and had a 10-sack pace yet again last season, picking up five in eight games played. Maybe he won't reach the heights of his 2013 campaign, but then again, he's still only 26 years old.

Quinn comes screaming around the edge with the best of them, and with Aaron Donald next to him on the D-line, it's very difficult to devote multiple blockers to stopping him from doing so. We're expecting a big bounce-back campaign, as long as he stays on the field.

Defensive Tackles: Aaron Donald, Rams; Michael Bennett, Seahawks

Donald is the best defensive tackle in football and it might not be that close. He's been a Pro Bowler in both of his NFL seasons and made first-team All-Pro in 2015, and both of those honors can reasonably be expected to continue appearing next to his name for the foreseeable future. He's that good.

Here's the list of defensive tackles with 20-plus sacks across their first two seasons. It's only five guys long. And Donald might even be better against the run than the pass. J.J. Watt still exists, and Donald still might be the best defensive player in the NFL right now.

With Bennett, we're fudging his position. Sue us. He plays inside at tackle often enough to justify it, and he's freaking awesome. Seattle moves Bennett all over the place and he just wins against his guy. He's on an absolute steal of a contract that the rest of the league should be ashamed it let Seattle retain him on, especially after they let the Seahawks nab him on an absurd one-year, $5 million deal in the first place.

Only one player has more pressures over the last four seasons than Bennett, and it's Watt. Seeing as how interior pressure is getting guys paid up the wazoo these days, the rumors of Bennett holding out for a better deal aren't out of line. We'll see if that actually happens, but once he gets on the field, you can expect him to dominate yet again.

Linebackers: Bobby Wagner, Seahawks; K.J. Wright, Seahawks; Chandler Jones, Cardinals; Deone Bucannon, Cardinals

It's tough to separate the strength of Seattle's linebackers from the strength of its defensive line and secondary, but Wagner and Wright have been playing well enough, for long enough that we're confident they're both really, really good.

Wright is generally good for 100 tackles and a couple sacks a year, along with plus play in coverage, while Wagner roams all over the field and just makes every play available to him. Wagner struggled a bit in coverage in 2015 (particularly against seam routes) but his overall level of play was still very, very high. Both guys will be in a position to succeed yet again in 2015 thanks to their teammates and their coaching, and we expect them to continue taking advantage of that.

Meanwhile, it's tough to find two more different linebackers than the Cardinals tandem of Jones and Bucannon. Bucannon's a converted safety that basically has a job description of "mess stuff up." He plays close to the line of scrimmage and just attacks everything in front of him, with few people getting past.

Jones is a pass-rusher through and through. He racked up 36 sacks in four seasons (two seasons of six sacks, plus 11.5 and 12.5) with the Patriots before coming to Arizona in an offseason trade. Pairing him with Markus Golden on the outside should give the Cards a better pair of edge rushers than they've had in a while. Jones' arrival will also, as mentioned, take pressure off Campbell up front, a welcome development as he moves into his thirties.

Cornerbacks: Richard Sherman, Seahawks; Patrick Peterson, Cardinals; Tyrann Mathieu, Cardinals

These guys might be the three best corners in the league. (Though guys like Chris Harris would have something to say about that.) You already know all about them so we don't have to say much here, but it is pretty amazing that three players whose skill sets are so different all play the same position so well, and in the same division.

Safety: Earl Thomas, Seahawks; Kam Chancellor, Seahawks

There is nobody in football that plays safety better than Earl Thomas does. There's a reason he's made five straight Pro Bowls and was an All-Pro first-teamer three straight years as well. He's the perfect player to roam the middle of Seattle's Cover-3 defense and he just erases pretty much everything thrown over the top. There might not be anybody in the league with more coverage range.

And he's a contributor against the run as well, coming up with some monster hits in the style of his teammate...

Sure, our own Pete Prisco noted that Chancellor's reputation outstrips his production by a bit these days, but that doesn't mean Kam isn't a quality player. He is still the most feared (and fearsome) hitter at his position, a Mack truck in the middle of the field waiting to level whatever crosses his path.

Chancellor's relative coverage struggles are well-documented and played a role in Seattle's difficulty defending tight ends last season, but his importance within Seattle's defense shone through when he held out to start the year. He's still incredibly important to their success.