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A quick look at front-office happenings around the NFC West:

• Seattle: Longtime Seahawks personnel evaluator Will Lewis is no longer with the team, Adam Schefter reports. Lewis had been vice president of football operations following a long stint as pro personnel director. He stayed with the team when John Schneider arrived as general manager, and the fit seemed good because the two had worked together in Green Bay. The team's flow chart became a bit top-heavy, in retrospect, when former San Francisco 49ers general manager Scot McCloughan joined the team as senior personnel executive in June 2010.
• San Francisco: Trent Baalke's three-year contract extension through 2016 seemed like a matter of when, not if, following the teams' 13-3 record. Just about every move the 49ers made contributed to their deep playoff run. Baalke's top lieutenant, Tom Gamble, has interviewed for the GM job in St. Louis. The 49ers do not want to lose him, but with Baalke signed for the long term, the front-office dynamic should remain similar either way.
• Arizona: Steve Keim, the Cardinals' director of player personnel, has also interviewed for the Rams' GM job. He has been with Arizona since 1999, an unusually long run with one organization. Rod Graves is the general manager, but Keim carries a significant part of the personnel load. The team lists director of pro personnel T.J. McCreight, director of football administration Reggie Terry and assistant pro personnel director Quentin Harris next on its football operations list. They joined the Cardinals in 2009 (McCreight), 2007 (Terry) and 2008 (Harris).
• St. Louis: The latest report from St. Louis suggests the 49ers and Cardinals need not worry about losing top execs to a division rival this offseason. Minnesota's George Paton and Atlanta's Les Snead have emerged as finalists for the GM job, with Paton as the most likely choice, Jim Thomas reports. Check out Paton's profile here.

Enjoy your Saturday.

The Seattle Seahawks picked up a 2002 fifth-round choice, used for Rocky Bernard, from Indianapolis in a trade that sent backup quarterback Brock Huard to the Colts.

Imagine if they got Peyton Manning in return, too, albeit a decade later.

Huard, writing for 710ESPN Seattle, puts together a compelling case for his former teammate to consider Seattle as his next stop when his Colts tenure ends. He points to ownership, Pete Carroll's competitiveness, a strong home-field advantage, favorable division dynamics, Tom Cable's presence in a Howard Mudd-type role, the presence of multiple young Pro Bowl choices and a coordinator, Darrell Bevell, who worked well with another older quarterback, Brett Favre. Noted: Huard methodically eliminates all but seven teams from realistic consideration for Manning should the Colts part with him, as expected. He then narrows that group to two, Seattle and Washington. Manning's health is the biggest variable, of course, but the Seahawks could afford to take a chance. They do not have better options at the position. Their position in the first round of the draft, 11th or 12th, isn't high enough for them to bank on landing a quarterback there, either.

Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic checks in with retired Cardinals guard Alan Faneca, who has lost about 85 pounds and now weighs about 230. Faneca: "It's been the best thing for me. We're not supposed to be 320 pounds our whole lives. My joints are very appreciative. I'm sure the heart and other organs are thankful, too. ... I worked out about five days a week, including one hour of cardio. I ate between 1,800 and 2,000 calories a day. I wanted to do it (lose weight) quick. I didn't want to take forever; that would drive me nuts. I lost 70 pounds in about three-and-a-half months."

Darren Urban of azcardinals.com offers a few thoughts on the Cardinals' salary-cap situation.

Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch offers Rams-related thoughts during a chat, including this one about the team's search for a general manager: "I really don't have a sense for who the frontrunners are, although obviously we have to put Minnesota's George Paton on that list since he's the first of the candidates to get a second interview. All of the scouts are under contract until after the draft. So there probably won't be any changes there until May. I think there are some pretty good scouts in the Rams' scouting department, but I think it's obvious that no matter who comes in, there will be some changes."

Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com takes a closer look at the 49ers' running backs and sees little evidence suggesting Frank Gore was playing through injury late in the season. Maiocco: "In the playoffs, he was very effective. He gained 163 yards on 29 rushing attempts (5.6 average). And after catching just 17 passes in the regular season, Gore caught 13 passes for 83 yards in the two playoff games. And if Gore wasn't healthy, why did he play 84 percent of the team's offensive snaps in the playoffs? There were times when Gore took himself out of the game after run plays. That shouldn't be too alarming. After all, when he's on the field, he was either running the ball, going out on a pass route or blocking a bigger man in pass protection. Gore turns 29 in May. The 49ers' all-time leading rusher is at that stage when most running backs begin to slow down dramatically."

Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee says the 49ers' commitment to Alex Smith is obvious, particularly with Smith and coach Jim Harbaugh hanging out on the golf course this week -- after Smith accepted an award for Harbaugh in Indianapolis.

Cam Inman of the San Jose Mercury News says conference finalists have had a harder time returning since realignment in 2002.

Dan Hinxman of the Reno Gazette Journal checks in with 49ers backup Colin Kaepernick. One fun note about arm strength: Kaepernick has thrown a football through the goalposts from the opposite 40-yard line.

Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle says the 49ers' 2012 schedule is harder than it appears.

The New York Giants drew favorable publicity during the lockout when they extended deadlines for renewing season tickets.

But in a twist reflecting the NFL's economic realities, the move actually put the team in a favorable position. Fans taking advantage of the extended deadline authorized the team to charge their credit cards when the lockout ended. The Giants had already collected large sums through one-time fees for seat licenses, so if any fan walked away from those licenses, the team could double up by selling new licenses to fans on waiting lists, creating even more revenue opportunities.

All of this comes to mind as the San Francisco 49ers sell tickets for their future stadium in Santa Clara.

Mike Rosenberg of the San Jose Mercury News says seat-license fees are leading some longtime fans to give up tickets their families have held for generations. Rosenberg: "This month, the team assigned current holders of some of its best season tickets 9,000 much costlier club seats in the new stadium -- and if they don't buy them by March 16, they lose the seats that in many cases have been in their families for generations. Buddies with four primo seats would need to pay a total of $145,000 to $190,000 to buy new club seats and season tickets over the first five seasons in Santa Clara. Their current seats at Candlestick would cost about $25,800 for a half-decade based on next season's ticket prices." Noted: Giants fans experienced the same choices when their team opened its new stadium. Several of them tailgating before their Week 2 game against the St. Louis Rams said the experience had negatively affected their relationship with the team.

Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com looks at free-agent receiver options for the 49ers while lauding Michael Crabtree. Maiocco: "Crabtree, who is signed through 2014, figures prominently in the 49ers' future -- and for good reason. In a passing offense that ranked 29th in the NFL at just 183.1 yards per game, Crabtree was 28th in the NFL among wideouts with a career-high 874 yards receiving. And he also scored major bonus points with the coaching staff for his determination and effectiveness as a blocker in the 49ers' offense." Noted: Crabtree's blocking was indeed fantastic. At one point, Crabtree resisted praise for that area of his game. Receivers known primarily for their blocking must not be producing all that much as receivers, the thinking goes. But Crabtree did make some important catches. I just haven't seen much evidence of progress in the on-field relationship/trust between Crabtree and quarterback Alex Smith. That's one area to monitor through the offseason.

Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee revisits Frank Gore's season. Barrows: "When Gore had the ball in his hands, he seemed to fine. But he often removed himself from games at the end of the season and in the playoffs. During a critical fourth-quarter drive against the Giants in which the 49ers ground attack appeared to be gaining the advantage against the New York defense, it was third-string runner Anthony Dixon who entered the game. He was tripped up on a potentially big run on 2nd and 4, and ended up gaining three yards. On third and 1, he was stopped for no gain."

Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch updates the Rams' search for a general manager. Joey Clinkscales and George Paton are under consideration. Thomas: "Arizona director of player personnel Steve Keim was scheduled to interview over the weekend, but his interview has been pushed back to this week. Contrary to recent reports, Houston Texans scout Mike Ackerley -- formerly with the Tennessee Titans -- is not a candidate for the Rams' GM job. Neither is another former member of the Tennessee scouting department -- Rich Snead. If Snead joins the Rams, it would be as a scout." Noted: The focus to this point has been on filling out the coaching staff. The team is looking for a GM to fit with coach Jeff Fisher, not to overhaul the team to the GM's liking. That makes the GM hiring anticlimactic, particularly after Fisher's hiring carried so much drama. There's a high likelihood the next GM will fit well because Fisher will be part of the hiring process. The tougher part is finding a GM with the right abilities from a personnel evaluation standpoint. More here.

Danny O'Neil of the Seattle Times updates plans to tweak the Seahawks' uniforms. O'Neil: "A little birdie gave out a few hints the helmets will be darker, and there will be some feather trim. The helmets are not expected to go back to being silver."

Also from O'Neil: thoughts on Deion Branch's return to the Super Bowl.

Clare Farnsworth of seahawks.com outlines the case for Cortez Kennedy as a Pro Football Hall of Famer. Former coach Dennis Erickson: "Cortez might’ve been as dominant a defensive tackle that's ever played. He was dominant when I had him in Seattle in the four years I was there, and he was dominant before I got there. I don’t know if you can see a defensive tackle who dominated a game like he did when he was with the Seahawks. … You knew he was going to make it in the Hall of Fame. Like I said, that position, to be dominant like he was just doesn’t happen very often. He was just dominant every time he played. There were never ups and downs with Cortez. What you saw is what you got, every week."

Craig Morgan of Fox Sports Arizona asks whether Kevin Kolb's concussion issues make him susceptible to suffering more of them in the future. A neurosurgeon he quotes put it this way: "There is substantial evidence that if someone is concussed, they have a higher likelihood of being concussed again. We don't know whether they are made more susceptible through their injuries or whether they're genetically predisposed to concussions because of the way their head is structured or the cushion around their brain, but the evidence is certainly there." Noted: Kolb suffered a concussion when opening the 2010 season as the Philadelphia Eagles' starter. He suffered another one early during a home game against San Francisco this season.