The Arizona Cardinals’ division rivals selected five players among the first 17 overall selections in the 2010 NFL draft.

The Cardinals weren’t on the clock until they made nose tackle Dan Williams the 26th overall choice.

A year later, Arizona expects to have three members of its 2010 class starting in Week 1, a number that compares favorably within the division.

With the regular season less than two weeks away, I’ll revisit the 2010 NFC West draft classes, pointing to injury considerations and key variables.

St. Louis Rams

Total 2010 picks: 11

No longer with team (1): Hall Davis, LB, fifth round (traded to Washington).

Projected starters (2): Sam Bradford, QB, first round; Rodger Saffold, LT, second round.

Others (8): Jerome Murphy, CB, third round; Mardy Gilyard, WR, fourth round; Michael Hoomanawanui, TE, fifth round; Eugene Sims, DE, sixth round; Fendi Onobun, TE, sixth round; George Selvie, DE, seventh round; Josh Hull, LB, seventh round; Marquis Johnson, CB, seventh round.

Injury considerations: Murphy underwent ankle surgery and is out indefinitely, a setback for the secondary. A series of injuries to Hoomanawanui makes it tougher for the team to count on him. If healthy, he’s a key role player.

Key variable: Gilyard’s development, discussed in some detail Tuesday. The Rams have other options at receiver. Gilyard suffered when the Rams lost their offensive coordinator heading into the NFL lockout.

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Seattle Seahawks

Total 2010 picks: nine

No longer with team (1): E.J. Wilson, DE, fourth round (waived).

Projected starters (4): Russell Okung, LT, first round; Earl Thomas, FS, first round; Walter Thurmond, CB, fourth round; Kam Chancellor, SS, fifth round.

Others (4): Golden Tate, WR, second round; Anthony McCoy, TE, sixth round; Dexter Davis, DE, seventh round; Jameson Konz, DE, seventh round.

Injury considerations: Okung’s repeated ankle sprains have kept him off the field for long stretches. The team needs him healthy to stabilize the line.

Key variable: Tate’s development, discussed in some detail Tuesday. The section on Gilyard applies here. The Seahawks have other options. Tate suffered when the Seahawks fired their offensive coordinator heading into the lockout. It’s looking like an upset if Tate becomes a key contributor this season.

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San Francisco 49ers

Total 2010 picks: eight

No longer with team (1): Taylor Mays, SS, second round (traded to Cincinnati)

Projected starters (3): Anthony Davis, RT, first round; Mike Iupati, LG, first round; NaVorro Bowman, LB, third round.

Others (4): Anthony Dixon, RB, sixth round; Nate Byham, TE, sixth round; Kyle Williams, WR, sixth round; Phillip Adams, CB, seventh round.

Injury considerations: A season-ending knee injury will sideline Byham, who was looking like one of the better young blocking tight ends in the league.

Key variable: Davis’ development. The 49ers need their young right tackle to gain consistency in his second season. Like other members of the 2010 draft class, Davis could have used a fuller offseason to develop in an organized setting. Instead, he’s pretty much picking up where he left off last season.

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Arizona Cardinals

Total 2010 picks: seven

No longer with team (1): Jorrick Calvin, CB, sixth round (traded to Philadelphia)

Projected starters (3): Williams, NT, first round; Daryl Washington, LB, second round; Andre Roberts, WR, third round.

Others (3): O’Brien Schofield, OLB, fourth round; John Skelton, QB, fifth round; Jim Dray, TE, seventh round.

Injury considerations: A high-ankle sprain has sidelined Skelton, the No. 2 quarterback. The team signed Brodie Croyle as insurance in the short term. Rich Bartel could push for the No. 2 job as well.

Key variable: Schofield’s development. The Cardinals knew Schofield would require time to more fully recover from the knee injury he suffered during 2010 Senior Bowl practices. They’ve seen flashes from Schofield during the preseason and badly need whatever he can give them from a pass-rushing standpoint.

The priority of any team in the fourth and final preseason game is to stay healthy, but there are roster spots at stake for a handful of players. This is their final chance to make the team.

“There are going to be new faces,” coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “Sometimes it seems like in this last game, somebody does something that makes the football team.”

Whisenhunt emphasized that the “roster is not set” entering Thursday night’s game against the Broncos at University of Phoenix Stadium. That’s different from 2007, Whisenhunt’s first season, when there was a lack of competition.

“Some guys have made tremendous strides in camp and this will be an opportunity to see them,” Whisenhunt said.

The game is sold out and will be televised locally on Channel 15.

Plan not revealed

No one is ever going to pin Whisenhunt down about his exact plans for playing time in the preseason. Tuesday was no exception. Starters might play a little more than usual (a series or two) because they need to work together, he said, but the plan was still being formulated.

How the Cardinals start the game will be a factor. Reading between the lines, if the first offense has a good series to open, Kevin Kolb, Larry Fitzgerald and other key guys likely won’t return.

Injured list

Strong safety Adrian Wilson (torn biceps tendon) won’t play on Thursday, but he has participated in practice this week. Several other players are questionable, including: quarterback John Skelton (ankle), cornerback Michael Adams (knee), receiver DeMarco Sampson (hamstring), running back Alfonso Smith (hamstring) and tight end Rob Housler (groin).

Some will tell you that the Kevin Kolb era is about to begin in Arizona, while others might prefer to call it the Patrick Peterson era. Some might even insist that the Larry Fitzgerald era is continuing following a few tweaks.

Kolb, who was acquired from Philadelphia in the offseason, takes over at quarterback for a franchise that has been desperate for a veteran pivot since Kurt Warner walked away after the 2009 season. Peterson, who was selected with the No. 5 overall pick in April’s draft, is the most hyped defensive back prospect the league has had since Charles Woodson circa 1998.

Kolb will be counted on to make extreme improvements to an offense that ranked 31st out of 32 and converted an NFL-low 28 percent of its third downs in 2010.

Peterson will be asked to emerge as a shutdown corner and playmaker for a defense that ranked 29th out of 32 and gave up an ugly 27.1 points per game despite playing a weak schedule in 2010.

But the transition to the two new era(s) won’t be fast or easy. Kolb and Peterson are learning new systems in short time frames, and they aren’t exactly supported by great complementary pieces.

2010 in a nutshell: After winning three of their first five games they lose seven straight and nine of their last 11, finishing dead last in the worst division in football.

Three predictions for 2011:

1. Kevin Kolb will take a lot of sacks: The Cards surrendered 50 sacks in 2010, which was the second-highest total in the league. Kolb gave up 15 sacks on just 189 pass attempts in 2010 and has already developed a reputation as a quarterback who doesn’t perform well under pressure. Left tackle Levi Brown is awful and right tackle Brandon Keith is coming off of knee surgery, which doesn’t bode well for Kolb’s chances this season. At least in Philadelphia Kolb had a lot of options to get the ball to quickly. But in Arizona, who does he have beyond Fitzgerald, especially now that Steve Breaston is gone?

2. The run defense will improve: That isn’t saying a lot, but I’m trying to find some positives here. This is a unit that was gashed much of last year, finishing 30th against the run. But there’s a good chance linebacker Daryl Washington really steps it up in his second season. They also added veteran field general Stewart Bradley in free agency, and 2010 first-round pick Dan Williams should only get better.

3. The running game will continue to suck: They did add Daryn Colledge and Floyd Womack while re-signing Lyle Sendlein to shore up a solid interior offensive line, but Tim Hightower is gone and rookie running back Ryan Williams is out for the year, leaving the unproven (and rather disappointing) Beanie Wells to do everything on his own. The Cards’ run game ranked dead last in the league last year — I can’t see it improving drastically with Beanie going solo in 2011.

The final word(s): Kolb will be an upgrade and Ray Horton’s defense will be more effective as the players become acclimated to the new system, but this is a team that is at least a year away from competing, even in the awful NFC West. I’m giving them six wins.

Arizona Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt is full of praise for running back Beanie Wells’ performance in preseason games and in training camp.

Whisenhunt said Wells, elevated to the unquestioned No. 1 at his position with the trade of Tim Hightower, is running the fast, powerful way he did late in his rookie season two years ago.

“Confidence in this game is a big part of it,” Whisenhunt said after practice Tuesday. “He’s running with a lot of confidence. You know he believes he can make plays. I remember the end of his rookie year he was running the same way. He was making some of those runs.

“That’s what gets you so excited about Beanie. Part of it is he’s healthy, part of it is he is more confident.”

The coach also said Wells has worked hard to improve his pass blocking, long a weakness in the former Ohio State star’s game. It’s a necessary step in becoming an all-around back in the NFL.

“I think there’s a commitment to Beanie understanding what he needs to do to be ‘the’ guy,” Whisenhunt said, “and we’ve had a number of discussions about that. You always are happy when the player improves, and Beanie has done that. I’m very pleased with how he’s taken that load and worked hard to become a better back. He’s come a long way since two years ago and I respect that.”

Wells, who turned 23 on Aug. 7, has acknowledged that the knee injury he sustained in the preseason a year ago bothered him all season long, not only physically but mentally. He was not the powerhouse runner that he had been his rookie season, gaining just 397 yards and averaging 3.4 yards per carry.

This preseason, Wells has 129 yards rushing in 27 attempts, an average of 4.8 yards per carry. When the first unit played well into the third quarter of Saturday night’s 34-31 loss to San Diego, Wells gained 63 yards in 10 carries, averaging 6.3 per attempt.

“I’ve just been healthy this year,” he said. “It’s just a matter of being healthy and confident.”

Wells said there is plenty of room for improvement.

“I expect a lot better,” he said,

Wells knows that there are critics who say he never will be sturdy enough to become one of the NFL’s elite backs.

” I’m motivated by the game of football. I love playing,” he said. “The doubters, that’s just adding more fuel to the fire.”

The Cardinals had better hope Wells stays healthy. The ranks behind him on the depth chart are thin after rookie Ryan Williams went down with a season-ending knee injury. LaRod Stephens-Howling, who stands just 5-foot-7, is a specialist who can be very effective on some plays but is no power back. Besides, he is the kickoff returner and a critical part of other special teams.

Alfonso Smith, third on the depth chart, was on the practice squad last year and was unable to get any carries against San Diego after injuring a hamstring.

The Cardinals re-signed undrafted rookie William Powell after releasing him earlier and will look at players released by other teams to possibly add a more experienced back in the coming days,.

Whisenhunt said Wells, quarterback Kevin Kolb and the rest of the first unit will get “a little bit of work” in Thursday night’s preseason finale at home against Denver.

Mostly, though, the coaches will use the game to evaluate players in preparation for making the final roster cuts.

Arizona opens its regular season Sept. 11 at home against the Carolina Panthers.

The horde of reporters and cameramen were gone now and Patrick Peterson was alone in front of his locker. But it isn’t really his locker.

The fifth overall pick in this year’s NFL draft doesn’t have one, really. For now, the Cardinals rookie cornerback has to share a locker with veteran defensive back Michael Adams.

Adams has a nameplate. Peterson? His name and number are scribbled on a piece of masking tape.

“I know, I know,” Peterson said, shaking his head. “It’s all good, though. I’ll have respect sooner or later.”

So far, it’s been slow coming for the former LSU star, a player most scouting services called the best overall talent in the 2011 draft.

As soon as he reported to training camp for practices, Peterson discovered he wouldn’t be running with the first-team defense. That’s been a familiar trait of head coach Ken Whisenhunt, who promises nothing and expects rookies to sweat it out.

Forget the fact that Peterson could be the next Deion Sanders or, for the Cardinals at least, the next Aeneas Williams. In Whisenhunt’s world, young players usually always have to wait their turn.

In Peterson’s case, however, such old-school principles are stirring debate. Wouldn’t Peterson be better served by being thrown into the first right away, like a franchise quarterback of the future? Wouldn’t first-team reps from the get-go be a more valuable source for his NFL development?

The simple truth, according to Whisenhunt and new defensive coordinator Ray Horton, is that Peterson just wasn’t ready.

Although Peterson has impeccable one-on-one coverage skills, he didn’t play much zone coverage in college. Because of his size (6 feet 1, 219 pounds), he’s also had to work on his footwork and quickness to compete at the NFL level.

But now that Greg Toler has been lost for the season with a knee injury, the Cardinals may have no choice but to make Peterson a starter opposite A.J. Jefferson.

“I’m glad we still have more time before the regular season, but Patrick’s worked hard,” Whisenhunt said. “He’s an intelligent young man, he’s very serious about getting better. We can learn a lot of things from the live situations like we saw in the game the other night and he’ll get better.

“I don’t think it’s a question of ‘if,’ it’s just a question of when it all clicks for him and it certainly seems to be moving in that direction.”

Peterson electrified the crowd Saturday night in the Cardinals’ first preseason home game, intercepting a pass from the Chargers’ Philip Rivers and returning it 34 yards for a touchdown. Afterward, Rivers asked Peterson, “Where the freak did you come from?”

“I hope we see a lot more of those,” Whisenhunt said.

Play him and you will. Those were Peterson’s words and he’s not backing down from them.

“I believe I’m ready,” Peterson said. “But it’s ultimately going to be the coaches’ decision.”

He is splitting time with Richard Marshall, a six-year pro, and the Cardinals just added another veteran cornerback, Fred Bennett, who could push them both.

“We’ll see how the rotation goes, but you can see how explosive he is,” Jefferson said of Peterson. “He’s going to make plays. When he gets an opportunity on the ball, he’s going to go for it.”

“That’s why these guys brought me in here,” Peterson said. “To come in here and play early and make plays. That’s definitely something I’m used to, being a top-notch guy coming from LSU.”

Peterson is trying to remain patient. He said if it is determined that he and Jefferson are the starting cornerbacks that the two will lean on each other.

“Both of us are young, but we have veterans behind us and those guys definitely will be coaching us up throughout every play,” Peterson said. “I can’t wait.”

He’s waited this long, even without his own locker and a legitimate nameplate.

“Yeah, I’m going to remember that, trust me,” Peterson said. “But like I said, it’s all good. I’ve got to earn my respect.”