The San Francisco 49ers have had a stranglehold on the NFC West for the past two seasons. They are a combined 11-1 against the division those two seasons. Can anyone step up and stop them? Or will the Niners be back on top at the end of the year? We look into that and more below.

Team Breakdown

Arizona Cardinals

At Quarterback, the Cardinals return- via a Call of Duty message- the speedy youngster Kyler Murray. Murray played in the Cardinals’ last 8 games resulting in a 3-5 record and a pedestrian 1,799 yards passing, 244 yards rushing, and 13 total TDs. Despite only playing in 8 games, Murray ranked #14 in completion percentage- interestingly enough, Jake Browning backup for the Cincinnati Bengals led the league. Murray, in his 6th year, had the best game of his shortened ’23 campaign visiting Philadelphia. He posted a 116.7 rating while going 25-31 for 232 and 3 TDs. He ended his year with a season-high 262 yards on 22-30 passing against Seattle.

After their #1 receiving threat left for the Super Bowl Champions, Arizona added a big target out of Ohio State with the #4 overall pick in this year’s draft. Marvin Harrison Jr. will give Murray an immediate deep threat. His range and speed provide coverage for Murray’s horrendous deep ball accuracy. Marv will join Zay Jones, Michael Wilson, and Trey McBride as the starting route runners. Zay Jones is a newcomer after being released by Jacksonville this offseason. Jones also missed significant time last year, but is poised to be a comeback candidate for the maligned Cardinals.

It was difficult to find a Cardinals player who was good in prior years and struggled in 2023, largely because of the team’s youth. But Jones is probably as good a bet as any.
With Jacksonville in 2022, he posted a career-best 82 catches for 823 yards, not to mention 1.47 yards per route run. However, 2023 proved more challenging, with Jones playing just 474 snaps and accruing 62 targets.
Bradley Focus of Pro Football Focus

To round out their offense, James Conner will be their feature back and is coming off a career high 1,040 yard season in 13 games. The offensive line adds one big piece at right tackle with the signing of Jonah Williams, but otherwise will stick pat and is built to struggle against an aggressive division.

On the opposite side of the ball, the depth and young core they have will garner the biggest spotlight going into the season. Can they develop an efficient and effective pass-rush without changing up their personnel? Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson lead the secondary as stout, though not incredible, safeties. Mack Wilson Sr.- a free agent addition from the Patriots-could very well be the underaged leader in a linebacking corps that features Kyzir White and Dennis Gardeck in the other two slots.

Arizona might not be ready to win the West, but they should improve on their dismal 4-win 2023 campaign.

Los Angeles Rams

While the Rams have their starter in Matthew Stafford, the backup situation might be the more interesting storyline to follow. Georgia Legend Stetson Bennet will likely be the #2 for the first two games of the season while Jimmy Garoppolo serves a 2-game suspension for PED use. Bennet took last year off for the most part and could be back to challenge for that secondary role should the strong Stafford become unavailable. But, while Stafford is at the helm, the Rams might just have the best QB in the division.

The wide receiver corps is full to the bursting point with talent. Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua anchor the versatile receiving room. TE Tyler Higbee averages 10 yards per reception and WR3 Demarcus Robinson averaged 14.3 last year. Tutu Atwell could be a hidden talent deep in the WR chart. Meanwhile, RB Kyren Williams will look to build on a successful 2023 campaign where he racked up 1,144 yards and 12 TDs on the ground. His 1,350 all purpose yards and 15 TDs made him a cornerstone of the Rams’ identity last season and he will look to continue that success in his second season in the starting role.

LG Jonah Jackson will provide a boost to the interior line expected to protect Stafford and provide the push for Williams to continue his hot ’23 season. Kevin Dotson will attempt to replicate the same success he saw in 2023, notably in gap protection, in his second season with the Rams. And the Rams should only be building on their powerful run game because of this line.

[L.A. Rams] are expected to be once again among the better run-blocking units in the NFL.
Zoltan Buday of Pro Football Focus

Powerhouse, one-man wrecking ball Aaron Donald is gone. That is the good news for the rest of the West. The bad news? Braden Fiske, the former FSU DT, is training with him in the offseason. Will he immediately replicate Donald’s once in a generation talent? Absolutely not. But Fiske is a force to be contended with himself and will not give the West much of a break from Donald. Tre’Davious White and Darious Williams will feature as veteran additions at corner. Jared Verse will move from Defensive End at FSU to Strong Linebacker for the Rams, and is easily worth the first round pick they spent to get him.

These additions will have a large challenge in front of them, to move from the second-worst ranked pass defense and stay static as the ninth-best rushing (with Donald at the helm), but could move the Rams into contention with the Niners.

San Francisco 49ers

Brock Purdy is still questionably of legal drinking age, but will lead the Niners into the ’24 campaign with a solid margin for error. This team returns most of the components that led them to be the most efficient offensive group in the nation last year. Purdy became just the fifth QB ever to throw for 4,000 yards and 30 TDs. LT Trent Williams is the cornerstone of an otherwise pedestrian OL. But, while the OL as a whole refuses to play to caliber, they are a solid bet to allow Christian McCaffrey his little needed wiggle room to shine.

McCaffrey will continue to be the bedrock of this offensive attack as he is a threat to score on the ground (14 TDs) every time he touches the ball and can do it through the air (7 TDs) as well. McCaffrey led the league in yards from scrimmage with 2,023 and is poised to only continue that trend.

George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk, and Deebo Samuel lead an impressive receiving corps, each leading (or co-leading) the NFL in one category or another last year. Kittle- YPC for TEs, Aiyuk- % of catches for first down or TD, Samuel-YAC for WRs. Jauan Jennings is a solid WR3 averaging just under 14 yards per reception. Ricky Pearsall will be an interesting addition out of Florida where he racked up 14.8 YPC his senior year in a Gator corps that was in the bottom half of the SEC.

Now that Chase Young is with New Orleans, the two-headed DL beast is led by Nick Bosa and comeback player Leonard Floyd. While Floyd struggled with an insane 36.7% whiff tackle rate, there’s now increased pressure on him to secure that number and wrangle down more chances. Bosa will continue to ensure no team gets too comfortable in the backfield, regardless. But the defense as a whole is no-2022 Niners squad ready to lead the league in almost every category and rank #1 overall. They took a human step back last year and might have regressed even more during the offseason.

Nick Sorenson will have his hands full in his first year as the defensive coordinator in The Bay. The All-Pro safety Talanoa Hufanga could be a saving grace, but he’ll be coming off a torn ACL. Dre Greenlaw was a force in the linebacking corps last year, but suffered a ruptured Achilles in the Super Bowl and will likely miss most if not all of the campaign.

The Niners have a few All-Pro players to lean on across both the defense and offense, but could be just human enough to stumble this year.

Seattle Seahawks

The Seahawks are on the precipice of what could be their best season since 2020. Or they could be the laughing stock of the West. Much of that will ride on first year HC Mike Macdonald. Macdonald was the Ravens’ defensive coordinator and led them on a historic pace. Will he be able to replicate that without the last member of the Legion of Boom- as Bobby Wagner has finally departed?

Seattle will be led by a similar identity that Macdonald ran with the Ravens: stir up the pot. The versatility of linemen Dre’mont Jones, first-year Byron Murphy, and Leonard Williams will ensure the offenses that the Seahawks face are always left guessing. Jones will be a feature piece as he looks to build on a productive 2023: 49 tackles, 12 QB hits (both career highs).

I think it benefits us in creating matchups where you’re putting the defensive player in the best position and then you’re also confusing the offense. It makes it harder for the offense to study us knowing that they may see Dre’Mont at a five-technique on film, and then when we line up and play against them, he’s probably going to be playing zero- or three-technique. So it’s harder for an offense to scheme against one specific player because we move around so much.
Leonard Williams during minicamp

Behind the line, the return of Uchenna Nwosu as an outside linebacker will be crucial as this corps will look to get to the QB more often this year and prevent themselves from allowing the second-most rush yards, yet again. Julian Love will be a fundamental part of their secondary at the strong safety, where he was top-12 in tackles last year. Rayshawn Jenkins will play opposite Love and look to return to his 2022 form with the Jaguars when he recorded career highs of 73 solos and 3 interceptions.

Under center, Geno Smith has plenty of weapons to utilize across the field. If able to keep pressure to a minimum, Geno can utilize the ever-steady DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett to tear defenses apart. Jaxon Smith-Njigba enters his second year in the NFL and is set up to battle for targets from the WR3 position. Kenneth Walker will continue to pound the ball to improve on his 8 TDs and 46 first downs last year.

Will the Seahawks take over the division in Macdonald’s first season? No. But they might just bring back a new Legion of Boom 2.0 to compliment an ever-steady offense.

Prediction

1. Los Angeles Rams- 12-5 4-2 (the Rams will go 3-1 against the NFC North in the first half of the season to jump start their first NFC West title since 2021)
2. San Francisco 49ers- 10-7 3-3 (the final game between the Niners and Cardinals won’t matter for the results of the division)
3. Seattle Seahawks- 8-9 3-3 (a tough stretch in the middle of the season against Buffalo, LA, and visiting San Francisco spell sub .500 for Mike Macdonald’s first year)
4. Arizona Cardinals- 6-11 1-5 (an improvement, but this division isn’t forgiving)