Who will win the NFC West?
So far this offseason we have touched on both the NFC South and the NFC East, and predicted how the divisions will shake out, today however, we will be going over the NFC West and predict who will come out on top of this division.
The NFC West has gone down in recent years as the best divisions in the NFL. Last season the Seattle Seahawks won the division with their 12-4 record, followed by the Los Angeles Rams, the Arizona Cardinals and lastly the injury ridden San Francisco 49ers. The offseason so far for the NFC West has been tumultuous, with signings of big name playmakers as well as longtime franchise heroes leaving. So who has made the best moves so far this offseason, and how will these moves affect the race for the division?
To begin, the defending division champs, the Seattle Seahawks have struggled this offseason with a lot of talk. Their offseason began with their franchise quarterback, Russel Wilson reportedly wanting a trade out of Seattle. These rumors are rooted in Russ saying that he’s tired of being hit so much as the quarterback. Since his entrance into the league in 2012, Wilson has been sacked the most out of any quarterback in the NFL, with 394 sacks. It’s understandable that he is tired of getting hit, and it seems as if he and the Seahawks have mended their relationship, as trade rumors have died down and he is still a Seahawk. Besides not trading their quarterback, the Seahawks have also traded for offensive line help in Gabe Jackson from the Vegas Raiders. Additionally, they have lost a key piece to their defensive line in Jarran Reed, as he was cut by the team and signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Seahawks are a great team run by a great Head Coach, and led by a great quarterback in Russel Wilson, but have they done enough this offseason to keep up with their opponents in the NFC West? Let’s wait and see.
The Los Angeles Rams have had themselves an offseason as well. After defeating the Seattle Seahawks in the Wildcard round of the 2020 playoffs, they went on to lose to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round. The Rams then went on to trade their former franchise quarterback and first overall selection in the 2016 draft, Jarod Goff to the Detroit Lions. The Rams gave up Goff, two first round picks and a third round pick all for the aging Matthew Stafford. Stafford is a talented quarterback, and is bound to take the Rams to the next level. However, this move isn’t necessarily the best one. Stafford is not worth essentially three first round picks, and the Rams will suffer in the future when they need to draft his replacement. Some other moves the Rams made include trading Michael Brockers to the Lions, as well as restructuring the contracts of Jalen Ramsey, Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods, and then resigning Leonard Floyd to a four year deal worth $64 million. So will Stafford take the Rams back to the Super Bowl which McVay didn’t believe Goff could do for them? We’ll just have to wait and see.
The San Francisco 49ers have also has themselves an offseason, and we can’t possibly predict how their season will go until after the draft. This is because of their trade up to pick number three in the draft from pick number 12. The niners traded the 12th overall pick in this years draft along with two first round picks, one in 2022 and one in 2023, as well as a 2022 compensatory third round pick. This is a massive haul just to move up nine spots, and many think the niners will take a quarterback with this pick. The names floating around are Justin Fields, Mac Jones, Trey Lance, and if he falls to three, Zach Wilson. San Francisco of course still has Jimmy Garoppolo on contract and will have to find something to do with him if they do draft a quarterback with this pick. Some other options they’ll have at pick number three, if they were to stay committed to Jimmy G, would be to take Penei Sewell, the best offensive line in this years draft, or one of the top receiving threats. These three options seem to be most likely at three, but of curse we will have to wait until April 29th to know for sure what they’ll do. This offseason they have also signed Kyle Juszczyk to a five year deal worth $27 million, signed Trent Williams to a massive six year $138 million deal, and they’ve landed names like Jason Verrett, Samson Ebukam, Alex Mack and DJ Jones to their lineup. So can this new lineup win this tough division?
The last team in the NFC West, and the team which has made the most moves of the four this offseason, is the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals began their offseason earlier than they originally expected, having fell short of the seventh playoff spot, with it going to the Chicago Bears. The Cardinals then quietly played into the JJ Watt sweepstakes and struck big, signing the future hall of famer to a two year deal worth up to $31 million, with $23 million guaranteed. The Cardinals went on to sign AJ Green once free agency began, resigned Marcus Golden, Resigned Andy Lee, brought in Matt Prater and made a trade for all pro center, Rodney Hudson, and in recent weeks they also signed CB and Super Bowl champion, Malcolm Butler to a one year deal worth $6 million. The Cardinals addressed almost every need they had going into the offseason during free agency, and they still have the draft to add more starters and contribute to depth within their team. These free agency signings are perfect for their team, and the direction they’re going with Kyler Murray. AJ Green will be able to revitalize his career in Arizona lining up across from Deandre Hopkins. Rodney Hudson will bring the veteran presence into the Cardinals offensive line room that it desperately needs, and they’ve set themselves up as one of the best lines with this move. Their special teams room is looking like one of the best, with veterans Andy Lee and Matt Prater leading the pack. Matt Prater is especially important for the Cardinals, as three of their losses last year could have been tied or won by a field goal and five of their eight losses were lost by one score. If the team had won these games, they would have gone 13-3 and been towards the top of the NFC. And lastly, Malcolm Butler helps the Cardinals secondary immensely, as they lost all but one of their cornerbacks due to free agency or cuts. Butler will lead the secondary and will likely tutor a top draft pick, if the team decides to go that direction. He will also benefit immensely in the Cardinals defense, as the pass rush is one of the best in the entire league, and he struggled on last years Titans team that had one of the worst pass rushes in the NFL. So will these moves be the difference the Cardinals need to make a push to win the division? Let’s take a look.
In summary, the NFC West is proving just how competitive it truly is. All these teams would likely be division winners in their own right if they were just separated, but here, there can only be one. We are going to pick the Arizona Cardinals to win the division next year. This pick is because of their defensive additions and the progression which Kyler Murray has shown. Kyler got significantly better from year one to year two, and will take an even bigger leap from year two to three. The addition of AJ Green helps as well, as he now has two lead receivers to toss to, there will almost always be someone open. The defense helps the offense too, as it is easier to win a game when you have a lead. A defense consisting of JJ Watt, Chandler Jones, Budda Baker, Malcolm Butler and Isaiah Simmons will wreck games for opposing offenses. The only outlier with Arizona is the play calling. Kliff Kingsbury needs to not be so conservative and take advantage of the team he’s got. As for the other teams, we don’t see the 49ers who are obviously in a state of transition being able to compete with the firepower that Arizona has. We think the division will be a tight race between the other three as well. Seattle will have a strong season but their lack of defense will prove detrimental to their success, and they’ll come in as a close third. The Rams will then have a strong year behind Matthew Stafford and will likely make the playoffs but we just don’t see them stacking up to the talent that the Cardinals have, and we also think that Kyler will outperform every other quarterback in the division, and that is solely due to his offensive line. So will our prediction prove right, or will it fall flat? We’ll have to wait until September to see!