LogFAQs > #946637965

NFC West

1. St. Louis Rams
2. Seattle Seahawks
3. San Francisco 49ers
4. Toronto Wildcats

In a preseason where 80% (pulling that out of my ass) of the league came away unscathed or didn't have a debilitating injury of any kind, the Rams lost two of their best players for half of the season as well as another starter for the same duration. Yet, they should still win the division. They have one of the league's best defenses that is lightyears ahead of the rest of the division, and HB Eddie Lacy helped balance this offense last season. Their schedule is structured oddly, but it might be beneficial to them. The vast majority of games they will play without FS Harrison Smith, RT Robert Gallery, and LG David Diehl will be at home, and when they return, that is when they begin their stretch of almost exclusively away games. I think they make their 11th postseason appearance through a division crown.

I could go in any direction here, but the Seahawks have a rising star in QB Kirk Cousins and an overall offense that is near-elite, so I feel like going with the higher floor option. Last season may have been one to forget, but in the three seasons prior, they did have a non-losing record in each including two playoff apperances. It will ultimately come down to their defense. It is getting up there in years, but there's great players at all three areas, The problem is that they tend to underperform. There's really no reason to believe there will be a great turnaround there, but if they make positive strides on defense and start off strong (the last quarter of the season is tough), they can find themselves back in the playoffs.

I really don't know what the make of the 49ers. QB Kirby Freeman had a resurgent season, but HB Giovanni Bernard has been disappointing outside of his rookie season. They are also paying way too much for WRs, and that has been detrimental to building their defense, which has seen players fading away or having stalled development for many seasons now. Yet, their OL is probably among the Top 5 in the league, and they have a few stars on defense that win games for them. They were also one Week 17 win away from being in the playoffs last season, They can probably hang in the playoff discussion all season long. I just don't know what their ceiling or floor is.

The Wildcats probably have a higher floor than one would expect given they have so many above-average-to-good starters across the team. Yet their lack of stars or an area they perform strongly in makes it hard for them to be a favorite in most games. The loss of FS Eric Reid for half the season exposes the secondary, which could waste a rising DL. After years of being one of the best offenses during the Michael Vick era, the offense has been a disappointment since. The WR corps and OL have virtually stayed the same, but the play of third and second year pros QB Aaron Murray and HB Christian McCaffrey will make the biggest impact. Murray actually owns the league's highest career passer rating among those with at least 250 passing attempts, but it's a small sample size with him as he has only started half the season in his first two years. McCaffrey in a way was the most disappointing of the full-time rookie HBs last season as he paired his low rushing YPC with being a total non-factor in the passing game. The Wildcats didn't really do much to improve this season, and you could argue they have regressed, but if many of their talented-on-paper players finally put it all together, they could be a sneaky division winner.
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