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How good is the NFC West expected to be this season? Oddsmakers are having a tough time predicting whether it will be the San Francisco 49ers or Los Angeles Rams that will win the division. The rosters for each are loaded with talent. Then you have the Seattle Seahawks, who always seem to be in contention thanks to quarterback
Russell Wilson and head coach Pete Carroll.
"And the Cardinals, don't forget, were 6-3 and a strong playoff contender last season following DeAndre Hopkins' ludicrous game-winning Hail Mary catch against the Bills,"
wrote ESPN's Dan Graziano. "I doubt many people are picking them to win this division, but it wouldn't be the most stunning upset in league history if they did."
Graziano took on the task of ranking the NFL divisions. The NFC West came out on top, and it wasn't particularly close. The Rams swapped out Jared Goff for
Matthew Stafford, a clear upgrade that makes them the narrow favorite to win the division crown in Graziano's eyes. However, just one season separates the 49ers from the Super Bowl, and the team will, hopefully, be healthier this year, so you can't count them out.
Could the NFC playoffs actually feature all four NFC West teams? It would be tough but isn't out of the realm of possibilities. You can certainly make a case for the Rams, 49ers, and Seahawks making it to the postseason. And as Graziano wrote, the Cardinals racking up a solid number of victories wouldn't be a huge shocker.
The Rams, 49ers, and Seahawks rank Nos. 7, 8, and 9, respectively, when it comes to ESPN's NFL Football Power Index entering the 2021 season.
"There are only nine teams with an FPI rating over 2.0, and the NFC West has three of them," wrote Graziano. "The new postseason format, which adds an additional wild-card team per conference, makes it possible for a division to send all four of its teams to the playoffs. As long as they don't beat up one another too badly and they make hay in their non-divisional matchups, the NFC West quartet could become the first to pull off that feat."
Of course, the one obstacle standing in the way of this feat is each other, as every NFC West team faces its counterparts twice, accounting for six games of the new 17-game schedule.
When looking at FPI, the NFC West has a rating of 7.3, which is almost double that of the AFC West, whose teams collectively have the second highest rating, further explaining just how good the division could shape up to be.
Remember, the top teams in each division get the top four seeds, so the non-division winners would all be wildcards. This would generate much intrigue, because the NFC West teams wouldn't face each other, but rather the other division winners if the NFC West division winner ends up being the first seed.
Get ready for a lot of hype surrounding the NFC West division matchups this season.
Matt Miller, a longtime San Francisco 49ers fan and ESPN analyst, recently conducted a mock draft using ESPN Analytics' mock draft simulator. Proud of his projections, Miller shared the results on social media.
Basically DOMINATED this mock draft for the 49ers.https://t.co/j7ag09VRAY pic.twitter.com/COOE0M1eku— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) April
Ian Rapoport didn't offer much of an update on the ongoing contract negotiations between the San Francisco 49ers and their standout wide receiver, Brandon Aiyuk. However, the NFL insider emphasized one thing: The team is not entertaining trade discussions at this juncture.
Reacting to Aiyuk's decision to unfollow the 49ers on Instagram, Rapoport couldn't help but chuckle at the latest development. This practice has become commonplace among players who are unhappy with their contract situations. Wide receiver Deebo Samuel similarly took this action in 2022 before requesting to be traded just before the draft.
Things have yet to escalate that far with Aiyuk, but Rapoport sees his
With the 2024 NFL Draft less than a week away, ESPN contributors have highlighted some prospects who have seen their draft stock rise throughout the evaluation process. Jordan Reid and Matt Miller pinpointed players who could hear their names called at the end of the first round.
Interestingly, both of the prospects identified by Reid and Miller play in the trenches but on different sides of the ball. The San Francisco 49ers are widely expected to draft an offensive lineman with their first selection—No. 31 overall. The team mostly ignored the group in free agency. However, it wouldn't surprise many people if the
The San Francisco 49ers announced the signing of wide receiver Trent Taylor to a one-year deal, reuniting with the team's former fifth-round draft pick out of Louisiana Tech.
Matt Maiocco of NBC Sports Bay Area was the first to report that the 49ers were discussing a potential reunion with Taylor. The receiver was part of head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch's first draft class in 2017 and spent his first four NFL seasons with the team.
The #49ers are talking with free-agent slot receiver/return man
