The Seahawks dominated the NFC West for a long time at the beginning of the Pete Carroll and John Schneider era. After the peak Legion of Boom era ended they ceded control, first to the Rams and then to the 49ers.
However, the NFL is nothing if not cyclical in nature and Seattle is on the rise again. 49ers GM John Lynch admitted as much in an interview this week on KNBR’s Murph & Mac show. Lynch said his counterpart Schneider is as good at his job as anybody, and admitted the organization is feeling Seattle catching up with them. H/T 49erswebzone:
“Well, I’ll say this, [Seahawks GM] John Schneider is as good at this job as anybody in our league… But yes, we feel the Seahawks coming. They’re really good. They had a really good draft last year. I think they’ve repeated it this year.”
Whether he’s right or not will depend a great deal on three factors: how well the 2022 draft class improves in their second year in the league, how much Seattle can get out of this group of rookies and how well the new-look interior offensive line can keep Geno Smith clean, especially against loaded fronts like San Francisco’s.
As for San Francisco, their x-factor is at quarterback, where once again they have a huge question mark hanging over their heads. Brock Purdy’s elbow injury in the NFC Championship may keep him out the entire 2023 season, Jimmy Garoppolo has moved on to the Raiders and Trey Lance has about one game’s worth of experience at this level.
Then again, bad QB play has only managed to slow them down. The Niners have been to three of the last four conference title games and continue to dominate defensively. Last year they went 3-0 against Seattle and until someone proves otherwise the 49ers are still the team to beat in this division.
Projecting the Seahawks starting lineup after the 2023 NFL draft
