Heading into the 2023 NFL season, the NFC West has one clear genuine Super Bowl contender and another team rising to challenge them. That would be the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks, who are both far more talented than the division-rival Los Angeles Rams and the Arizona Cardinals are right now, at least on paper.
On offense, the Niners are the obvious winners within the division despite having the worst QB situation. The best of them is Geno Smith, narrowly beating out Kyler Murray – who’s more talented but has nothing to work with – and Matt Stafford – who might out-perform Smith but has overuse-injury questions hanging over him. Seattle is well-represented on defense too but San Francisco is dominant on that side of the ball, as well.
