I'll wrap up my division-by-division season preview of the NFC Conference with the NFC West. The Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks will be battling for the home field advantage at the top of the division while the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers will be fighting for a record over .500.
2015 NFC West Division Standings
1st Arizona Cardinals 13-3
2nd Seattle Seahawks 10-6
3rd Los Angeles Rams 7-9
4th San Francisco 49ers 5-11
Arizona Cardinals
After their collapse in last years NFC Championship game the Cardinals return all of their key players and are all set to make it to Super Bowl 51. On offense Carson Palmer is back under center with loads of talent surrounding him. He'll be in the backfield alongside their breakout star from last season David Johnson who's going into his first season as full-time starter. Future Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald won't have to match his stats from last season because he has help at receiver in Michael Floyd,John Brown, Jaron Brown, and JJ Nelson.
The defense is what makes Arizona such a complete team Tyrann Mathieu and Patrick Peterson are able to dominate from the backend while Calais Campbell controls the line. Last season their biggest weakness was their pass rush and they fixed that problem by acquiring Chandler Jones from the Patriots.
Projected Record 1st place 11-5
Seattle Seahawks
The offense in Seattle won't look the same as Marshawn Lynch retired but Russell Wilson showed last season that they could succeed without him. In the last seven games of 2015 Wilson threw 24 touchdowns and just one interception. Pete Carroll will keep the defense playing at a high level and with the return of Brandon Browner the original Legion of Boom is back together.
Projected Record 2nd place 10-6
Los Angeles Rams
Back in LA for the first time since the 1994 season Jeff Fisher finally believes that he has the team's quarterback of the future in number one overall pick Jared Goff. Goff has struggled during the preseason and it's been the spotlight of Hard Knocks. He'll be the the third string quarterback on opening day. So Todd Gurley will have to lead the way on offense after a winning Offensive Rookie Of The Year last season despite missing the start of the regular season.
Projected Record 3rd place 6-10
San Francisco 49ers
Chip Kelly is back on the west coast after being fired by the Philadelphia Eagles. Kelly has some talent on his new roster from Jim Harbaughs regime but faces a huge question at the quarterback position. The two quarterbacks on the roster competing for the starting job are Colin Kaepernick and Blaine Gabbert. Kaepernick fits Chip Kelly's uptempo offense the best but hasn't been able to perform consistently throughout a season since leading the 49ers to the 2014 NFC Championship Game.
Projected Record 4th place 4-12
