Hands-down, this is the best division in football. Once the laughing stock of football in 2010 when they sent the 7-9 Seahawks to the playoffs, this division now houses unarguably two of the three best rosters in the NFL. Last year Super Bowl runner-ups, the San Francisco 49ers, hope to finish the job this year after third year quarterback Colin Kaepernick's first offseason as the starter for this team. The Seattle Seahawks are out to take this division for themselves this year after their slow start last year turned into a red-hot finish as rookie quarterback Russell Wilson came into his own. The other two teams in this division are also nothing to sleep on, with the St. Louis Rams playing extremely tough football last year and hoping to take another step forward in Coach Jeff Fisher's second year. The Arizona Cardinals are nothing to overlook either, with reigning Coach of the Year Bruce Arians coming in to work with a talented roster that just has a few key holes.
1. San Francisco 49ers : 13-3 (2012 Season : 11-4-1)
The division winners for the past two years, the 49ers are going to have to play great football all year in order to keep the soaring Seahawks at bay. Luckily, they appear to have the talent on both sides of the ball to do just that. While the loss of leading wide receiver Michael Crabtree for most of the season hurts, the 49ers are a run-first team anyway and still have plenty of weapons outside of their backfield for their quarterback to work with. Colin Kaepernick may actually be the most dynamic weapon on the 49ers roster, tearing up defenses with both his arms and his legs last postseason, but it's the non-physical portion of the game that should improve the most for him this year. After making a few mental errors, especially just in the managerial aspect of the game, last year, Kaepernick should start to become more comfortable leading this offense. Perhaps more importantly, his team should be more comfortable with him after practicing with him all offseason. The defense, which fell apart due to injuries in the playoffs last year, looks to have reloaded and gotten healthy, and should have no problem carrying the team if Kaepernick and the offense need to adjust to the new players on offense.
2. Seattle Seahawks : 12-4 (2012 Season : 11-5)
The Seahawks could easily switch places with the 49ers in the blink of an eye in these predictions, and ultimately a few minor details keep them out of the top spot....at least for now. The Seahawks have extremely enviable depth on the defensive side of the ball and a star workhorse back in Marshawn Lynch, not to mention the emerging talents of quarterback Russell Wilson. They however, do have several PED suspensions on the defensive side of the ball, including last year's first round pick pass rusher Bruce Irvin. They also imagined their big acquisition this offseason, Percy Harvin, would be the piece that could put their offense over the top but he is now lost indefinitely with a hip injury. Their offensive line also gives me some cause for concern because the Redskin's blitz packages in the playoffs last year proved very effective in slowing down their offense last year. Are all those concerns extremely nit-picky? Yes. That's how good the Seahawks are, and that's how close they are to taking the division from these 49ers.
3. St. Louis Rams : 10-6 (2012 Season : 7-8-1)
Don't sleep on the St. Louis Rams this year, a potential sleeper team that could make some noise even in an extremely tough division. It's notable that even with the Seahawks and 49ers taking control of the conversation last year, the Rams managed to go 4-1-1 in their division. Coach Jeff Fisher has assembled a fearsome young defense, full of playmakers that helped the team tie for the most sacks in the league. The offense's job this year will be to prove that they are capable of keeping pace with the defense, and with all the new additions this offseason to that unit that looks likely. Quarterback Sam Bradford has been surrounded by mediocre talent his entire career, but free agent left tackle Lake Long figures to finally afford him time to throw this year. The people he will be throwing too also look to be solid, with big tight end Jared Cook and electric rookie slot receiver Tavon Austin providing solid options underneath, while 2nd year receiver Chris Givens looks ready to complement those two as a quality deep threat. While no one should give the Rams a chance to even sniff at a division title this year, if Sam Bradford is able to use the weapons around him this team could easily compete for a playoff spot.
4. Arizona Cardinals : 6-10 (2012 Season : 5-11)
While the Cardinals are unquestionably in the basement of this division, if they competed about anywhere else they would most likely be considered a pretty hot sleeper team. New head coach Bruce Arians has plenty to work with in a great receiving corp led by Larry Fitzgerald and an underrated defense that was very successful last year considering the situations it was faced with. The Cardinals suffered last year from just about the worst offensive line, running back, and quarterback play last season, and while free agents Rashard Mendenhall (who previously was a workhorse back for Arians in Pittsburgh) and Carson Palmer should help improve the latter two situations, the first position group will still hold this team back this year. The Cardinals spend a first round pick on guard Jonathan Cooper to help fix their offensive line but he has suffered a broken foot this offseason and won't be ready to compete for a while. This offense will struggle again if it's given no time to work, and against the unforgiving defenses of this division that appears highly likely. The Cardinals aren't as bad as you think they are, but there's still a huge gap between them and the rest of this division this year.
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