NFC & AFC West Season Previews

NFC West

This is a tough division to call. 

The San Francisco 49ers, the division champion in 2023, are still stacked, but the three remaining teams, Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals, all made improvements that warrant optimism. 

Arizona: the Cardinals were a worthy last place team in 2023, but they were without starting QB Kyler Murray for the majority of the season. This year, a healthy Murray will be paired with WR Marvin Harrison, Jr., the first wide receiver taken in the 2024 NFL Draft. The offense already has balanced weaponry with RB James Conner (208 ATT/1040 YDS/7 TD) and TE Trey McBride (81 REC/825 YDS/3 TD) who should operate with an improved offensive line.

The Cardinals grabbed 12 players in the draft, including DE Darius Robinson from Missouri, who is one of the best edge rushers from the draft, according to Scott Kacsmar of 365scores.com. Arizona added defensive tackles Bilal Nichols and Justin Jones to the defensive line in free agency and have two outstanding safeties in Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson returning. Linebacker Kyzir White led the team in tackles last year even with missing six games and he should start the new campaign healthy. 

There are reasons for optimism in the desert, but vaulting into the playoffs is not realistic.

Los Angeles: the Rams are coming off a solid, playoff year, but now have to replace sure-fire, first-ballot Hall of Famer DT Aaron Donald. They already have two very good, second-year defenders in DE Kobie Turner (9 Sacks) and LB Byron Young (8 Sacks) and grabbed two more from Florida State in the first two rounds of the draft, OLB Jared Verse and DT Braden Fiske. Linebacker Ernest Jones led the team with 145 tackles last year and has plenty of talent around him to help lead this side of the ball to a successful year. 

Los Angeles has two quality offensive tackles in RT Rob Havenstein and LT Alaric Jackson, and they dropped $50 million in free agency to grab two interior offensive linemen in LG Jonah Jackson and RG Kevin Dotson. While the line should be better, this team will go as far as QB Matt Stafford, WR Cooper Kupp and RB Kyren Williams take them working behind that line. Blaine Grisak of Turf Show Times highlights the first two are hitting advanced age and all three have dealt with injury issues. 

If the big three stay healthy and productive, the Rams will be in the playoffs again. 

San Francisco: the 49ers lost in the Super Bowl, in overtime to the Kansas City Chiefs 25-22 and now face the “Super Bowl Hangover” that is experienced by the Super Bowl loser. Following the previous 57 Super Bowls, “the only teams to win the Super Bowl after losing it the season prior were the 1971 Cowboys, the 1972 Dolphins, and the 2018 Patriots,” reports Sam Oshtry of TheScore.com. While San Francisco remains loaded, the team is aging, contracts are coming due and leading receiver Brandon Aiyuk wants a new contract and isn’t practicing yet. 

This team is getting old with their best offensive lineman, LT Trent Williams, beginning his 14th year, offensive superstars RB Christian McCaffrey and TE George Kittle entering their 8th years and four projected defensive starters starting their 9th years. Quarterback Brock Purdy is making $985,000/year (about 1.6 percent of what Patrick Mahomes makes) and many people think San Francisco will have to significantly boost his salary next year, which will seriously impinge their salary cap going forward. As I write this, rumors are the Niners are still trying to trade their best receiver - Aiyuk - to the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

There is enough talent here to return to the playoffs, but it sure does feel like the window is closing on this team’s Super Bowl chances. 

Seattle: After 14 seasons, 137 wins, 10 playoff appearances and one Super Bowl, Pete Carroll has left the Seattle sideline. Former Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald is the Seahawks new 36-year old, rookie coach. Matt Verderame of Sports Illustrated really likes the youth of this team particularly on the defense that has three “young, talented pass rushers” (DE Dre’Mont Jones, OLB Boya Mafe, and OLB Darrell Taylor) and two cornerbacks that have both made a Pro Bowl (Devon Witherspoon and Riq Woolen). 

Quarterback Geno Smith had a surprisingly good 2022 season in which he was awarded the Comeback Player of the Year Award, but he regressed in 2023 throwing for 600 fewer yards and 10 fewer touchdowns. Injuries to offensive tackles LT Charles Cross and RT Abraham Lucas in 2023 certainly hurt the run game headed by RB Kenneth Walker (ATT 219/YDS 905/8 TD) that should improve with their return to health. Seattle also has plenty of receiver talent – DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba – to assist Smith in recapturing his success of 2022. 

This all depends on a rookie coach and an old quarterback, but those are sketchy variables and Seattle will likely fall short of the playoffs. 

AFC West

This is an easy division to call. 

The Kansas City Chiefs are chasing their third straight Super Bowl win in a division with the Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers, who all finished under 0.500 in 2023.  

Denver: the Broncos improved by three wins last year, but they should be taking a step back in 2024. They had the 3rd worst rushing defense (137.1 yds/game) last year, so they brought in free agent DT Malcom Roach from New Orleans and traded with the New York Jets for DE John Franklin-Myers to help bolster an anemic front line. The passing defense was the 11th worst (233.6/game) and S Justin Simmons, who had the most team interceptions over the last four seasons, left in free agency. 

While the defensive news isn’t good, the offensive news is bad. The running backs are mediocre and they traded away their second-best receiver (Jerry Jeudy) while their best receiver (Courtland Sutton) is not happy with his contract, according to Coral Smith of NFL.com. The Broncos drafted Oregon QB Bo Nix with the 12th pick of the first round, and I am hearing he might be pretty good one day, but it won’t be this year.

This will be another unfulfilling year for Broncos fans. 

Kansas City: the Chiefs have possibly the best coach, Andy Reid, and the best quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. They struggled much of the 2023 season on offense relying almost entirely on Mahomes and TE Travis Kelce, (also, possibly the best at his position), but were able to turn it on in the playoffs. Kansas City did acquire veteran WR Marquis Brown in free agency and the fastest receiver in the draft, Xavier Worthy from Texas, to reignite the offense. 

On defense last year, the Chiefs were second in scoring defense thanks primarily to a defensive line that ranked second in sacks. While they did lose elite CB L’Jarius Snead, they still have All-Pro CB Trent McDuffie to fill that gap. This side of the ball just needs to maintain what they were doing in 2023.

I agree with Reed Wallach of WJTV who says KC is a heavy favorite to win the AFC West. 

Las Vegas: the Raiders fired coach Josh McDaniels on Halloween last year and got a boost out of interim, now head coach, Antonio Pierce, winning three of their last four games. The receiver corps is very talented with Davante Adams (103 REC/1144 YDS/8 TD), Jakobi Meyers (71 REC/807 YDS/8 TD) and many young players, like first-round draft pick TE Brock Bowers, potentially on the verge of breakout years. If second-year quarterback Aidan O’Connell can beat out Gardner Minshew and continue his growth, things will be looking very good in Las Vegas. 

Defensive end Maxx Crosby (90 Tackles/14.5 Sacks) is the heartbeat of this team and the Raiders got him extra help on the line when they acquired DT Christian Wilkins in free agency. Robert Spillane (148 Tackles/3 INT) is a very good linebacker setting the pace in the middle and cornerbacks Nate Hobbs and Jack Jones form a solid duo on the back end. Ray Aspuria of the Silver and Black Pride blog reports that third year defensive coordinator Patrick Graham has already improved the defense dramatically, 9th and 15th in points and yards allowed last year from near the league bottom in both in 2022. 

If the defense continues to improve and a quality quarterback emerges, we are looking at a playoff contender. 

Los Angeles: the Chargers are all energized about hiring Jim Harbaugh as their new coach, but they let go of all their primary offensive weapons in the offseason – RB Austin Ekeler, WR Keenan Allen, and WR Mike Williams. Harbaugh wants to establish a run-heavy offense so the Chargers grabbed RB Gus Edwards (198 ATT/810 YDS/13 TD) from Baltimore in free agency. The entire concept is going to hinge on “franchise” quarterback Justin Herbert, but he is now in a walking boot dealing with a plantar fascia injury that puts his availability date in question, according to Miguel Angel Fernandez Castro of BOLAVIP.com. 

The defense does have two legitimate superstars in LB Khalil Mack (17 Sacks) and S Derwin James. Outside linebacker Joey Bossa could be considered one, too, but he is starting to compile an impressive injury history more so than on-field stats. Just feels like the players on this side of the ball are either old or mediocre.

Without Herbert at full strength – who will probably still play, but might be hobbled – this is a rebuilding year. 

Municipal Course Masher Review

Played the front nine of the Woodlawn course at the Fort Belvoir Golf Club. It's 2895-yard, par 36 for the first nine, followed by a 3143-yard, par 37 back nine. The course offers unrestricted tee shots to the fairways and absolutely no water hazards, but there were some distinct elevation changes on some holes. Ran into a little discount since I came out for an afternoon tee time vice a morning start. 

Really liked the course, but the best part of the round was bumping into former Sergeant Major of the Army Michael A. Grinston. We were actually both in the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division together when we deployed to Iraq in early-2004. Duty First, Sergeant Major! Great talking with you.