The NFC West has been and will remain one of the stronger divisions in the NFL.

The San Francisco 49ers stand atop it after coming up just short of a Super Bowl title for the second time in the last four years. That humbling defeat against the Kansas City Chiefs could conceivably start a downward spiral—the same way a loss in Super Bowl LIV preceded a dismal 6-10 campaign in 2020—but San Francisco has accumulated too much talent to miss the playoffs.

Barring major injuries, the Niners should be back with a vengeance in 2024. They reloaded their defense in free agency by coming to terms with Leonard Floyd, De'Vondre Campbell, Maliek Collins, Jordan Elliott and Yetur Gross-Matos, among others, and didn't need to make any flashy moves to bolster an offense that ranked No. 2 last season.

There's not much threat of San Francisco being dethroned atop the NFC West, but the Los Angeles Rams could make things interesting. L.A. bounced back after fielding the worst title defense of all time in 2022, going 10-7 and putting up a good fight in the Wild Card round of the playoffs a year later. While the loss of the irreplaceable Aaron Donald to retirement will sting, the squad did add Darious Williams and Kamren Curl to reinforce an already formidable defense.

The Seattle Seahawks are the most unknown team in the NFC West after parting ways with head coach Pete Carroll following 14 years in that role. The team will forge ahead with Mike Macdonald at the helm of a lineup that hasn't made any major additions on the open market. Seattle will need to nail its draft to have a real chance to improve upon the middling 9-8 year it had in 2023.

While the Arizona Cardinals should be better than their 4-13 record in 2023 indicates as long as Kyler Murray can remain healthy and start for the full season, they are still in rebuilding mode and have more work to do before returning to the playoffs. Arizona's upcoming 11 picks in the 2024 draft—including a pair or first-rounders and six in the top-90—should solidify the nucleus of an exciting young team on the rise.