NFC West 2023 Season Preview: The Super Bowl Is the Next Step for the 49ers

San Francisco will be relying on Brock Purdy to come back from injury, but Kyle Shanahan’s squad is still a Super Bowl–contending roster on paper.

The NFL likes to brag about yearly parity in the league, but inside the NFC West, there appears to be a sizable gap between the two teams that made the playoffs last year and two teams that didn’t.

The 49ers have advanced to three NFC championship games in the past four seasons, but this might be their best team yet, at least on paper. All that’s missing during this successful run for the 49ers is a Lombardi Trophy.

But for the 49ers to finally complete the job, they’ll need the throwing arm of Brock Purdy, who was injured early in the NFC title game last season against the Eagles to abruptly end their quest for Super Bowl title No. 6 (the last one is from the 1994 season). If Purdy isn’t ready for the start of the season, it will need to be Sam Darnold, the ’18 No. 3 pick, who guides this stacked roster to the mountaintop.

The 49ers made a splash in free agency by adding defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, giving coach Kyle Shanahan an abundance of talent, including the offensive trio of Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle and Deebo Samuel.

But the Seahawks also made moves in the offseason to build off their surprising 2022 season with Geno Smith as the starting quarterback. They drafted Devon Witherspoon with the No. 5 pick to pair with last year’s rookie cornerback sensation Tariq Woolen. Seattle also drafted wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba with the No. 20 pick, which might lead to the Seahawks having one of the top wideout trios in the league with DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. They also signed defensive tackle Dre’Mont Jones and returned linebacker Bobby Wagner. Suddenly, the Seahawks have a deep enough roster to possibly make the NFC West a two-team race.

A year after winning the Super Bowl, the Rams decided to tear down the roster after enduring a dreadful 5–12 season as reigning champions. But it wasn’t a full rebuild: Los Angeles kept the trio of quarterback Matthew Stafford, wide receiver Cooper Kupp and defensive lineman Aaron Donald. They’ll be surrounded by a draft class of 14 players and 24 undrafted rookie free agents. With so much inexperience, the Rams could be headed for another long season, but they shouldn’t be completely counted out, with coach Sean McVay deciding to return for a seventh season after flirting with the idea of accepting a TV analyst job.

As for the Cardinals, there appears to be little hope, with quarterback Kyler Murray expected to miss most of the 2023 season after tearing his ACL in the final month of last season. Arizona passed on adding a veteran quarterback to compete with Colt McCoy, a sign that they don’t plan to put much effort into winning this season. The team also released wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and allowed two of its better players, defensive lineman Zach Allen and cornerback Byron Murphy Jr., to walk in free agency. With an extra first-round pick next year, which they gained in a trade with the Texans, the Cardinals likely wouldn’t mind fast-forwarding through this season.

Seattle Seahawks

Best case: First-round rookies Witherspoon and Smith-Njigba make an immediate impact, similar to what Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson did for the Jets a year ago. This would give the Seahawks one of the deepest rosters in the NFL, and enough ammunition to overthrow the 49ers in the NFC West.

Worst case: Smith returns to being a middling quarterback who’s better suited as a backup. There was nothing average about Smith’s 2022 resurgence, with a passer rating of 100.9. Seattle can forget about being a surprise team if Smith ends up being a one-year wonder. 

Smith was selected to the Pro Bowl last season for the first time in his nine-year career :: Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports

San Francisco 49ers

Best case: Purdy has a full workload in training camp, showing no signs of rust come the season opener. Purdy elevates his mental game because he prepared for the expected adjustments from opposing defenses, while recovering from his throwing arm injury in the offseason. This leads to a Pro Bowl-worthy season from Purdy in 2023.

The 49ers traded their No. 3 QB option, Trey Lance, signaling a recommitment to Purdy’s return from injury :: Robert Edwards/USA Today network

Worst case: Purdy is not ready for the start of the season, forcing Shanahan to turn to Darnold, who hurts the team with turnovers and makes San Francisco regret trading Trey Lance. The revolving door at quarterback quickly derails the 49ers’ 2023 season, leading to an 8–9 record.

Los Angeles Rams

Best case: Stafford, Kupp and Donald remain healthy the entire season and return to top form to make one more run with McVay. The veteran trio steer the several rookies on the roster in the right direction to become a pesky wild-card team in the NFC, and later becoming an overhyped sleeper team in 2024.

McVay (left), Kupp (center) and Stafford (right) all played pivotal roles on the Rams’ Super Bowl–winning team :: Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports

Worst case: The defense is as bad as many are predicting with Donald being surrounded by first- and second-year players. This unit allows 28 points per game through the first five games, leading to a 1–4 record and forcing the Rams to go into full tank mode before facing the Cardinals in Week 6. 

Arizona Cardinals

Best case: The Cardinals end the 2023 season with the No. 1 pick in the draft, and are faced with either trading the pick for a boatload of future top picks to build around Murray or begin a new era with Caleb Williams.

Gannon was hired in February to take over as the Cardinals head coach :: Rob Schumacher/The Republic/USA TODAY NETWORK

Worst case: The Cardinals’ losing season isn’t as bad as experts predict and they muster five wins under coach Jonathan Gannon, which gives them the third pick. They build some confidence going into next year, but it wasn’t worth it to miss on the Nos. 1 and 2 picks, which will likely be Williams and Drake Maye.