Seahawks 'Great Chance' at Winning Division; NFC Title Game Next?

The Seattle Seahawks are one of the dark horses for the NFC crown, and NFL Network's Cynthia Frelund thinks Pete Carroll's team can claim the NFC West division.

The Seattle Seahawks are looming large in the weakened NFC, and some are sleeping on coach Pete Carroll's team.

After a playoff appearance last season and with the natural progression of the roster, coupled with some key additions via free agency and the draft, Seattle feels poised to make some serious noise this season.

NFL Network's Cynthia Frelund thinks so too. In fact, she thinks that Seattle can unseat the San Francisco 49ers as division winners.

“I think that the Seahawks have a great chance of winning the [NFC] West,” Frelund said on NFL Fantasy Live. “They have a great chance as a team, how do they do that? They go back to what Pete Carroll does best, I think Shane Waldron and that team will run the ball more often, which means the passes will be good.”

If the Seahawks can make the jump to NFC West champs, who's to say that they can't contend for the NFC crown as well? After a solid haul this offseason along with returning talent, they certainly feel capable of doing so.

Under offensive coordinator Shane Waldron last season, Seattle had a top-10 offense, but the defense was lacking. Well, the franchise made several moves to solidify that during the offseason with Bobby Wagner returning, Devin Bush and Dre'Mont Jones were added, while cornerback Devon Witherspoon was selected with the No.5 pick in the draft.

Offensively, many have the hope that Seattle will be a better version than last year as Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Zach Charbonnet were added via the draft. Undrafted rookie Jake Bobo has had a seriously impressive preseason campaign as well.

Of course, all of this is predicated on Smith being able to replicate his showing from last season that saw him break several franchise records, and thus far, there seems little reason to doubt he can't.

With the 49ers having injury uncertainty surrounding starting quarterback Brock Purdy, Seattle could prove to have the tools necessary to take advantage.

The Seahawks have only won the division twice since 2016, and will be looking to make it three this season. After that, who's to say an NFC Championship appearance is out of their grasp?