Arizona Cardinals
2023 Record: 4-13 (4th in NFC West)
Head Coach: Jonathan Gannon (2nd season)
Notable Additions: T Jonah Williams, CB Sean Murphy-Bunting, WR Zay Jones
Notable Departures: WR Marquise Brown, T D.J. Humphries, WR Rondale Moore
Biggest Reason for Excitement: Marvin Harrison Jr.
With all the quarterback action at the top of the draft and Kyler Murray locked in as their starter, the Cardinals had the luxury of sitting and picking any non-QB they had their eyes on at #4. To the surprise of no one, that player ended up being Marvin Harrison Jr.
A WR reset was inevitable for the Cardinals after they got rid of DeAndre Hopkins prior to last season and the lack of a top WR showed up in a big way as no receiver on their roster even reached 600 YDS as Marquise Brown once again battled injuries and erratic play, Rondale Moore failed to do much of anything and 2023 3rd round pick Michael Wilson played too sparingly for most of the season to hit any truly impressive threshold. Landing MHJ to be the WR1 for this next era of Cardinals football is a godsend that should help their rebuilding efforts tremendously.
The term "generational prospect" gets tossed around a bit too much these days, but in the case of Harrison Jr, I believe it's apt. What this kid did on the field during his 2 years as a starter at Ohio State was just absurd. Not only he is a matchup nightmare on account of his height, body control and leaping ability, but he runs crisp routes and has the speed and agility to make plays after the catch. Whatever NFL learning curve exists for him shouldn't hold him back too much as his game is stunningly polished for being such a young player and it wouldn't be at all surprising if he matched the historic levels of brilliance that Justin Jefferson and Ja'Marr Chase displayed during their rookie seasons earlier this decade.
At the bare minimum, Harrison Jr.'s presence should create more open looks for Wilson and Trey McBride-who had himself a pretty strong 2023 (81 REC/825 YDS/3 TD's) after a quiet opening 5 weeks where he was targeted just 10 times- and increase the diversity of their passing attack right away. This pass-catching group suddenly looks pretty strong and given what Murray has proven he can do as a passer, this unit could even flirt with being a top 10 group this season if everybody does their job at least a passable level.
Biggest Reason for Concern: Defense
The Cardinals surprised many people last season with just how competitive they were despite the staggering lack of talent they had on their roster. One area where they were actually quite bad was on defense. Jonathan Gannon's expertise couldn't do anything to lift this group from the bowels of the league as they finished with the 31st ranked scoring defense for the 2nd straight season. Their other metrics were similarly miserable as they ranked dead last in rushing defense, dead last in 3 down%, 24th in redzone defense, 30th in sacks, tied for 28th in takeaways and 30th in pass TD's allowed (although they did ironically rank a respectable 13th in passing YDS allowed).
What's really odd about their rebuilding efforts is just how much more they've invested in their offense than the defense. Perhaps that's due to having Kyler Murray at QB along with the current trends of the league, but it still feels weird to pay so much more attention to the side of the ball that's presenting you far less problems in your quest to build a winning football team.
Their projected starting Week 1 lineup for 2024 is about an even mix of returning starters and new faces, which isn't a surprise for a rebuilding team that stunk last year. On the incumbent front, there's Roy Lopez (nose tackle), Dennis Gardeck (left outside linebacker), Kyzir White (inside linebacker), Zaven Collins (right outside linebacker), Garrett Williams (slot corner), Budda Baker (strong safety) and Jalen Thompson (free safety). As for the new faces, we have Bilal Nichols (left defensive end), Justin Jones (right defensive end), Mack Wilson (inside linebacker), Sean Murphy-Bunting (left outside corner) and rookie Max Melton (right outside corner). Rookie edge rusher/defensive lineman Darius Robinson should also have a place in their front 7 rotation once he gets off IR with a calf injury.
What part of this group can really be considered a strength? Safety perhaps as Baker was the highest paid safety in the league at one point and Thompson is a solid established NFL starter. Other than that, it's just a whole lot of blah. Their new vet additions are basically all just average-to-below-average journeyman who won't be missed at all by their previous teams, Gardeck did alright as their top pass-rusher (6 sacks), but no one is going to stay up all night figuring out how to stop off from wreaking havoc on the edge, White kind of sucked last year and Melton is far from a home run prospect given his track record of getting burned deep and committing awful PI's at Rutgers. Gannon and DC Nick Rallis are going to have pull a whole lot of tricks out of their sleeves to elevate this group to an acceptable level this season.
Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Continuing to Overachieve
As I mentioned above, the 2023 Cardinals were a very pleasant surprise. It was almost reminiscent of what Dan Campbell did in his 1st year with the Lions in 2021 as the whole team bought into Gannon's program and played hard, tough football for 4 quarters no matter the quality of the opponent they were facing. We can't realistically expect this team to mirror what the Lions did following the 2021 season, but it's hard not to be encouraged by the progress the current regime has already made.
As they step into year #2 of the rebuild, their only real goal this year is continuing to overachieve. Having Murray fully healthy in Week 1 with a better set of weapons and a hopefully improved offensive line with Jonah Williams entering the fold and Paris Johnson Jr. stepping into LT spot full time puts them in a much more ideal spot than they were at this time last year and while nobody will be caught off guard by their tenacity this season, maintaining it will be crucial to hitting their ceiling in 2024. Say they get up to 6-8 wins this year, then they can really start cooking in terms of bringing in impact free agents, homing in on more specific areas of need instead of just throwing a bunch of shit at their plethora of issues and hoping something sticks.
Bottom Line:
While I'm not willing to back some of the wackier takes out there about this team being a possible playoff contender, the Cardinals are well-positioned to take the next step forward in their rebuild in 2024.
Los Angeles Rams
2023 Record: 10-7 (2nd in NFC West)
Head Coach: Sean McVay (8th season)
Notable Additions: CB Tre'Davious White, S Kamren Curl, CB Darious Williams
Notable Departures: DT Aaron Donald (retired), S Jordan Fuller, ILB Ernest Jones
Biggest Reason for Excitement: All of the New Arrivals in the Secondary
The Rams retooling efforts in the secondary in 2023 brought on by their divorces with Jalen Ramsey, Taylor Rapp, Nick Scott and Troy Hill didn't work out so great as they ranked 20th in passing defense, 22nd in passing TD's allowed and 23rd in INT's. 2024 is bringing on yet another retooling of the secondary, only this time the new names joining the roster are a whole lot sexier than Akhello Witherspoon, Duke Shelley and Russ Yeast.
Basically, Les Snead went out and found every undervalued or diminished asset he could find in free agency. Let's start with a familiar face around the Rams facility in Darious Williams. The 31-year old was great with the Jaguars last year-registering 19 passes defensed, 4 INT's, a 55% CMP against and only 2 TD's allowed, but somehow got released in March despite outplaying his younger counterparts headlined by Tyson Campbell-who they just gave an extension to. Then, there's Kamren Curl-who will be replacing longtime Ram Jordan Fuller who left for the Panthers in free agency. Curl makes up for his lack of pizzaz by playing tough, sound football that allows him to be one of the most reliable free safeties in the league, particularly in run support where his terrific instincts really shine. Rounding out the new additions is the highest risk/highest reward pickup in Tre'Davious White. Everybody who followed White in Buffalo knows the book on him. He's easily one of the best coverage corners in the league right now, he just hasn't been able to stay healthy for the majority of his career. Having a vet in Williams as insurance for White lessen the risk however, which makes the experiment of starting White at outside corner a savvy one for the Rams.
Pairing these 3 with Quentin Lake-who is elevating to a full-time starting role after playing pretty well in a spot starter/#4 corner role last year and John Johnson III-who was a mixed bag in his return to the Rams last year-gives the Rams the potential to be great at secondary this year and in a wide-open NFC, that might be all they need to get back to the Super Bowl.
Biggest Reason for Concern: Replacing Aaron Donald
What Aaron Donald accomplished over the course of 10 NFL seasons is something that we as football fans probably haven't even fully grasped yet. As an undersized (6'1, 280lbs) player with elite speed and a level of strength you'd expect from a 320lbs lineman, he was a singular freak that was downright unblockable. His stats (111 career sacks including a league leading 20.5 in 2018, 176 TFL's, 543 total tackles, 260 QB hits, 258 pressures) and accolades (8x First Team All-Pro selection, 10x Pro Bowl appearances) speak volumes about the type of player he was, but nothing can really quantify the full impact he made for a Rams organization that was all over the map in terms of skill during his tenure there.
Now comes the dreaded question that Sean McVay, Snead and everybody else in their building had hoped they could wait a bit longer to confront: What's the succession plan for Donald? In a way, this is like the Patriots having to replace Tom Brady because the poor slab stepping into the starting DT role this year has been cursed with the task of directly following a fucking legend who dominated their position at unprecedented levels. No disrespect to Braden Fiske but tasking a rookie with this gig is a tall, almost rude order. What happens if the pass rush fails to get going without all the open gaps and double/triple team looks Donald created with his presence? Or the linebackers don't fly around as freely in the backfield as they once did? Fair or not, people are going to come for Fiske and that could crush the rookie's confidence before he even gets the opportunity to gain traction in the pros.
While Fiske has the unfortunate task of directly replacing him in the starting lineup, the temperature is also going to be rising for Kobie Turner. The Wake Forest product feasted alongside Donald last season-leading all rookies with 9 sacks and ended up finishing in 3rd place in the DROTY vote behind Will Anderson and Jalen Carter. He's going to have to prove he can disrupt on the interior without Donald eating up space alongside him and he'll be getting thrown into the fire immediately when he goes up the Lions ferocious interior line on Sunday night.
The question really isn't will the Rams front regress, it's how long will it take for fans to start lobbying for Donald to come out of retirement? I'll give it 5 weeks personally and that's assuming that they show well enough against the Cardinals and Bears in Weeks 2 and 4.
Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Matthew Stafford Remaining Healthy
While the raw stats (3,965 YDS/24 TD's/11 INT's/62.6 CMP%) and 9-6 record as a starter aren't the prettiest, Stafford was the catalyst for the Rams turnaround last season. He was lights out when it mattered most last season-having 5 multi-TD games in his last 7 starts (6-1 record over that stretch), the rapport he developed with Puka Nacua right away was incredible and perhaps most importantly, he put together a sensational performance in their heartbreaking Wild Card loss to the Lions that kept them in the game till the bitter end.
The hard pill to swallow for the Rams is that Stafford is currently 36 and will be turning 37 in February. Given his injury history-which included a sprained UCL and that weird elbow ailment that is typically found in MLB pitchers, not football players that severely limited his training camp practice time last season, his days in the NFL are likely numbered. The team seems to realize this as well as they reworked Stafford's contract to move his guaranteed money for the 2025 season into this season, which is the type of move you make when you have questions about your QB's long-term future.
This is why Stafford staying healthy in 2024 is so imperative. He could very well be looking at his last ride in the pros and no matter how much McVay schemes shit up, Jimmy Garoppolo or Stetson "4 picks in a preseason game" Bennett are not going to be able to provide this offense with the freedom to be explosive and spontaneous that Stafford does. This team is smart and well-coached enough to come up with a viable succession plan for Stafford when the times comes, but this year is all about what #9 can do for them and their only chance of getting him another ring before he walks away is with him leading them there.
Bottom Line:
As long as Matthew Stafford remains healthy, the Rams should return to the playoffs and be a dark horse NFC contender.
San Francisco 49ers
2023 Record: 12-5 (1st in NFC West)
Head Coach: Kyle Shanahan (8th season)
Notable Additions: EDGE Leonard Floyd, LB De'Vondre Campbell, DT Jordan Elliott
Notable Departures: DT Arik Armstead, EDGE Chase Young, DT Javon Kinlaw
Biggest Reason for Excitement: Brandon Aiyuk and Trent Williams Re-Signing Before Week 1
What a difference a week makes! If I'd written this shit really any time before last Friday, Aiyuk and Williams holding out would've been the top concern. Now, that they're both officially back in the fold, it's all sunshine and rainbows out in Santa Clara. Aiyuk has been their leading WR in each of the past 2 seasons and Williams is the glue that holds their entire OL together as his 2-game absence last season where Brock Purdy threw 2 total TD's and over a third of his INT's on the season (4) as the offense posted back-to-back 17-point performances in a pair of losses to the Vikings and Bengals proved. This team could not afford to not have them out there for Week 1 and the fact that they will indeed be playing all but entirely tables the 49ers regression talk for now.
Biggest Reason for Concern: Christian McCaffery Getting Hit by the Madden Curse
There are plenty of more "legitimate" reasons for concern surrounding the 49ers than this. Fear of committing to Purdy long term after this year, Williams taking a step back at age 36 with no training camp run and subsequently causing their otherwise suspect o-line to completely implode, not having an adequate replacement for Arik Armstead-who was cut back in March and Brandon Staley joining the coaching staff resulting in the rapid decay of Kyle Shanahan's decision-making skills are all realistic things that could go wrong with the team. But Williams ending his holdout yesterday dared my superstitious ass to pivot to the old faithful narrative that is the Madden Curse, and I unfortunately couldn't deny that impulse.
In recent years, Madden cover athletes have managed to mostly allude disaster. Lamar Jackson won his 1st playoff game in the year that he appeared on the cover (2020). Josh Allen was his usual spectacular, occasionally erratic self in 2023. Hell, Patrick Mahomes won the damn Super Bowl when he made his 1st appearance on the cover in 2019. You could actually make a pretty strong argument that nobody has truly been done in by the Madden Curse since Rob Gronkowski in 2016, where sustained 3 separate injuries (hamstring strain, pulmonary contusion, herniated disk in his back) that limited him to appearing in 8 games-which marked the 2nd lowest played games total of his career.
McCaffery is an elite candidate to break this lengthy run of Madden cover athletes not succumbing to the Curse. A key factor in this run of Madden not claiming the soul of the man graces its cover is that it's mostly been QB's being featured on the cover of late and none of them are injury-prone yet. CMC is the first face of Madden to have that ugly distinction attached to his name since Gronkowski.
His MVP-caliber play since joining the 49ers has kind of overshadowed the fact that McCaffery played in just 10 total games during his final 2 full seasons in Carolina in 2020 and 2021. He also just returned to practice yesterday after sitting out for nearly a month with a calf problem. As a 28-year old back who receives the obscene workloads that he does every year, he's due for an IR stint and this year could very well be when that happens.
An extended absence from McCaffery could be devastating for this offense. Now that Derrick Henry is in Baltimore, the 49ers may be the only team in the league that has built their entire offense around a running back. De facto backup Jordan Mason-who is once again stepping in for Elijah Mitchell after the 49ers starting back prior to McCaffery suffered yet another season-ending injury last week-has crazy burst and solid elusiveness, but he's not the pass-catcher or dynamic weapon that CMC is, which would limit what Shanahan could do and subsequently impact how elite game manager Purdy looks out there.
Knowing the kinds of psychos that Shanahan and GM John Lynch are, they very well could have brought various sorcerers, witches, etc. into the facility in an attempt to protect McCaffery's health in this pivotal season for their franchise. Unsanctioned magic versus the Madden Curse would make for a hell of a battle, so I'm going to hope that this half-joke I came up with about 90 seconds before writing this paragraph is actually true.
Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Retaining Their Defensive Excellence After Another Coordinator Change
I can't even begin to provide any real reasons for what went "wrong" during Steve Wilks' 1-year tenure as the 49ers DC. All I know is that Shanahan made him move from the press box to the sidelines following a 3-game losing streak in late October that the broadcasters during every 49ers game for the remainder of the season went out of their way to discuss on air, which was sincerely hilarious to me. Their stats were actually great once again (3rd in scoring defense, 3rd in rushing defense, tied for 7th in sacks, 14th in passing defense-which marked a 6-spot improvement from 2022) overall and the deficiencies they had were the same ones they had in 2022 (3rd down, redzone). That being said, they never felt quite as dominant or intimidating as they were under Robert Saleh or Demeco Ryans. In all likelihood, Shanahan probably just didn't like Wilks every much (they hadn't worked together prior to this-which is not the typical protocol for a Shanahan hire) and needed to somebody to scapegoat after he blew another Super Bowl against the Chiefs. Wilks' dismissal ultimately paved the way for Nick Sorensen to be promoted to DC.
Sorensen's path to this job was a little odd. The former NFL backup safety/special teamer got his start as an assistant special teams coach under Pete Carroll in Seattle back in 2013 before switching over to being a DB coach in 2016-which is a position he held until 2021 when Urban Meyer hired him to be the special teams coordinator in Jacksonville. Once Meyer was fired, Sorensen landed with the 49ers for 2022 and returned to his defensive roots-which eventually brought him to where he is now. The Sorensen hire is particularly strange since Shanahan tapped a veteran defensive playcaller in Staley to be assistant head coach/general defensive assistant instead of hiring him to be DC. It'll probably work out for Shanahan as it doesn't involve playcalling in the second half of a Super Bowl his team is leading in, but it's a curious move nonetheless.
The best thing you can say about Sorensen's chances are that he came up under an excellent coach in Carroll, has ample experience as a position coach and most importantly, has one of the best collections of defensive talent in football led by Nick Bosa, Fred Warner and Charvarius Ward. Sorensen is going to have a tough time not succeeding with all this talent at his disposal and this group is going to have a hard time being rendered ineffective by a coach. With all that being said, switching coordinators for the 3rd time in the last 3 seasons and 4th time in the last 6 is a difficult challenge for any team to take on and the 49ers ability to handle that challenge will say a lot about just how good this team really is.
Bottom Line:
This is probably the most question marks that has surrounded the 49ers since Shanahan was briefly on the hot seat following his 4-12 2018 campaign. However, it would be pretty shocking if this team didn't solve at least the majority of their issues and end up returning to at least the NFC Championship Game for the 5th time in the last 6 years.
Seattle Seahawks
2023 Record: 9-8 (3rd in NFC West)
Head Coach: Mike Macdonald (1st season)
Notable Additions: C Connor Williams, S Rayshawn Jenkins, LB Jerome Baker
Notable Departures: LB Bobby Wagner, G Damien Lewis, S Jamal Adams
Biggest Reason for Excitement: The Prospect of Mike Macdonald What Can Do for Their Defense
Since the Legion of Boom aged out of stardom and Kris Richard got fired following the 2017 season, the Seahawks defense has been scrambling for answers with mostly shaky results. From 2018-23, they haven't finished higher than 11th in the league in scoring defense and in 3 of those seasons (including the past 2 under Clint Hurtt), they've ranked in the 20's. This inability to get the defense figured out along with their lack of a playoff win since 2019 undoubtedly contributed to the surprising ouster of Pete Carroll as head coach after 14 seasons back in January.
GM John Schneider showed that his mindset in hiring coaches hasn't changed in the past 15 years as the Seahawks named one of the top defensive coaching candidates on the market in Mike Macdonald as their new head coach (it is still a little bit surprising that Dan Quinn didn't land here given his history with Schneider and the team). Macdonald oversaw one of the greatest defenses in recent history with the Ravens last season and having somebody who just put together a historically good defense step into your building is a huge boost for this Seattle team right now.
What makes Macdonald's arrival particularly exciting is just how good his development track record was in Baltimore. Roquan Smith, Brandon Stephens, Patrick Queen, and Justin Madubuike are just a handful of the guys who majorly improved as football players under Macdonald. He also did a great job of bringing Kyle Hamilton into the fold and taking full advantage of his unique skill set by lining him up throughout the secondary.
As shaky as the Seahawks defense has been of late, they have several promising pieces here. Devon Witherspoon is a potential shutdown outside corner who've probably would've seriously challenged Will Anderson for Defensive Rookie of the Year if he hadn't missed 3 games with injury (he still finished in 4th despite the missed time). Boye Mafe was pretty damn good in his 1st season as a starter last year, picking up 9 sacks, 9 TFL's, 16 QB hits and 25 pressures. Julian Love took another step forward in his 1st season with the Seahawks, nabbing a career-high 4 INT's and 10 passes defensed-which earned him a 3-year extension in July. Leonard Williams is a consistently strong interior defensive lineman who played great after coming over from the Giants at the deadline last season and it was wise for the 'Hawks to bring him back while he's still in his prime. Riq Woolen was a straight ballhawk in 2022 before regressing last year to the point where Carroll and Hurtt benched him for a few games. Rookie Byron Murphy was one of the top interior disruptors in college football last year and he has the luxury of playing alongside Williams right away. Jerome Baker will be looking to return to his sharp, steady ILB form after an injury-plagued 2023 that led to his release from the Dolphins. Uchenna Nowsu is one of the most underrated pass rushers in the league when healthy (9.5 sacks in 2022) and him and Mafe have the potential to clean up once Nowsu returns from a sprained MCL in the next couple weeks.
These are just the guys who've flashed and/or aren't known mediocre journeyman, they have several others (Coby Bryant, Derick Hall, Tyrel Dodson, Tre Brown) who've yet to prove anything at this level that could start to thrive under Macdonald.
There's a lot of moldable talent amongst this group despite all of their recent struggles and bringing in an elite defensive mind to piece it all together could bring forth a substantial improvement if everything goes smoothly in both sides' transition process.
Biggest Reason for Concern: OC Ryan Grubb's Lack of NFL Experience
This was a huge hiring cycle for OC's with the likes of Kellen Moore, Liam Coen, Kliff Kingsbury, Zac Robinson and former Seahawks OC Shane Waldron commanding a ton of attention on the market before ultimately getting hired. Arguably the most outside the box hire that was made this year was Ryan Grubb-a longtime college assistant who most recently worked as the OC at the University of Washington. Grubb was actually in the running be to head coach there after his longtime boss Kalen DeBoer left to replace Nick Saban at Alabama but elected to leave the school when they named Jedd Fisch HC over him and ended up with the Seahawks OC gig a few weeks later.
Grubb has spent the past 19 seasons of his coaching career in the college ranks, starting as the running backs coach at South Dakota State in 2005 and later going to be an OC at DII school Sioux Falls, Fresno State and Washington. This will be the 1st season he coaches in the NFL and is a gig that he may've never been in the running for if Washington had promoted him to head coach.
While we have no idea what kind of playcaller Grubb will be in the pros, we do know what he did at Washington: Ran an incredible vertical passing attack that made them one of the most lethal offenses in the country over the past 2 seasons. This deep pass, jump ball-driven system revitalized the lengthy college career of Michael Penix Jr. and got 3 WR's (Rome Odunze, Ja'Lynn Polk, Jalen McMillan) selected within the top 95 picks of this year's draft. Will this scheme translate to the pros? In theory, yes. Geno Smith is an underrated, accurate deep ball thrower and DK Metcalf, Jaxson Smith-Njigba, Tyler Lockett and Noah Fant are the kind of players that can go up and make deep contested catches in the pros. But that whole plan of attack feels far too basic and boring to work at the NFL level. Grubb's ability to adapt to complexities of the pro game and adjust his playcalling and scheming as needed will dictate whether he's the next Joe Brady or Steve Sarkisian.
Key to Reaching Their Ceiling: Offensive Line Play
Honestly, this feels like it's something that could be applied to the Seahawks in about 12 of the past 15 seasons. This season just happens to be of particular importance with Grubb's vertical-driven attack coming in. Even with somebody like Smith under center who gets the ball out quickly and handles pressure pretty well, this team couldn't have handled a deep passing attack last year as he simply did not have enough time in most cases to hit any receiver that was more than 10-12 yards down field.
The good news for the Seahawks is that the starting line has basically been entired turned over from a year ago. With 3rd year right tackle Abraham Lucas starting the year on the PUP list, left tackle Charles Cross will be the only Week 1 starter from a year ago on this field this Sunday against the Broncos. Joining Cross-who is coming off a solid sophomore campaign-in the starting lineup will be center Connor Williams-who was excellent when healthy with the Dolphins over the past 2 seasons, but is coming off a torn ACL that kept him on the free agent market until early August, left guard Laken Tomlinson-who was god awful over the past 2 seasons with the Jets, right guard Anthony Bradford-who struggled immensely in 10 starts for them last season as an injury replacement for Phil Haynes and right tackle George Fant-who is back for his 2nd stint in Seattle and hopefully still has some gas left in the tank after putting together a decent season in Houston last year. To be completely honest, this is a group that could really go any which way. The strange combination of unreliable young players and injury-prone/aging vets creates something that's undeniably combustible yet promising enough to believe they're capable of come together if they're granted the luxury of continuity and good coaching. For the sake of Grubb's pro coaching ambitions, Smith and Kenneth Walker III-whose YPC went down a full half yard in 2023 on account of the o-line play, this group needs to cross their fingers that they can stay healthy and deify the awful recent history of Seahawks line play.
Bottom Line:
I'll be honest with you gang, there isn't a team I'm more unsure of going into this season than the Seahawks. Macdonald and his staff are total enigmas, their roster is a really weird mix of players at vastly different stages of their careers and nobody knows what Geno Smith cand do in a new system. Anything short of them completely bottoming out wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.
Predicted Standings:
1.Los Angeles Rams (12-5)
2.San Francisco 49ers (11-6)
3.Seattle Seahawks (8-9)
4.Arizona Cardinals (6-11)