NFC West Fantasy preview

By James Collier

Next up in our divisional previews is the NFC West. A division that has had at least one representative in four of the last five NFC Championship games. But it’s also a division that has seen a massive momentum shift after the last 12 months. The Rams and Cardinals went from winning 23 regular season games between them in 2021 to just nine in 2022. And the favourites to finish bottom of the division, the Seahawks, snuck into the playoffs. But what do we make of the fantasy prospects of the division for 2023?

Arizona Cardinals

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Quarterback

The Cardinals are yet to name a starting quarterback for Week 1. Probably because they haven’t decided yet and not because they don’t want to give the Commanders a competitive advantage. With Kyler Murray out for a large chunk of the season it will be either Joshua Dobbs or Clayton Tune. Good luck to whichever of them gets the nod. 

Running Backs

It won’t look pretty but James Conner looks to be a decent volume play for fantasy this year. He has had decent fantasy output in the past with questionable quarterback play, see his 19.8 point average from Week 10 to 17 last season as proof. Fantasy managers will be ecstatic if he can manage even two thirds of that this season. 

Wide Receivers

If you have the stomach to trust a player that is on the receiving end of targets from Joshua Dobbs or Clayton Tune then Marquise Brown has thrived when the focus of the Cardinals offense before. He was targeted over ten times a game in the opening six matchups last year and was the WR5 in that spell. That was with Kyler Murray at quarterback though so cannot be relied on as a sign of things to come this year. Rondale Moore and rookie Michael Wilson round out the depth chart but are only “wait and see” options at this stage. 

Tight Ends

With Zach Ertz unlikely to be on the field to start the season, Trey McBride could be an interesting streaming option at tight end. But as with the receivers, it’s going to be hard to trust any pass catching option for the Cardinals until we’ve seen it.

Los Angeles Rams

Quarterback

Following a successful first season in LA, Matthew Stafford struggled along with the rest of the Rams in 2022. They were so bad it’s hard to envisage Stafford getting anywhere close to his QB6 finish from 2021 and he’s not likely to be anything other than a bye week streaming option this season. 

Running Back

After a problematic start to the season Cam Akers impressed down the stretch, averaging 18.1 points per game from Week 13 onwards. Prior to that spell he had only once hit 50% of the snaps and not many would have anticipated him still being on the team heading into this season. The volume should be there for Akers again this year with the Rams not really adding an immediate threat but the ceiling will be limited unless the Rams offense shows significant improvement. 

Wide Receivers

A couple of weeks ago the only receiver mentioned in this section would have been Cooper Kupp. But a hamstring injury has his status for the start of the season in doubt, which is less than ideal for those that were drafting him in the first round of drafts just over a week or so ago. The talk has been that Van Jefferson will be the WR1 in his absence but coach Sean McVay also expects rookie Puka Nacua to be an “immediate contributor”. They should both be on waivers in most redraft leagues and might be worth a bench stash in case Kupp misses multiple games. 

Tight Ends

It feels as though Tyler Higbee has been a late round tight end target for years. But it never quite works out for those who draft him and then he turns up at random times later in the season to make you regret dropping him. If Kupp is sidelined though, he should see enough volume to just about be relevant with Stafford not having many other reliable targets. 

San Francisco 49ers

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Quarterback

We could talk about the 49ers quarterback situation for hours but Brock Purdy earned the starting role off the back of an impressive end to the season. In his six games as the starter (including Week 18) he averaged over 18 fantasy points a game, which would be good for a top 12 finish across a full season. Due to his reliance on his receivers creating yards after the catch, it would be unrealistic to expect that over a larger sample size though. But he should be a solid streamer and QB2 in two quarterback leagues. 

Running Backs

If anyone had forgotten, Christian McCaffrey reminded them that when healthy he is a fantasy goldmine. Last year he had just five games outside the top 12 running back scorers and one of them was his first game in San Francisco where he was only on the field for 28% of the snaps. There is talk that the 49ers will manage his workload this season with Elijah Mitchell being involved more. But CMC’s skillset is tailor made for this offense and he’s not someone that needs 15+ carries a game to be a week winning fantasy asset. 

Wide Receivers

2022 was a down season for Deebo Samuel with Brandon Aiyuk leading the 49ers in targets, receptions and receiving yards. The fantasy community seems to be on board with Samuel’s own comments that he was out of shape and will be back to his best this year as he has an ADP 11 spots ahead of his teammate. There is no denying that he has the higher ceiling of the two, evidenced by his WR3 finish in 2021. But Aiyuk may be the safer bet to return on his ADP. 

Tight Ends

George Kittle finished as the TE3 for the second straight season and as a top five tight end in fantasy points per game for the fifth year in a row. He continues to be a top tier option at the position purely because he is a threat to score everytime he touches the ball. He is due for some touchdown regression though. He recorded a career high 11 touchdowns in 2022 despite being out targeted by both Aiyuk and Samuel in the red zone.

Seattle Seahawks

Quarterback

One of the feel good stories of last year was Geno Smith’s rise from a career backup to an top tier real life and fantasy quarterback. He led the league in completion percentage and was behind only Mahomes, Allen and Burrow in touchdown passes thrown. A repeat of his QB6 performance is not likely but he has a great group of weapons and has a chance of breaking the top 12 again. 

Running Backs

Last year Kenneth Walker was the rookie waiting in the wings to take over the Seahawks starting running back role. Could Zach Charbonnet be about to return the favour this year? Walker averaged 16.1 points per game after becoming the starter but was underwhelming as a receiver and was inefficient on the ground at times. Charbonnet should see early season work as the pass catching back and could eat into Walker’s carries later in the year. 

Wide Receiver

Despite already having DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett on the roster the Seahawks took the best player available in wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the first round of this year’s draft. Lockett and Metcalf were both top 15 scorers last year, showing that there is room for multiple mouths in this offense. But there is no question that one or both of them will lose targets to JSN. We may have to wait a few weeks to see how this room shakes out while the rookie recovers from wrist surgery. 

Tight Ends

Now that there are three star receivers in town it’s unlikely we see any real fantasy relevance from a Seahawks tight end. Noah Fant is the most talented of the options they have but with Will Dissly and Colby Parkinson both being threats to vulture the odd touchdown from him, he’s not likely to be startable in fantasy. 

Feature image credit: Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle

JAMES COLLIER

Lead Fantasy Football Analyst

A Washington fan since the early 2010’s, James had no choice but to turn to fantasy football in search of happiness – and it wasn’t long until it became an obsession. You can follow him on Twitter @jamesc294.

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