Caleb Wilfinger
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Football is finally on the immediate horizon! Week 1 will kick off on September 5 with Thursday Night Football between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens. Here at Pickswise, we are building up to the new season and you can check out our NFL futures guide, which has our Super Bowl winner picks, MVP best bets, player award predictions and much more.
For now, our handicapping team is breaking down every division with in-depth team analysis and best bets. Let’s dive into the NFC West, which is home to last season’s Super Bowl runner-up in the San Francisco 49ers. Here are the NFL odds and our expert NFL picks for a division that should be more competitive than most fans think this season.
NFC West Odds
Odds reflect best available numbers at FanDuel Sportsbook & DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing.
- San Francisco 49ers -195
- Los Angeles Rams +250
- Seattle Seahawks +700
- Arizona Cardinals +2000
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San Francisco 49ers (-195)
It’s been a noisy offseason for the defending NFC Champions, which definitely worries me heading into the upcoming campaign. Brock Purdy is talking about playing the quarterback position more like Tom Brady, Brandon Aiyuk’s name has been in trade rumors all summer, Trent Williams is holding out in hopes of a new contract and Christian McCaffrey is recovering from a calf strain injury. There’s also the often referenced “Super Bowl hangover”, which I do think could come into play for a team that has been so close to getting over the hump in each of the last 3 seasons. I’d expect San Francisco to take its foot off the gas a bit during the regular season and prioritize the health of its players before grabbing another #1 seed in the NFC. The 49ers are just outside the top 10 in schedule difficulty, but in addition to their divisional opponents, they do play the Jets, Chiefs, Cowboys, Bills, Packers, Bears, Dolphins and Lions. That is far from a walk in the park, so my lean is to the under 11.5 wins for this team.
San Francisco 49ers best bet: 49ers under 11.5 wins (-120)
Want more NFL futures picks? Head over to our NFL futures betting guide to find ALL of our predictions for the 2024 season
Los Angeles Rams (+330)
Last season was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Rams as they made a number of changes to their defense and fielded a very young squad on both sides of the ball. Instead of being mired in irrelevancy, Matthew Stafford had one of his best seasons in years and led the Rams to a playoff berth, where they ultimately fell short in a terrific game against the Detroit Lions. Expectations are different for Los Angeles this season, with the Rams projected as slight underdogs (+100) to make the playoffs in a wide-open NFC.
I’m about in line with the market on where I see Los Angeles this season, provided that Stafford can stay healthy for another full year. Los Angeles’ offensive line and ground game was very strong a season ago, and the front office made a point to address the void left by Aaron Donald’s retirement with multiple pass rushers in the draft. This is a team that should score plenty of points once again, but the schedule — including a tough 5-game stretch to end the season — makes it hard to be too optimistic about Los Angeles. The Rams are a squad with a high floor, but I’m a bit less optimistic about their regular season ceiling as of now.
Los Angeles Rams best bet: Rams to win exactly 9 games (+600)
Lock in our Super Bowl 59 predictions at +1400 and +2000 odds
Seattle Seahawks (+700)
After a 2022 season that saw quarterback Geno Smith make a major leap and lead Seattle to a playoff berth, regression hit the Seahawks like a truck in 2023. It also didn’t help that injuries really impacted the roster and Pete Carroll seemed to be out of tricks in his final season as head coach. Now, in steps former Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald to be the new head coach for a team that I think is poised for a bounce-back season this fall. Seattle has one of the better wide receiver rooms in this conference, and new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb should have Smith getting the ball out of his hands quickly while creating mismatches for this talented group of receivers, much like he did for Michael Penix Jr. a season ago. The defense should be improved under Macdonald’s tutelage, and they’ll have a chance to leave a mark early with 4 of their first 5 games against turnover-prone quarterbacks. I’m buying the upside on this team, so give me the over on Seattle’s win total.
Seattle Seahawks best bet: Seahawks over 7.5 wins (-135)
Get the latest NFL MVP odds and find out our expert’s longshot prediction at +5000!
Arizona Cardinals (+1300)
The first year with Jonathan Gannon as head coach probably went better than a lot of Cardinals fans would have thought given the negative buzz around the team last summer. Kyler Murray wasn’t even the quarterback for a good chunk of the campaign and the offense still saw success, which continued into a flurry of positive performances in December after Murray returned to lead the way. The front office went out and drafted Marvin Harrison Jr. — one of the most NFL-ready wide receivers we’ve seen in years — to bolster an offense that has the potential to finish within the top half of the league this season. Defensively, Arizona is a work in progress but even if the Cardinals end up trailing in the majority of their contests this season, that only gives me more confidence regarding my best bet for this team. I’ll take Arizona to score at least 1 touchdown in every regular season game at a big plus number.
Arizona Cardinals best bet: Cardinals to score at least 1 touchdown in all 17 games (+225)
See our NFL game picks and best bets to make right now for the 2024 NFL season
NFC West division predictions
- San Francisco 49ers
- Los Angeles Rams
- Seattle Seahawks
- Arizona Cardinals
NFC West Best Bet: Seattle Seahawks to make the playoffs (+200)
Given the fact that I’m lower than the market on San Francisco for this upcoming regular season and I’m about in line with the projection of 9 wins for the Rams, I’ll gladly take a flyer on Seattle to make the playoffs at 2-1 with my best bet for this division. The Seahawks have a pretty manageable schedule out of the gate, and while things certainly do get tougher as the days get shorter, I trust both the head coach and the coordinators to continuously adjust and innovate as the season wears on. At the end of the day, there are proven winners on a coaching staff that is overseeing a talented roster that underachieved last season. Don’t be surprised if Seattle sneaks in over a more talked-about team when the playoffs come around in January.
Pickswise NFL Division predictions and previews
Want more of Pickswise’s NFL division previews? Check out every other division below!
- AFC East odds and predictions — Bills, Jets or Dolphins, who will reign supreme?
- AFC North odds and predictions — see our expert’s +600 pick to win the division
- AFC South odds and predictions — get our best bets for EVERY team
- AFC West odds and predictions — can ANYONE stop the Chiefs?
- NFC East odds and predictions — will it be Eagles or Cowboys reigning supreme?
- NFC North odds and predictions — see our prediction to win the division
- NFC South odds and predictions — can the Falcons FINALLY fly high?
