NFC West Futures Bets, LA Rams, SF 49ers, SEA Seahawks, AZ Cardinals, Odds, Preview, Picks

WinMyBets
Aug 8, 2023
6 min read

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Los Angeles Rams: Stafford Over 20.5 Passing Touchdowns.

This is an overreaction to the Rams offensive struggles in 2022 which were primarily caused by injury. The Rams offensive line was shorthanded all season, Cooper Kupp went down halfway through the year, and Stafford himself eventually got hurt. This is still a Rams offense led by Sean McVay, one of the most prolific offensive minds in the game with a healthy Matt Stafford under center.

Stafford hasn’t been full go in a training camp like he is now since his Detroit days. The Hogs up front are healthy and return numerous starters from their Superbowl winning team a couple years ago. They also used their 36th overall pick to draft a day 1 starter at LG. Stafford’s favorite targets are all set to take the field week 1 as well.

McVay has 6 full seasons under his belt as the Rams Head Coach. His starting QB has gone over 20.5 passing touchdowns in 4 of those 6 seasons. The 2 that didn’t; Goff threw for 20 in his last year with the Rams (he missed 1 game) and Stafford threw for 10 in 9 games last year. Since becoming a full-time starter in 2011, Stafford’s only gone under 20.5 touchdowns twice. Last season and in 2019 he only played 8 games and threw 19.

With a much stronger OL in front of him and a clean bill of health going into the season, this Rams offense will see massive improvements in 2023. However, on the other side of the ball the Rams defense won’t fare much better. They’ve lost a ton of talent since their dominant days and Jalen Ramsey is the latest stud to leave. The LAR defense ranked 20th in Points Allowed Per Game last season and that won’t get much better. This will force the Rams into pass happy situations and leave them playing catch up at times. More attempts for Stafford.

San Francisco 49ers: Christian McCaffrey Under 900.5 Rushing Yards.

CMC is going to have a good year for SF unless he gets hurt. Which is certainly in play considering he played in just 7 games during 2021 and 3 in 2020. He’s also 27 years old going on year 7 in the NFL following 731 collegiate touches at Stanford. The SF 49ers are perennial contenders. Having CMC healthy for the Post-Season is important.

With his receiving ability and other good ball carriers in San Fran, CMC won’t see too many carries. The entire 49ers back-up RB room probably won’t be hurt all year like they were last year. Elijah Mitchell was the starter before the CMC trade and is a very talented RB. He ran for 963 yards in 11 regular season games his rookie year but played in just 5 last year. In games (including post-season) that CMC and Elijah Mitchell both suited up, CMC received 72 carries to Mitchell’s 62. Mitchell out carried him in multiple games. That was also Mitchell at less than 100%. He was returning from injury on 2 separate occasions. Mitchell averaged 6.2 YPC in his limited regular season work while CMC averaged 4.7.

They also have Jordan Mason at #3, he averaged 6 YPC on limited work. 2022 3rd round pick Tyrion Davis-Price enters year 2. Mostly Deebo and the other Wide Receivers account for nearly 4 carries per game under Shanahan too. There’s only so many carries to go around and the 49ers have plenty of other backs that can take the pounding inside.

CMC’s greatest asset is his pass catching ability. Shanahan took advantage of that immediately and had McCaffrey averaging nearly 5 receptions per game. That’s only going to increase. Not easy to step into a new offense and fluently jump into their aerial attack. CMC gets a full off-season with the 49ers and Shanahan gets all this time to work him into his offense. CMC is going to get a ton of work in the passing game.

Seattle Seahawks: Jaxon Smith Njigba Over 700.5 Receiving Yards.

The Seattle Seahawks offense is an overall buy. Offensive Coordinator Shane Waldron and starting QB Geno Smith enter Year 3 with Seattle. Geno threw for 4,282 passing yards last season and this offense has nowhere to go but up. The Seahawks started two Rookie’s at tackle last year and that turned out to be an overwhelming success. They have a 4th year man at LG, signed Phil Haynes to play RG, and brought in Veteran Evan Brown to play center. They also drafted a Guard and Center in the 4th and 5th round. This will be the best OL Seattle’s had since the Marshawn Lynch Era.

This offense had plenty of weapons as is. DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett are a great WR Duo, Noah Fant and Will Dissly form a solid TE room, and Kenneth Walker is an absolute stud at RB. They also added rookie RB Zach Charbonnet out of UCLA in the 2nd round. Now you throw Jaxon Smith Njigba into the mix. This is a guy who would have been a top 5 pick if he didn’t get hurt and miss all of 2022. But he did and SEA got a steal 20th overall. He’s already shredding SEA’s secondary and may be the best route runner on the team.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba reeled in 95 catches for 1,606 yards at Ohio State in 2021. His fellow WR’s Garrett Wilson had 70 for 1,058 and Chris Olave had 65 for 936. Wilson and Olave both got drafted in the 1st round last year and went over 1K Rec Yards despite dealing with a revolving door at QB. It was Smith-Njigba who was the #1 when all 3 were at OSU.

He’s also coming into a great situation. Geno was one of the best QB’s in the NFL last year. Njigba is going to eat into both Metcalf’s and Lockett’s workload very quickly. Geno also threw for 1,648 yards to the TE and RB position. With 3 legitimate WR’s Sea won’t be forced to run as many two tight end sets. JSN is an immediate impact player like many of the other OSU WR’s before him. Geno also pushed for SEA to draft JSN when watching his tape.

Arizona Cardinals: Marquise Brown Under 850.5 Receiving Yards.

Way too many question marks in Arizona right now. Former HC Kliff Kingsbury got canned last year and the ARI Front office hired a defensive mind in Jonathon Gannon. Gannon hired Drew Petzing to run the offense. Petzing is a first time Offensive Coordinator and play caller. He served as QB’s coach for the CLE Browns the past few seasons. He’s trying to implement a brand-new offense while his #1 QB is out as he recovers from an ACL surgery in January. He’s unlikely to return before the season begins too. Starting TE Zack Ertz is also recovering from an ACL/MCL Tear.

That puts Colt McCoy in charge of the offense for however many weeks until Murray returns and his struggles are well documented. Whenever Kyler Murray does return he has to lead a brand new offense. Getting play calls from an OC doing it for the first time. All of this with one of the worst offensive lines in football. They are the 31st ranked OL (according to PFF) headed in the season. It’s going to be a rough year for ARI, especially early on.

Marquise Brown’s only gone over 850.5 Rec Yards in 1 of his 4 NFL seasons. He’s also only played a full season once. Last year he missed 5 games. His injury history goes back to his College Days and will likely miss time again in 2023. With AZ set to struggle and a riddled injury history, Brown likely stays below 850 receiving yards once again and for the 4th time in 5 years.