NFC West Power Rankings: Full Offensive And Defensive Recap

Over the last week, Ramblin’ Fan has gone through and “power” ranked nearly every position or unit on the offensive and defensive side of the football. All in all, there appear to be three teams that should via for a top spot in the NFC, which will make the NFC West one of the toughest, if not the toughest division in the NFL this season. For those who have missed the series, or are too lazy to go back and read through five or six different articles, here is the breakdown and a link to each ranking:

Quarterbacks, NFC West Power Rankings: Breaking Down The Quarterbacks

1. Seattle Seahawks, Russell Wilson

2. St. Louis Rams, Sam Bradford

3. San Francisco 49ers, Colin Kaepernick

4. Arizona Cardinals, Carson Palmer

Running Backs, NFC West Power Rankings: Lining Up The Skill Positions

1. Seattle Seahawks, Marshawn Lynch & Christine Michael

2. San Francisco 49ers, Frank Gore, Kendall Hunter, & LaMichael James

3. St. Louis Rams, Daryl Richardson, Isaiah Pead, & Zac Stacy

4. Arizona Cardinals, Rashard Mendenhall

Wide Receivers

1. San Francisco 49ers

2. Arizona Cardinals

3. St. Louis Rams

4. Seattle Seahawks

Tight Ends, NFC West Power Rankings: How Do The Tight Ends Stack Up?

1. St. Louis Rams, Jared Cook & Lance Kendricks

2. San Francisco 49ers, Vernon Davis & Vance McDonald

3. Seattle Seahawks, Zach Miller

4. Arizona Cardinals, Rob Housler & Jeff King

Defensive Line, NFC West Power Rankings: Battle For The Top Defensive Line

1. St. Louis Rams

2. Seattle Seahawks

3. Arizona Cardinals

4. San Francisco 49ers

Linebackers, NFC West Power Rankings: Best Of The Best Linebacker Corps

1. San Francisco 49ers

2. St. Louis Rams

3. Seattle Seahawks

4. Arizona Cardinals

Secondary, NFC West Power Rankings: Best Of The Defensive Backfields

1. Seattle Seahawks

2. St. Louis Rams

3. San Francisco 49ers

4. Arizona Cardinals

Preseason rankings are difficult, for a number of reasons. At this point last season the Seattle Seahawks would have been ranked dead last in the division, with the reasonable assumption that Matt Flynn would be the starter come Week 1. St. Louis had one of the worst secondaries in the league at the end of 2011, but completely overhauled the roster when Jeff Fisher took over, adding players like Cortland Finnegan through free agency and Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson through the draft. Bruce Irvin was marked as the “worst pick” of the 1st round of the 2012 NFL Draft, with analysts lambasting the ‘Hawks for selecting him too high… look how that turned out.

The point is, no one know how rosters will shake out when the actual season begins. Alec Ogletree could be the next Derrick Brooks… or he could be the next Aaron Curry. Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick could have “sophomore” slumps as starters… or they could become Top 10 quarterbacks. The additions of Tavon Austin, Jared Cook, and Stedman Bailey in St. Louis could bring back memories of the Greatest Show on Turf… or the offense could remain as stagnant as it has been for the last decade. Only time will tell…

Stay tuned at Ramblin’ Fan for all of your St. Louis Rams and NFC West news. We will undoubtedly roll out more Power Rankings as the season rolls on, and we know you do not want to miss that!