NFC West 2016 Season NFL Betting Odds & Picks

In 2010, the NFC West became the first division in NFL history to have a champion with a losing record, as the 2010 Seattle Seahawks won the division title with a record of 7-9. What a difference six years makes. Now it might be the best all-around division in football with two excellent teams in the Seahawks and Cardinals, one potentially good team in the Los Angeles Rams and … OK, one bad team in the San Francisco 49ers. Who wins the West this year? Here are the teams’ NFL betting odds.

Here’s a Closer Look at the NFL Betting Odds & Picks for NFC West

Seattle Seahawks (-125)

Seattle finished second to Arizona last season but gets the early nod as division favorite. Seattle won the division in both 2013 & ’14 in reaching the Super Bowl both years, winning one. Seattle lost top running back Marshawn Lynch to retirement but made sure it wouldn’t lose top receiver Doug Baldwin in free agency after this season. He signed a four-year, $46 million extension on Wednesday. Through four NFL seasons, Baldwin had 15 total touchdowns and hadn’t surpassed 825 receiving yards in a season. In 2015, he exceeded 1,000 yards and caught a whopping 14 TDs, a Seahawks single-season record. Baldwin had 1,007 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns when lined up in the slot last year. In the last 10 years, the only other receiver to hit the 1,000-yard and 10-TD marks from the slot was Randall Cobb.

Arizona Cardinals (+165)

Arizona won the West for the first time since 2009 and reached the NFC Championship Game, getting clobbered there by the Carolina Panthers. QB Carson Palmer is off an MVP-caliber season. But he’s also 36 and has a history of collapsing at the wrong time. After failing to win a playoff game in his previous 12 seasons, he cleared that hurdle with Arizona’s dramatic victory against Green Bay in the divisional playoffs. But he was dreadful in the loss to Carolina and overall in those two playoff games he threw six interceptions and coughed up two fumbles. But if Palmer can stay healthy, he can equal or even surpass last season’s 4,671 passing yards and 35 TD passes with 11 interceptions as all of his weapons return.

LA Rams (+1000)

The Rams probably could stink this year and still get a pass because fans in Los Angeles are so happy to have an NFL team back. The Rams might struggle on offense as they are likely to start 2016 No. 1 overall pick Jared Goff at quarterback from Week 1. But St. Louis has the best young running back in the NFL in Todd Gurley, last season’s NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. A total of 403 of his 1,106 rushing yards and two of his 10 touchdown runs came in four divisional games, including a 146-yard coming-out party at Arizona. If there were a draft right now among non-quarterback offensive skill position players in the NFC West, Gurley would go No. 1.

San Francisco 49ers (+3000)

Some team has to finish last, and there’s frankly no question it will be the 49ers who do so again. They have holes everywhere on the roster and should be in the running with the Cleveland Browns for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft.