The NFC West is heading into 2026 with a different kind of shakeup than it had a year ago. The division’s top teams from the last postseason are still the ones driving the conversation, but each club has taken a hit in one area and made a notable move in another.
Some of those changes are obvious. One of them is downright massive.
Arizona, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle all have their own version of a best addition and biggest loss, and the list says plenty about where these teams stand.
For the Arizona Cardinals, the headline move is the arrival of RB Jeremiyah Love. The former Golden Domer became the highest-drafted running back since the Giants took Saquon Barkley second overall in 2018.
Love steps into a backfield that already includes James Conner, who missed the final 14 games of 2025 with a foot injury, and ’26 veteran addition Tyler Allgeier. At Notre Dame, Love piled up 3,014 scrimmage yards and 40 TDs over his final two seasons.
Arizona’s biggest departure is S Jalen Thompson, who is now with the Cowboys. A fifth-round pick in the 2019 NFL Supplemental Draft, Thompson spent seven seasons with the Cardinals and was part of their last playoff team in 2021. He finished among Arizona’s top three tacklers in each of the past five seasons, and Dallas is getting a player who should help a defense that allowed an NFL-high and team-record 511 points in 2025.
The Rams made the loudest splash of the bunch. Their best addition is DE Myles Garrett, and there’s no way around how big that is.
Yes, they also used the 13th overall pick on Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson in April, but general manager Les Snead paid a steep price to land the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Garrett posted 23.0 sacks last season, which was three more than the rival 49ers managed as a team in 2025.
The biggest loss for Los Angeles is T Rob Havenstein. It would have been easy to point to Jared Verse, the two-time Pro Bowler and 2024 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, who was sent to Cleveland with three draft choices as part of the Garrett deal.
But Havenstein’s departure hits a different spot. The Wisconsin product was a second-round pick in 2015 and spent 11 seasons with the Rams, making 148 regular-season starts and 13 postseason starts.
San Francisco’s best addition is DE Romello Height, and the fit makes sense given what the 49ers were dealing with last season. No team in the league had fewer sacks than San Francisco’s 20.0 in 2025, even with Robert Saleh running the defense before taking over as the Titans’ head coach. Nick Bosa missing most of the year was a major factor, but Height still gives them something they badly need after his 10.0-sack season at Texas Tech.
The 49ers’ biggest loss is WR Jauan Jennings. There was a time when San Francisco’s receiver room featured Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk and Jennings, the 2020 seventh-round pick from Tennessee.
Now Samuel is an unsigned free agent, Aiyuk’s status is murky at best, and Jennings was available for a long stretch before landing with the Vikings in early May. He caught a career-high nine touchdown passes in 2025.
Seattle’s best addition is RB Jadarian Price, the second Fighting Irish running back to show up on this list. John Schneider made him the final pick in the first round of April’s draft after deciding to let Super Bowl LX MVP Kenneth Walker, now with the Chiefs, test free agency. Price still produced 761 yards from scrimmage and 13 touchdowns in 12 games in 2025 behind Jeremiyah Love.
The Seahawks’ biggest loss is CB Riq Woolen. Seattle also lost Walker, while edge rusher Boye Mafe signed with the Bengals and safety Coby Bryant joined the Bears.
Woolen ended up with the perennial contending Eagles, and he leaves behind a strong run in Seattle. He made the Pro Bowl as a rookie in 2022 and finished with 17 takeaways over four seasons with the team.
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