Seattle Seahawks have one massive edge over the 49ers' defense

For various reasons, the San Francisco 49ers seem to be consistently counted out of this season's NFC West race, while the Los Angeles Rams have become the new shining star in the division over the Seattle Seahawks. Blockbuster offseason moves turned many over to the Rams' side, while the Seahawks are getting passed over.

To be fair, the Rams and the Seahawks deserve more faith and belief due to what they accomplished last year, and, on paper, their rosters are better than the 49ers'. That being said, they shouldn't be counted out so easily. After all, they did split with the Seahawks and Rams, winning 12 games in total, running on an empty defense last year.

The Seahawks will face both teams twice this season, as they do every season. The 49ers, unlike their two rivals, aren't getting a lot of attention, though. Are they really that far behind the Seahawks, for instance? There has to be something to the returning players to the 49ers defense, which leads to the question: which defense is actually better, when fully healthy? Seattle's, or San Francisco's?

A fully healthy San Francisco 49ers defense can easily rival the Seattle Seahawks'

For the moment, let's set aside the rash of injuries killing the 49ers during training camp. Fortunately, the brunt of their injuries is on the offense, like wide receivers Ricky Pearsall, Mike Evans, and Christian Kirk. Pearsall's injury is the devastating one, considering he's set to miss the season to undergo knee surgery. 

As for the defense, the players who made the 49ers defense so dangerous in the years prior to last season are all returning, either after missing significant chunks of last season due to injury or after being brought back from another team. 

The returns of linebacker Fred Warner and defensive end Nick Bosa are huge for Kyle Shanahan and 49ers defensive coordinator Raheem Morris. Additionally, Dre Greenlaw's return from a one-year stint with the Denver Broncos is also significant. The 49ers saw great success on defense last season without those three players for large portions of the season. 

The 49ers are also strong at safety with Malik Moustapha, cornerback Deommodore Lenoir, and linebacker Mykel Williams. All in all, the 49ers have a great defense, and if fully healthy, despite the age of some of their veterans, including Trent Williams, the Seahawks might actually have some real problems to contend with. 

As far as cornerbacks go, the Seahawks have the edge with Devon Witherspoon and Josh Jobe. The same can be said at safety with Nick Emmanwori, Julian Love, and Ty Okada. It's on the defensive line and at linebacker where the 49ers might actually equal, or be a bit better than, the Seahawks. 

San Francisco's Williams has the Seahawks beat at defensive tackle. Bosa is also the winner at defensive end over the Seahawks' DeMarcus Lawrence, and Warner and Greenlaw are a level above Ernest Jones IV and Uchenna Nwosu. 

While the Seahawks finished last season with clearly the better defensive group as a whole, the 49ers, coming back with Warner and the others, could battle the Seahawks all season for the better defense. The 49ers should have been at the bottom of the league last year on defense, but were good for the middle of the pack. 

Now that they're back to full health, they're an instant top-10 defense; at least, they should be. Nevertheless, how the Seahawks run their offense will have to account for three additional elite defenders in Warner, Bosa, and Greenlaw—a problem Mike Macdonald didn't have to contend with last season.

So, how do these two NFC West defenses stack up against each other? The nod still has to go to Seattle for one reason: completion. Seattle's defense is significantly more complete than San Francisco's. Furthermore, Seattle has much better depth quality; San Francisco lacks in that department. 

For the sake of competition, a full, healthy, and available 49ers defense will make their clashes with the Seahawks even more fun. If the 49ers can get their offensive injuries in check before the season begins, it makes no sense to write them off as NFC West competitors. No sense at all. 

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