The NFC West crown — and the conference's No. 1 seed — will be earned on Saturday night when the San Francisco 49ers host the Seattle Seahawks.
The pregame narrative: On an individual level, the Offensive Player of the Year will almost certainly be decided in this game, too. Look for OPOY frontrunners Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Christian McCaffrey to both pad their resumes in a massive matchup.
Check out my Seahawks vs. 49ers prop picks for Jan. 3.
BET FINDER: Search & Bet!
-> Join NorthStar Bets to start betting on the NFL
Seahawks vs. 49ers prop picks
Best Bet: McCaffrey over 39.5 receiving yards (-113)
The Seahawks have a nasty pass defence, which might give bettors some pause on this prop.
Seattle ranks second in net yards per attempt, as well as fifth in dropback success rate and EPA per dropback (according to RBSDM.com).
What that means to me, though, is that guys like Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall are bound to struggle. And the check-down work that McCaffrey is accustomed to should still be there.
Look back to the Week 1 matchup between these teams, when the Niners only had two receivers clear 35 yards. One was McCaffrey, who caught nine of 10 targets for 73.
-> Bet on McCaffrey vs. the Seahawks
That kickstarted a remarkable receiving season for the two-time OPOY winner.
- McCaffrey is averaging 6.0 receptions and 55.6 yards per game. He has 40+ yards in 13 of 16 games.
- At 122 targets, CMC is 22 targets clear of all other NFL running backs (with Bijan Robinson sitting in second).
- San Francisco has leaned harder on McCaffrey than anyone would've expected this season, which has resulted in him pacing the NFL in total touches (399).
In an extremely important season finale, he should be heavily involved again.
For folks on milestone watch, McCaffrey is four receptions from 100 for the year and 110 yards away from 1,000. It's unlikely he makes good on the latter milestone, but his floor in terms of touches is exceedingly high.
Key stat: Seattle has allowed the fifth-most receiving yards per game to opposing running backs (37.6).
NFL Saturday night prop bet
Smith-Njigba 100+ receiving yards (+100): Like McCaffrey, Smith-Njigba balled out when these divisional foes met at the start of the year.
The 23-year-old wideout turned 13 targets into nine catches for 124 yards. Entering Seattle's bye in Week 8, JSN was on a 1,989-yard pace.
-> Don't miss out — Bet on Seahawks vs. 49ers with the NFC's top seed on the line!
He hasn't quite kept that up, but a 100-yard game would put him over 1,800 for the season and likely secure the NFL receiving crown.
Through 16 games, Smith-Njigba is 9-7 vs. this prop ... but he finished with more than 90 yards in four of the seven outliers.
He has at least nine targets in six of his past seven games, and he ranks in the 97th percentile this season in air yards per game (106.5, according to RotoWire).
Bank on Seattle giving its top weapon opportunities to shine.
Seahawks vs. 49ers prop picks made at 2 p.m. ET 01/02/2026.
