Off season grades nfc south

Atlanta Falcons: 8-9

A pretty big upheaval in the ranks of the Falcons. First, they hired former franchise QB Matt Ryan as the President of Football Operations. Then they hired former Bears Assistant GM Ian Cunningham as their GM. Then, as we covered in the Cleveland Browns write-up, they were able to hire former Browns HC Kevin Stefanski to take over the team. And finally they hired former Cleveland Brown OC Tommy Rees for the same role in Atlanta.

Stefanski has his work cut out for him. He is a great offensive mind and does good work with QBs, but Atlanta is in rough shape in the QB room. They added Tua to hopefully be able to tap into some of the potential he showed a few years ago. But they added an injury risk to a position that already has too much of that. In other free agency news; they re-signed Kyle Pitts to an extension. They are paying a premium for a guy that has not lived up to expectations. Last year was the first year he finally put up good numbers. You’d like to see his TD production go up. But Atlanta still gave good money for potential and not results. We’ll see if he becomes more consistent. They also re-signed Drake London to an extension. He had the lowest drop% of his career last year. However, he also played the fewest games of his career as well. They made a lot of signings this off-season but outside of the three I mentioned, most were just depth signings.

They didn’t have a first round pick at their disposal. But Atlanta was able to get a potential first round talent in Avieon Terrell the CB out of Clemson. They drafted WR Zachariah Branch in the third round because they sorely needed help at receiver. Right now he’s, at best a WR4. And the rest of their picks were depth pieces.

I think it would have been good for Atlanta to invest a pick on a QB. Like a Drew Allar or Carson Beck. As of right now the QB room is less than stellar. Unless Tua regains his form from ‘23, this is a team that will have to rely on Bijan Robinson. He is a great back but not a guy that can drag them to the playoffs by himself. It would not be a surprise if Atlanta only won 6 games next year. I give them a favorable grade because of the front office changes that will maybe lead them to a turnaround.

Grade: B

Carolina Panthers: 8-9

The Panthers, Falcons, and Bucs all finished 8-9 last year. One team had to win the division, and it ended up being the Panthers. Carolina improved from 5-12 the previous year to an 8-9 division title, so they didn’t make any front office or coaching changes.

What does a team do when they sort of fell into a division title? Hopefully they spend some money to improve the team. The Panthers certainly did that. First, they re-signed Jalen Coker to a three year deal. It’s for roughly $13 million a year. Fair value for a guy with potential that hasn’t played great yet. The big deals were for Edge Jaelan Phillips and LB Devin Lloyd. They absolutely needed to improve their defense and they did that with these two signings. They signed a few OLinemen to help with depth in trying to keep Bryce Young on his feet. The jury is still out on whether or not Young is the guy. But you have to give the guy help in order to make that assessment.

I really liked Carolina’s draft. They needed OL depth especially as Ekwonu tries to come back from an injury and drafted Monroe Freeling in the first round. Then drafted DT Lee Hunter in the second. I really liked what I saw from Hunter at the combine. Fifth round pick Sam Hecht, the C out of Kansas State, has a chance to be a starter in the near future.

Bryce Young is the engine with which this team runs. If he can continue to improve, Carolina has a bright future.

Grade: B+

New Orleans Saints: 6-11

Another team that didn’t make any significant changes to the coaching staff. They started off 0-4 before winning their first game. Then 1-8 and 2-10 before reeling off 4 straight wins.

The team needed an upgrade at the skill positions on the offense. As great as Alvin Kamara has been, he’s been hampered by injuries the last couple of years. So, they paid out decent money to bring in Travis Etienne from Jacksonville. He has similar traits to Kamara and should be a seemless fit there. They also signed Noah Fant to help improve their receivers. They had Chris Olave and Juwan Johnson and not much else. I liked the signing of ILB Kaden Elliss for the defense.

Did I mention that they needed help at receiver? Jordyn Tyson will do just that. The Saints chose him at 8 overall. They doubled up on Georgia Bulldogs with DT Christen Miller in the second round and TE Oscar Delp in the third. And because receiver was such a big need for them, they chose Bryce Lance and Barion Brown in the later rounds. I think Barion Brown will end up WR3 by the end of the year.

I’m interested to see what the Saints identity will be these next few years. HC Kellen Moore, as an OC was known for his prolific offenses. Dak and the Cowboys always played very well, even though it did not result in playoff success. Tyler Shough is no Dak. He needs to cut down on his interceptions in year two for the Saints to take a next step. The Front Office is doing their part in building around him.

Grade: B+

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 8-9

The final entry in the NFC South also went 8-9 last year. No coaching changes but many people felt like Todd Bowles should have been fired.

An interesting free agency for Tampa thus far. Vita Vea has requested a trade after a contract dispute. Then Baker Mayfield didn’t receive the contract extension that he was hoping for, which means that this may be the last year he is with Tampa. As for the present, they made some good signings to shore up the defense. Edge Al-Quadin Muhammad, DL A’Shawn Robinson, LB Alex Anzalone and LB Christian Rozeboom are all projected to be starters.

Going into the draft, Tampa still had a need at Edge rusher and did they ever address that on day one? Rueben Bain Jr. fell to them at #15 when most mock drafts had him as a top ten pick. He could make an immediate impact for that defense. LB Josiah Trotter and WR Ted Hurst III were the next two picks. Decent depth guys and Hurst will likely be WR4 by the end of the year. But their fourth pick is the one I’m excited for. CB Keionte Scott looked good at the combine and I was surprised he slipped to the fourth round. He will push for starting minutes before mid-season.

‍ I don’t understand what the Tampa Bay front office is doing. They aren’t one of the upper echelon teams, but they can absolutely make a playoff push. Their team is talented enough to be at least a 10 game winner. You’ve let things progress enough with a very good DT in Vea to request a trade. And then you don’t come to terms on an extension with your starting QB Mayfield. They could still get something done in the off-season with Mayfield. But let’s play the what if game. The Bucs win 10 games and that’s enough to win the NFC South. You’ve made Mayfield mad enough that he chooses to go to a different team rather than negotiate a new contract with you. Their pick at worst would be in the early 20’s. Sure, they could get lucky and a good QB falls to them in that range. It’s unlikely though. Will you get lucky and a Carson Beck falls to you in later rounds? Are you going to take on a reclamation project like a JJ McCarthy, Justin Fields or Zach Wilson? Yes, we all know that Mayfield is not the most consistent QB in the world. And he seems to have one good year followed by one bad year. But isn’t Mayfield better than the alternative at this point? Because their backup is Jake Browing. And while he did flash briefly with Cincinatti, he’s still a project.

Grade: B-