NFC South:
1. New Orleans Saints
The Saints had one of the best offseasons in the league this time around. They landed one of most valuable guys on the market in DT Aubrayo Franklin, formerly of the 49ers. Franklin clogs holes and makes it easier for quick linebackers to make plays, as Patrick Willis so often did and Jonathan Vilma and company will have a chance to do this season. The Saints also got a bargain with running back Darren Sproles, paying less than Reggie Bush for a rich man’s Reggie Bush (only in professional sports does stuff like this happen). Add rookie Mark Ingram into the mix, and the Saints have a ton of depth and talent on the offense, including receivers Marques Colston and Robert Meachem (an underrated but excellent touchdown threat), and Brees is going to go to sleep easy every night even if the team suffers an injury here or there. The Saints seem like they are in contention for another Super Bowl run. (And don’t forget about coach Sean Payton, possibly the second best coach in the league after the Hoodie. You can never count a dominant coach out.)
2. Atlanta Falcons (wild card)
I feel like Julio Jones is a deciding factor for where the Falcons end up. The offense is already very good, but Julio Jones being as breath-taking as Tony Gonzalez is leading us to believe than this offense could be unstoppable. Obviously the defense is a concern, leaning on the age of DE John Abraham and no other dominant starter (Ray Edwards is a good pickup but a product of the system in Minnesota, Brent Grimes is a good ballhawk but not very physical), but if the Falcons score as much as they have the potential to, the play of the defense will matter less. We’ll see if the conservative head coach Mike Smith allows Matt Ryan to let the ball fly more this season.
3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (wild card)
My man Josh Freeman looks to put up another impressive season in his second year as the unquestioned started and leader of this team. It is difficult to point to one specific player on this team as a dominant guy, they just play well as a team and the players on the field complement each other very smoothly. LaGarrette Blount was a phenomenal downhill runner in college, so I wasn’t surprised to see him post big numbers in his rookie season after being undrafted. I was surprised to see the number of teams that passed on him or didn’t keep him around. If Aqib Talib can get his act together off the field, he can get back to giving the opposing quarterbacks fits. Raheem Morris keeps this group focused and motivated.
4. Carolina Panthers
The bad news is they will likely finish last in their division for the second straight season. The good news is they will likely finish better than 2-14! The record is not the important thing for this franchise going forward. Obviously it is the development of rookie quarterback Cam Newton. I don’t really understand why the Panthers shelled out so much guaranteed money to the oft-injured DeAngelo Williams or the unproven Charles Johnson, players who were part of that 2-14 season, but I still have high hopes that the season won’t be as disastrous as last year. Lock them up for 4-12.
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