The Panthers and Saints are further along and probably closed the gap with the Falcons this off season.
IMO, the Panthers had a sneaky good draft, and the Saints are just further cementing themselves as the cellar dweller.
Saints drafted the 8th best QB in the 2nd round tho
The Saints did what they need to do to fix their trenches and then upgrade some skill positions.
I wouldn't also bet against Moore as a play caller with the offensive weapons at his disposal. Moore is very familiar in using Cooks and to obtain the best out of Wilson. And they still have Olave and Shaheed. Kamara, Miller and Neal give Moore a plethora of options to do as he wishes.
Defensively Staley for all his faults as a terrible, terrible bland HC he is very, very competent as a DC. PR staff has a blind spot when it comes to the Saints drafts because Breese is all of sudden sneaky good and flew under the radar last year. Stutsman is going to see the field a lot with Davis and Warner which makes potentially the best LB core in the division. Their secondary is in flux but I think Staley will have it sorted out sooner or later. Jones and Riley are two solid players added to a secondary with a lot of question marks and age.
Panthers are just banking on continued improvement on offense but just in case they went out and added Tet. Truthfully finally adding some talent for Evero to work with is scary. If Staley is a very good DC then Evero is upper echelon and he now has the tools needed to stop the run and also rush the passer.
Falcons from my view upgraded team speed in the front seven and arguably have the best DB room in the NFCS. But the problem remains that the Panthers, Saints and Bucs are going to pound the rock against that front seven missing Grady Jarrett.
This post has all but assured that both of these players will be Pro Bowlers.
Was thinking the same exact thing.
Gay
James Pearce's 10.5 sacks as a rookie would have led all Buccaneer defenders in 2025.
Jalon Walker's 5.5 sacks as a rookie would have led all Buccaneer defenders in 2025, save Diaby with 7.
Yet another magnificent take.
This post has all but assured that both of these players will be Pro Bowlers.
Was thinking the same exact thing.
Gay
James Pearce's 10.5 sacks as a rookie would have led all Buccaneer defenders in 2025.
Jalon Walker's 5.5 sacks as a rookie would have led all Buccaneer defenders in 2025, save Diaby with 7.
Yet another magnificent take.
They also would be ahead 1 - nil on attempts to murder their significant other. It's weird...
James Pearce's 10.5 sacks as a rookie would have led all Buccaneer defenders in 2025.
Dude had a beast of a year but he must have gotten CTE along the way
The Falcons have ownership that believes they are only a few pieces away from a SB which undermines them from understanding you need to build a solid team first as the assignment
I doubt the problem is Blank. The GM maybe
Well Matt Ryan is in charge now and Blank is still hoping for lightning in a bottle.
Falcons sacrificed a lot to land both edge rushers but the flipside is that it limited what the new coaching staff could have done this off season. Falcons relied on a lot of pick up outside of the draft to help them go into a new direction.
Their defensive backfield is still the best in the NFCS and they added depth on defense and offense from the draft with the few picks they had to work with.
For them they need Tua to have a hot start along with Hooper returning to team with Pitts and Woerner. Defensively, they have the front seven to cause havoc with that strong DB secondary but they are so small on that front seven and the rest of the OLs of the NFCS are so big in comparison.
If their defensive backfield is able to shore up their run support and force some turnovers/coverage sacks they will be in the mix of things. But if their DB backfield folds their front seven doesn't have the endurance for a 17 game season.
I went and looked up the 2002 Bucs defense. Rice was bigger than any of their OLBs on the Falcons 2026 roster. Singleton as a LB was bigger than a lot of their ILBs. But the rest of the Falcons 2026 roster is similar in size to that 2002 defense featuring Sapp, McFarland, Brooks, Quarles, Barber, Kelly, and Spires. Another key difference is Watts and Bates are smaller safeties than Lynch and Jackson.
I just think that the Falcons defense is built on speed but they also lack players that understand technique, landmarks and some players with size sprinkled in. They are all in with speed at all positions on defense.
Meanwhile the 2026 Bucs said we are going bigger on our front seven along DL, ILB and OLB.
Only meant that Blank is normally pretty hands off.
Nah, he was this way long before then. University of Tennessee did a bangup job of keeping his misdeeds quiet while he was in college. It is well-known around here that he was kind of a criminal thug-type.James Pearce's 10.5 sacks as a rookie would have led all Buccaneer defenders in 2025.
Dude had a beast of a year but he must have gotten CTE along the way
Nah, he was this way long before then. University of Tennessee did a bangup job of keeping his misdeeds quiet while he was in college. It is well-known around here that he was kind of a criminal thug-type.James Pearce's 10.5 sacks as a rookie would have led all Buccaneer defenders in 2025.
Dude had a beast of a year but he must have gotten CTE along the way
Yep. It’s fun to have all those sacks but dude is a problem emotionally. Every GM in the league viewed him as poison. But just like the Penix deal, those fools were tripping over each other, giving away future draft capital, to grab players who have the shelf life of raw seafood. Poor stupid bastards.
Only meant that Blank is normally pretty hands off.
Blank claims he is hands off but the results say otherwise. With Matt Ryan and Ian Cunningham he is giving them leeway right now but how long that lasts is a different story.
Nah, he was this way long before then. University of Tennessee did a bangup job of keeping his misdeeds quiet while he was in college. It is well-known around here that he was kind of a criminal thug-type.James Pearce's 10.5 sacks as a rookie would have led all Buccaneer defenders in 2025.
Dude had a beast of a year but he must have gotten CTE along the way
It was a joke and yeah I agree, classic college football. Keep the idiot on the field because he can ball.
Reminds me of a certain TE from Florida
Nah, he was this way long before then. University of Tennessee did a bangup job of keeping his misdeeds quiet while he was in college. It is well-known around here that he was kind of a criminal thug-type.James Pearce's 10.5 sacks as a rookie would have led all Buccaneer defenders in 2025.
Dude had a beast of a year but he must have gotten CTE along the way
It was a joke and yeah I agree, classic college football. Keep the idiot on the field because he can ball.
Reminds me of a certain TE from Florida
Yeah, Pierce was always going to do something stupid. At least Hernandez got a few years in. No one respects anyone the Falcon’s draft. It’s weird…
Nah, he was this way long before then. University of Tennessee did a bangup job of keeping his misdeeds quiet while he was in college. It is well-known around here that he was kind of a criminal thug-type.James Pearce's 10.5 sacks as a rookie would have led all Buccaneer defenders in 2025.
Dude had a beast of a year but he must have gotten CTE along the way
It was a joke and yeah I agree, classic college football. Keep the idiot on the field because he can ball.
Reminds me of a certain TE from Florida
Yeah, Pierce was always going to do something stupid. At least Hernandez got a few years in. No one respects anyone the Falcon’s draft. It’s weird…
Well he hid it for a few years. Dude was born with CTE