Divisions to Watch Part 2 NFC South

Divisions to Watch Part 2 NFC South

Robert Knuckles

Another Division to Watch

Back with another Divisions to Watch article and this time I’m going to be talking about the NFC South. Back in 2014 The Carolina Panthers won the division with a 7-8-1 record and then in 2015 the Panthers won again with a record 15-1 while the rest of the division was no where close. In 2016 The Atlanta Falcons won the division with a 11-5 record. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were pretty close for at least making a wild card with a 9-7 record.

Now after free agency and the draft the NFC South will be another good division to watch.

1. Tampa Bay Buccs

I’m going to start off with the team that I’m most excited to watch this 2017 season. In Free Agency The Buccs got the speed demon Desean Jackson and in the draft they got Alabama Tight End O.J. Howard. This offense looks scary. You have the quarterback Jameis Winston coming off a pretty decent season, receivers in Jackson and Mike Evans and running back Doug Martin who looks like he wants to redeem himself after having a down year.

The defense is rising with defensive tackle Gerald McCoy and Linebacker Lavonte David. Vernon Hargreaves will get better and I can see this team possibly winning the division.

2. Atlanta Falcons

Now this is a bit of a tricky one for me. The Falcons had a great season in 2016 but fell short in the Super Bowl having a 28 point lead and choked in the end. In the off season the Falcons lost offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan who’s now the head coach in San Francisco. So the question comes to mind what’s going to happen to the offense and will the Super Bowl hangover effect them? Now with all the weapons on offense it’s tough to see them falling apart on offensive.

They didn’t do much in free agency they got defensive end Jack Crawford but in the draft the Falcons got defensive end Takkarist McKinley from UCLA. McKinley with linebacker Vic Beasley who led the league in sacks?These two coming off the edge will give teams problems. I also do believe the defense will get better now granted it was one of the worst in the league but at least three of the starters were rookies and Dan Quinn is a defensive minded guy coming into his third season of coaching and normally your third season is make it or break it.

3. Carolina Panthers

This is another team that I picked to have a bounce back season in 2017. They drafted running back Christian McCaffrey from Stanford that’s going to help Cam Newton. McCaffrey can play running back, receiver and returner. Now the size might worry some people especially when he’s playing the running back position and he might have a huge workload. In the second round they got wide receiver Curtis Samuel from Ohio State. Samuel can play in multiple positions in running back and wide receiver. Carolina got all these weapons for Newtown and I’m very excited to see what they are going to do.

Their star linebacker Luke Kuechly will come back so that front seven will return to its dominant position.

4. New Orleans Saints

I never want to count out quarterback Drew Brees. He’s still one of the elite quarterbacks in this league. In free agency they got running back Adrian Peterson. Now Peterson is getting old and only has a few seasons left so time will only tell to see if he can get the job done but you do have Peterson and Mark Ingram. A double headed running back that will help out the running game. I believe in the Saints offense but their defense not so much.

In the draft they got cornerback Marshon Lattimore from Ohio State who people can argue is the number one cornerback in the draft. The Saints needed him because that secondary gives up A LOT of passes being worst in the league. The Saints did draft other defensive players and they are going to need more of them. It's a start to see what this defense can do in the future.