On Needs Alone: Falcons are a Playoff Team

Over at CBSSports.com they track every NFL teams needs for the upcoming draft. They assign a number to each position of need. The higher the number the more pressing that need is. For example, the Rams are assigned a 10 (Highest Need) for the QB position. While the Falcons are assigned a 0 (Lowest Need).

Using that system, I wanted to see which teams have the fewest “needs” and by extension which teams are primed to be the best in 2010.

I calculated the total values, added them up (okay I used a calculator) and sorted the results from best to worst to come up with the potential playoff teams from each conference.

Wow, that was a whole lot of nerdy stuff to get to the good stuff, but here we go.

Some Surprises

The Giants, Patriots, Steelers, Packers and Saints are in the bottom half of the league and appear to have a lot of holes to fill. Perhaps their positives will far outweigh their negatives, but it’s interesting to note nonetheless.

The 49ers and the Panthers have few needs and could be setup to make some noise this season, however, their unstable QB situations could cost them over the course of the season.

The Result

Using these hypothetical rankings, the story continues. The Falcons playoff drought lasts only one year as they win the NFC South and host a wild-card game vs. the Bears. Unfortunately, this is where their road ends.

Now these are Pre-Draft needs so a team’s fortunes will change April 22-24 but it’s interesting to see where the Falcons rank when matched up position-by-position.

What do you think? Will the Falcons fortunes be improved after Thursday’s draft? Are they good enough now to win the division?