Full preseason NFL power rankings: Where the Falcons should rank

If you had to pick an NFL team that will regress, the Bengals might just be that pick and that would be great for the Atlanta Falcons considering they play them this season and are completely outmatched if the Bengals mirror their 2021 season.

You have a dynamic group of playmakers on the offense and they added former Falcon Hayden Hurst, who should finally get a bunch of opportunities to make plays.

Their defense is a big concern, sure they have Trey Hendrickson, Logan Wilson, D.J. Reader, and Jessie Bates, but look at their starting outside corners — Eli Apple and Chidobe Awuzie

Nonetheless, a talented team that has the ability to cover up major weaknesses.

A team a lot of Falcons fans will be paying attention to and rooting for. The Colts obviously added Matt Ryan and it was a perfect fit for both sides.

Ryan finally gets to play behind an elite offensive line and has an elite running back to hand the ball to. Michael Pittman is also due for a breakout campaign.

Then on the other side of the ball, they have a ton of talent with Kwity Paye, DeForest Buckner, Yannick Ngakoue, Shaq Leonard, Kenny Moore, Stephon Gilmore, and Julian Blackman. They are a contender, no doubt about it.

If there is a team that can play through the potential struggles of a quarterback starting for the first time, it is the 49ers and that is why they are a top-five team.

If Trey Lance comes out playing lights out then this team could be the best in the NFL. Think about it, they have Kyle Shanahan calling plays with Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, a good committee of running backs, and a good offensive line. Falcons fans know just how good Shanahan’s offenses can be.

Then their defense has Nick Bosa and Fred Warner and while outside of those two, they might not have any elite players, they still always have a great defense no matter what, so no reason to expect anything different.

See now, if the Buccaneers only played the Falcons for their 17 regular season games, then they would be the top team in the NFL, but that is neither here nor there.

Tom Brady, unfortunately, is returning to an offense that may have lost Rob Gronkowski but they added Russell Gage and Julio Jones to a group that already consisted of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

The thing to watch, however, is whether their offensive line can play through the injuries that they have already sustained. People also forget that they lost their head coach, so that might impact this team.

The defense looks basically the same, minus the swapping of Ndamukong Suh and Akiem Hicks, so they should still be fine there.