The Atlanta Falcons must make the playoffs in weak 2023 NFC

The urgency for Arthur Smith’s version of the Atlanta Falcons will be at a career high with expectations sky-high. Even without a clear future at quarterback Atlanta has all the tools this off-season to fix their roster. They are in the weakest division in a wide-open NFC competing against teams also searching for their future at quarterback.

Not only is the NFC South wide open but the NFC as a whole. With the future of this year’s top contenders changing it is arguably the most wide-open a conference has been in the last decade. There isn’t a Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, or Joe Burrow to fear in the NFC.

Atlanta simply needs to put together an average team to make the playoffs with a last-place schedule and a myriad of young talent. Arthur Smith has had the benefit of time to build a roster and put his system in place with bad contracts and poor cap space to blame.

We know that Arthur Smith is an elite coach when it comes to getting the most out of a bad roster. He has taken two teams that objectively are 4-5 win groups and kept them in playoff contention winning seven games each of his first two seasons.

Now, however, it is winning time for a coach who has thrived in an underdog role. No longer will Atlanta fans be happy with a middling season that ends in the final three weeks of the season. Even if it is a first-round exit you have to feel Arthur Smith’s Falcons have to make the playoffs in 2023 to keep Smith’s job safe.

The cap space and building blocks are there and the excuses are gone. Even if Ridder isn’t the quarterback of the future Smith must find a way to make the playoffs or it will be time for Atlanta to consider making a change.