There is a case to be made for all four NFC South teams to win the division this season. Carolina is the defending division champ, Tampa Bay has been one of the NFC South's most consistent teams in recent years, and New Orleans finished 2025 by winning four of its final five games.
The Atlanta Falcons have started to get slept on in all the noise. Atlanta finished 8-9 last season and now enters 2026 with a new head coach and an interesting QB battle. While they could easily become the team that separates itself from the pack, they could just as easily finish dead last.
And that’s cause the Atlanta Falcons have one of the most intriguing combinations of established talent and unanswered questions in the division. Bijan Robinson gives Atlanta an elite offensive centerpiece, while the defense is solid as well.
Sure the defense still has some questions after the departures of Kaden Elliss, Arnold Ebiketie and David Onyemata, but the Falcons have plenty of talent in the secondary. Jessie Bates III, Xavier Watts and A.J. Terrell give Jeff Ulbrich a strong foundation to work with.
The bigger question is what Kevin Stefanski can do with this offense (and whatever QB is running it).
The NFC South is wide open enough for the Atlanta Falcons to matter
The Atlanta Falcons don't need to be the obvious favorite to change the division cause the NFC South was already extremely close last season. Carolina won the division at 8-9 through a three-way tiebreaker over the Bucs and Falcons so there isn't much separating these teams on paper.
The Falcons have a new coach, a quarterback competition, a potentially dangerous running game and a defense that could remain one of the better units in the division.
Atlanta isn't entering the season as a sure thing. The Falcons are entering it as a team with a wide range of possible outcomes. And that's exactly why they could shake up the entire NFC South.
If the quarterback situation gets resolved quickly, Stefanski gets the offense moving and the defense avoids the regression that can come with losing several important pieces up front, Atlanta could make a serious run at the division.
If those things don't happen, the Falcons could once again find themselves stuck around .500 while another team takes advantage. For now, that's the fun part about Atlanta. Nobody really knows where this team is going yet.
But with the NFC South as open as it appears to be, the Falcons have enough talent to influence the entire race. The biggest question is whether Atlanta will simply be part of the fight or become the team everyone else has to chase.
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