Expectations are all over the place for the 2025 Atlanta Falcons. Some analysts see them as the team that can finally dethrone the Buccaneers, while others think they are a bunch of hype with no foundation.
No matter what side you are on, you can't argue that they don't have immense talent with names like Michael Penix Jr., Drake London, Bijan Robinson, etc.
The question is: can they harness that talent, be consistent, and have the mental fortitude to grind through a full 17-game season, and hopefully more?
Over at NFL SpinZone, Sayre Bedinger put together power rankings, which have the Falcons in an all-too-familiar place.
Atlanta Falcons land at No. 22 on SpinZone's power rankings
The Falcons very much feel like one of those 'floater' teams; no one knows exactly what a fair ranking would look like (and, to be fair, the same can be said about the 31 other teams, to a point).
Sayre sees the Dirty Birds as the 22nd best team in the NFL.
You can read his assessment here, but he mentions how exciting this team could be with Michael Penix Jr. and Bijan Robinson.
While I think most Falcons fans believe they should be higher, you cannot blame anyone for being uncertain with Atlanta -- just look at the past decade.
Unsurprisingly, the Falcons aren't even in the bottom two in their division. The Saints are dead last, followed by the Panthers at No. 26.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lead the division, ranking as the ninth-best team.
Personally, that is way too rich. The Bucs have consistently proven to be a consistently good-not-great team. They win the division, only to get kicked out before the NFC Championship round (not including their Tom Brady era).
Granted, you look at the teams behind Tampa and none of them stick out; the Commanders scream one-year wonder to me, the Vikings are breaking in another new quarterback, the Bengals have an awful defense, and the Steelers' offense is led by Arthur Smith.
It feels like the 2025 season is about as volatile as we have seen in some time because of all the quarterback changes.
While we all might have differing opinions about different teams, one thing is for sure: we don't have to wait long to get the answers.