The NFC South has always been one of those divisions where you make the argument for atleast 3 teams winning it. Up until this season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were in the driver’s seat with Tom Brady and Baker Mayfield at quarterback but that came to an end this season.
With the Falcons taking down the Saints in Week 18, Atlanta’s victory helped the Panthers take the division from the Buccaneers, even though Tampa beat Carolina in Week 18. Yeah, it was a little chaotic in this division at the end of the season.
The Falcons didn’t play their best to stay in the playoff run, but they played hard down the stretch. However, they are making big changes that include bringing in Kevin Stefanski to replace Raheem Morris as the head coach. Anything is now up in the air on what could happen.
Just as the choices may seem endlessly for the Falcons, the same could be for the division as anything can happen. There is now no true front runner to who will be at the top of this division. We see the top teams in divisions fall while the bottom ones rise out of nowhere. That could very well happen with the New Orleans Saints as they have been arguably the worst team in the division this decade.
Falcons cannot overlook Saints anymore moving forward
Brad Gagnon from Bleacher Report listed one sentence for each team that is not in the playoffs to currently describe them, and Gagnon is very much spot on about the Saints:
"With a potential franchise quarterback in place, another top-10 pick in their pocket and cap hell in their rearview mirror, there's light at the end of the tunnel for a rebuilding team that hasn't made the playoffs since 2020. "Brad Gagnon, Bleacher Report
New Orleans has not been great whatsoever since Drew Brees. Even at the end of his tenure with the Saints, they weren’t as dominant as they once were. Tyler Shough was a surprise this season and he looked like a potential franchise quarterback. It helps that he and Kellen Moore can grow together as a QB/HC combo, and the Saints will now be able to build up around him since they aren’t in a terrible cap space anymore.
I’m not saying that the Saints are going to win the division, but don’t be surprised if they become a team that rises fast that no one saw coming in 2026.