The NFC South was a dumpster fire last year, appropriately won by the Carolina Panthers in an orgy of ugly football to end the 2025 season. Is this season going to be any different?
NFC West
NFL Season Preview 2026
NFC North
NFC South
NFC East: September 4
AFC East: September 7
AFC South: September 8
AFC North: September 10
AFC East: September 11
Carolina Panthers
- In: Jaelan Phillips, Devin Lloyd, Monroe Freeling
- Out: Rico Dowdle, D’Anthony Bell, Cade Mays
- Prediction: Playoff bubble or looking at a top 5 pick
There’s a lot of variance on this year’s Panthers simply because no one has any idea if what happened last year was real. Bryce Young finally looked competent. He didn’t look great, but for the first time, he didn’t look lost and bad either. That’s a big step. So what happens now? Does he continue to play better as the league slows down internally for him or does he turn back into a pumpkin? Who knows. The defense should be pretty good though as long as it stays healthy. Phillips and Jaycee Horn are not exactly known for their durability and Nic Scourton and Tershawn Wharton are already possibly done for the season, so it’s already not a great bet.
New Orleans Saints
- In: David Edwards, Travis Etienee, Kaden Elliss, Noah Fant, Jordyn Tyson
- Out: Alontae Taylor, Demario Davis, Bryan Bresee (IL for the year)
- Prediction: Possible division surprise, not that that’s what they want
The Saints need to be bad for one more season. They were supposed to challenge for the #1 pick last season but became shockingly competent toward the end of the year thanks to rookie surprise Tyler Shough. With Chris Olave returning, Tyson on board, Travis Etienne signing, and coach Kellen Moore the offense should be better than you would expect. If the defense can be competent, they should be this year’s Panthers. Of course, that’s not what they want. The Saints need a defensive dynamo and drafting around 10-15 is not going to help that. Ideally, Shaugh plays well but the defense gets torched meaning a lot of fun losses. That way they can get a high pick, move on from some bad contracts (David Carr on the books for $36m this season, yikes), and finally start a new life in earnest next season.
Atlanta Falcons
- In: Tua Tagovailoa, Matt Ryan
- Out: Terry Fontenot
- Prediction: Boring and bad
The Falcons finally and mercifully fired GM Terry Fontenot. He was atrocious at his job, a man with no plan making moves just to make them. In comes Matt Ryan, former QB and franchise poster boy to make moves for which he is definitely not qualified to make. His first moves were to give out enormous contract extensions to his RB, WR, and TE while undermining his 3rd year QB by bringing in Tua. So far, it doesn’t seem like the new GM has a better plan than the previous one. To make things worse, they got some bad news with both of their promising defensive rookies from last year. Jalon Walker is out for the season and James Pearce will miss 8 games thanks to being a crazy asshole. The Falcons have some good players and seem to be moving somewhat in the right direction, but this is probably a lost year. The worse the team does this season, the better off they will be in the long run because they simply need to draft a good QB.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- In: Alex Anzalone, Kenny Gainwell, A’Shawn Robinson
- Out: Mike Evans, Jamel Dean, Logan Hall
- Prediction: ???
This does not seem like a very healthy team. Vita Vea isn’t happy, Mike Evans and Jamel Dean left, and Baker Mayfield doesn’t understand why being a mediocre QB makes people think he’s a mediocre QB. They were far and away better than the Carolina Panthers last year and still hemorrhaged away the division. What is there to like here? The problem is that someone has to win this putrid division every year and on paper it should be the Bucs. I don’t know how anyone would feel comfortable picking them though.
Photo: Gonzo fan2007, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
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