NFC South breakdown

[O-Ther]

So far, pretty quiet and underwhelming in the division. My opinion is that all 3 teams realize how far behind us they are at having a talented roster. I'll list the players they have that I feel are the equal or better than our own.

 

Falcons have some building blocks with Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Roddy White, Jake Matthews, Desmond Trufant, and Devin Hester. That's it. Out of 23 positions we have better talent at 17. Noteworthy players they have cut are Harry Douglas, Steven Jackson, and OG Justin Blalock. Their front office structure is complicated at best, hot garbage at worst. Their head GM Thomas Dimitroff had his responsibility for scouting college and pro personnel taken away and given to Scott Pioli, but Pioli still reports to him. Meanwhile, new head coach Dan Quinn has final say over Dimitroff for the final 53 roster. And so far in free agency, they have brought in LBs Justin Durant (Cowboys-9 year vet) and Brooks Reed (Texans-5 year vet) and reserve OG/T Mike Person (Rams-5 year vet). Terrifying.

 

Saints have serious cap problems, but still Drew Brees, Kenny Stills, Brandin Cooks, Terron Armstead, Cameron Jordan, Junior Gallette, and Keenan Lewis would be equal or better than our players. Slight improvement over the Falcons, but we still have the edge at 16 positions. Front office structure seems sound, just have run out of road for the salary cap can to be kicked down. Noteworthy trades and releases include the loss of Jimmy Graham, LB Curtis Lofton, and RB Pierre Thomas. PT was the master of the screen, and will be missed almost as much as Graham. As far as free agency, they gained $1 million in cap space from trading Graham, but now have $9 million in dead money from him. Add on Max Unger's $4.5 million salary, and the Saints are back over the cap by about $3 million. They'll need to trade away or cut more players, or re-structure some current deals before they can play in the free agent pool.

 

Bucs have some pieces with Vincent Jackson, Mike Evans, Gerald McCoy, Lavonte David, and Johnathan Banks are players I'd like to see in Panthers uniforms, but the rest of the roster is just as bad as the Falcons. 18 roster spots are to our advantage. The front office seems to realize it made some free agency mistakes last year, but Jason Licht and Lovie Smith are willing to own their mistakes since they cut Anthony Collins just 1 year after signing him to a hefty 5 year contract and sent Josh McCown packing. Look for them to be more cautious with who they sign this year. If anyone wants to play there that is, since they have been shut out so far in free agency. I mean, every rookie QB takes their team to the Super Bowl, right? All that cap space, no state income tax, and plenty of gentleman's clubs with working single moms within a 2 mile radius of Raymond James Stadium are Tampa's main selling points, since, you know, the team sucks.

 

Homer? Probably, but a realistic one. Here's to the 3-peat!

[WOW!!]

Devin Hester a building block??

Isn't he 30 something now?

[O-Ther]

Devin Hester a building block??

Isn't he 30 something now?

 

Can't give Ginn the edge over him at this time, tho

[BelgianPantherFan]

I guess KR/PR is one of the positions, then Hester still has the advantage over Ginn.

[WOW!!]

Can't give Ginn the edge over him at this time, tho

Ginn isn't a building block thoe..

[O-Ther]

I guess KR/PR is one of the positions, then Hester still has the advantage over Ginn.

 

Yeah I left off the kickers and punters since I was talking about football players, so the offense, defense, and a returner

 

[O-Ther]

Ginn isn't a building block thoe..

 

Given TD and Kalil's age, technically neither are they. Concentrate on the positions, not how they are referred to.

[imminent rogaine]

I think he just means these people are notable key pieces in place that the team can add to this season, not necessarily for years to come.

[WUnderhill]

Yeah I left off the kickers and punters since I was talking about football players, so the offense, defense, and a returner

Kickers and punters are pretty important no matter what your definition of a football player is.

[PandaPancake]

Kickers and punters are pretty important no matter what your definition of a football player is.

I like watching them give a hard hit. Who is going to flag a kicker or punter?

[rmoneyg35]

So is this a official NFC south free agency transaction thread? If so I would like to discuss Atlanta signing Brooks Reed yesterday. I thought that was a decent pick up and upgrade for Atlanta. What does everyone else think?

[O-Ther]

So is this a official NFC south free agency transaction thread? If so I would like to discuss Atlanta signing Brooks Reed yesterday. I thought that was a decent pick up and upgrade for Atlanta. What does everyone else think?

 

At this point, anything is an upgrade at LB for Atlanta. I've seen discussions about where he and Durant will play. Popular opinion says Durant takes the SLB and Reed takes the middle.

 

[Davidson Deac II]

Kickers and punters are pretty important no matter what your definition of a football player is.

 Agreed, especially when it comes to fg kickers. A lot of fans don't realize how important the fg kicker is until the team has a bad one. And that is one area in which the Falcons are better than anyone in the South. 

[hepcat]

tl;dr