NFC South
Carolina Panthers - Ceiling
I am of the opinion that what we saw in the 2025 season from the Carolina Panthers was and is the team's ceiling as long as Bryce Young is at QB. Young did play the best football of his career but only managed to throw for at least 200 yards in four of his 16 starts, in which the Panthers went 8-8.
The Panthers also didn't excel at anything last year and don't have a roster that can gain a consistent advantage against opponents. They did luck out a bit last year, as an 8-9 record should not have been nearly good enough to win the NFC South, but thanks to some shaky football from the second place team, 8-9 was barely enough.
Carolina can hope that the 2026 brings another step forward, but Young has some notable limitations that will end up preventing that.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Unspectacular
In the Todd Bowles era, even dating back to the days with Tom Brady, Tampa Bay has been an unspectacular football team. The Bucs do have some talent players, but they're rather mediocre at head coach and largely average at QB.
Tampa Bay has been able to take advantage of how bad the three other teams have been in recent years, but no one has mistaken the Buccaneers as a contender. The same thing will remain the case in 2026, even if they are back at the top of the division, and that might only take nine or 10 wins, which has typically been the case for years prior.
Atlanta Falcons - Quarterback
Neither Tua Tagovailoa nor Michael Penix Jr did enough this offseason to truly give Atlanta someone to rely on at the position, and that could also give us some indicators of how the 2026 season is going to go, unfortunately. While this is year one of the current coaching regime, it wasn't outrageous to expect one of Tagovailoa or Penix to at least show signs of being competent.
New Orleans Saints - Sneaky
The New Orleans Saints won four of five games to end the 2025 season and managed to finish 6-11, the same record as the Chiefs, as we all expected. The Saints added guard David Edwards to the offensive line, brought Etienne into the backfield, and also sport a sneaky good defense thanks to Brandon Staley.
If there is any team that could breakout a bit and shock the NFL world, it's the Saints, but they have gotten a ton of attention this offseason and are most definitely 'sneaking' around.
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