ESPN takes a look at the NFC South...some good reads

[Captain Morgan]

gives a good update on the Saints salary cap situation.  While it gets better, but their dead money situtation is frightening, and will continue for another 2-3 seasons.  

and this little excerpt about the Falcons is pretty much Falconing:

 

Some of the worst decisions franchises can make come when the team's incentives aren't aligned with the people who work for the team. Seven years removed from their last winning season and with a quarterback who has all of three career starts under center in Michael Penix Jr., the Falcons should not be all-in. There are reasons to be optimistic about what the future might hold, sure, but they were not one player away this offseason.

General manager Terry Fontenot, though, might have been one player away from having a new job. After the disastrous, virtually inexplicable decision to guarantee Kirk Cousins $90 million in March 2024 and draft Penix a month later, and its natural conclusion with Cousins being benched by the end of his first year in Atlanta, the clock has been ticking on Fontenot's time with the Falcons. With the former Saints executive batting about 1-for-8 (Drake London) on his Day 1 and 2 picks in 2021 and 2022, it seems as if Atlanta is treading water. He is only the seventh GM since 2000 to start his career with four losing seasons and get a shot at turning things around in Year 5.

 

 

good summary on what we did, including this part

"

Carolina Panthers

The superlative: Most likely to have definitely solved their problem this time, for sure

Unlike the Falcons, the Panthers seem insistent on addressing their weak spot every single offseason. Since trading DJ Moore to the Bears as part of the deal for Bryce Young in 2023, Carolina has thrown asset after asset at wide receiver in an attempt to get its young quarterback some playmakers. Its moves for veterans have produced mixed results: Adam Thielen has been a reliably solid option and averaged a team-high 1.9 yards per route run over the past two seasons, but Diontae Johnson's brief run will probably be remembered only by obsessive Immaculate Grid users.

The draft is where the Panthers have focused their efforts. After drafting Jonathan Mingo in 2023, Xavier Legette in 2024 and Tetairoa McMillan last month, they have invested top-40 picks on wide receivers in three consecutive drafts. They're the first team to do that in 20 years, but even they haven't gone to the heights that the 2003-05 Lions did: Detroit used three top-10 picks to add Charles Rogers, Roy Williams and Mike Williams. Two years later, the Lions added a fourth who stuck around slightly longer -- future Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson.

The Lions went 1-for-3 at best with those three consecutive picks in the top 10. The Panthers are on pace to go 0-for-2. Mingo was dealt to the Cowboys before the end of his second season. Legette averaged a middling 1.3 yards per route run as a rookie, ranked 134th in ESPN's receiver score and generated 104 receiving yards below what an average receiver would have done with the same targets in 2024, per NFL Next Gen Stats, the 17th-worst mark in the league.

It's perfectly reasonable to be patient with Legette and see what he can do in 2025, but it's also realistic to point out that he wasn't an impact player as a rookie. His most notable moment was dropping what would have potentially been a winning touchdown reception to beat the eventual Super Bowl champion Eagles.

The Panthers will hope McMillan makes more of an instant impact. It's clear they're attempting to build a bully-ball group of receivers by adding Mingo (6-foot-2, 220 pounds), Legette (6-3, 227 pounds) and Jalen Coker (6-3, 213 pounds), an undrafted free agent who arguably outplayed Legette last season. At 6-4, McMillan is another big target for Young. At Arizona, McMillan was consistently able to leverage that frame into making tough catches. His massive catch radius and ability to create after bringing in the ball would be huge pluses for the Carolina offense if they translate quickly to the pro level.

 

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https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45318618/2025-nfl-offseason-nfc-teams-best-worst-deals-contracts-draft-picks-superlatives

[shaqattaq]

Good read overall, I like the author's spin on things and it is a nice overall recap going into preseason (I was out of the country and didn't follow other teams, drafts). My favorite Falcons quote from the article (after trading 2026 1st round pick for Pearce):

"The Falcons might also struggle even with Pearce on the roster, which could end up with them sending a top-10 pick to the Rams next year, making the price even more dramatic.

The Falcons will have needs next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. Compounding future draft capital to get one guy right now is a risky bet that doesn't pay off as often as teams would like. The logic of "If it works, who cares?" sounds great, but it isn't a smart use of resources. Nobody cares if you spent your paycheck on lottery tickets if you win the lottery, but that doesn't mean it's the correct way for you to use what you have.

There are scenarios in which making that sort of plunge makes sense -- going after a potential franchise quarterback or using a small amount of capital to move up a few spots within a round -- but this seems more desperate than calculated."

Fontenot is mortgaging the team's future to save his job today! That's just bad football.

[rayzor]

not sure if anyone saw this, but teams are asking about Kyle Pitts.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/kyle-pitts-landing-spots-cowboys-giants-among-potential-2025-fits-with-falcons-reportedly-open-to-trading-te/

also, the falcons winning season drought has been as long as ours.