Team Preview: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

 

Just a year after Tom Brady retired, the Bucs were still able to capture their third division title in the last four years. The revival of Baker Mayfield's career powered them to the divisional round of the playoffs in 2023. 

The story of the Buccaneers from last season was Baker Mayfield. The Bucs took a chance on Baker after signing him to a one-year deal with his career hanging in the balance. His great play not only lead Tampa Bay to a division title, but earned him a three-year extension with the Bucs during the offseason. 

The Bucs did hand out some key extensions along with Baker's deal as well. A player who seems to continually get better as he gets older, Mike Evans was awarded a two-year extension to remain the WR1 in Tampa through 2025. One of the top safeties in the league, if not the best, Antoine Winfield Jr. was also extended for four years. Tampa did a great job of locking down their core pieces this offseason. 

Tampa Bay did suffer a couple a couple of losses this offseason with multiple veterans departing on both sides of the football. Their longtime center, Ryan Jensen, retired after nine long seasons in the NFL. On defense, Shaq Barrett was cut and Devin White decided to take his talents elsewhere after starting his career in Tampa Bay. 

Tampa did a good job this offseason with extending their depth on the offense. Drafting Bucky Irving and Jalen McMillan gives them some viable backup options at both receiver and running back. Both of these guys were pretty exciting to watch for Oregon and Washington last season, I'm excited to see how they translate over to the NFL. 

The Bucs also picked up longtime Giants wide receiver, Sterling Shepard as well. With these additions and the weapons they already have on the roster in Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Trey Palmer, the Bucs have one of the deepest receiver groups in the National Football League. 

On the defense, the Buccaneers got back safety Jordan Whitehead after playing two seasons for the Jets. He now comes back to Tampa to pair with Antoine Winfield Jr. for a pretty dangerous safety duo. The Bucs were ranked as a defense in the lower half of the NFL in 2023, finishing 23rd. An improvement on this side of the ball is a must in 2024. 

Tampa Bay narrowly escaped with the NFC South last season and will look to win it once again in 2024. Their offense has certainly improved on paper, while the defense can still use some work it seems. It is definitely going to be a tougher battle this year and we should expect a dogfight down south. 

Team Preview: Carolina Panthers

 

After an utter embarrassing season in 2023, the Carolina Panthers will look to flip the script in 2024. The Panthers will look a little different this season with a brand new coaching staff. 

Usually when you have the worst record in the league, like the Panthers, you have the first overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. Well for Carolina, this was not the case. Their 2-15 record in 2023 got them no first round picks because of their trade with the Chicago Bears for the #1 overall pick in the previous draft.  Safe to say this deal has not worked out so well in the Panthers favor. 

Carolina went into this offseason and fired their head coach Frank Reich after just one abysmal season. They went out and hired a coach within their own division, Dave Canales. Canales was the offensive coordinator for the Buccaneers and is well-known for reviving and putting Baker Mayfield's career back on track. 

The Panthers front office envisions that Canales can do the same for Bryce Young as he did for Baker Mayfield. Young was the #1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and people are already labelling him as a bust after just one season. Others, like myself, remark on how Young was surrounded with little to no help. Luckily for the Panthers, help is on the way. 

Carolina went out and traded for wide receiver, Diontae Johnson for the Pittsburgh Steelers and drafted highly talented wide receiver, Xavier Legette as well. These two will pair with Adam Thielen to make up an exciting receiving core that Young will have at his disposal. Hopefully this will help the worst rated passing offense in the NFL from last season. 

More offensive line help is on the way as well after the Panthers went out and signed Robert Hunt to a five-year deal and Damien Lewis to a four-year deal. These two will take over and establish a wall in both guard spots on the offensive line. 

The one bright spot from 2023 for the Panthers was their defense. The defense ranked as the number four team in the NFL in total defense ranks. This didn't satisfy Carolina though as they went out and upgraded even more. Although Brian Burns departed for New York, the Panthers signed a surplus of new pieces after his departure. 

Carolina was able to go out and get A'Shawn Robinson to hold down the defensive line, Jadeveon Clowney and Josey Jewell to head the linebacker room, and Dane Jackson to upgrade the secondary. Along with Robinson, they extended Derrick Brown for four years. Brown and Robinson will make a lethal defensive end pair in the future. 

So the Panthers did what a 2-15 team can only do, upgrade. Both sides of the football look entirely different for Carolina paired along with a new coaching staff as well. The Panthers can only go up in 2024 after an atrocious season a year ago. 

Team Preview: Atlanta Falcons

 

The Atlanta Falcons had a busy offseason to say the least. After a disappointing 7-10 season in 2023, Atlanta decided to revamp not only their roster but their coaching staff as well for the 2024 season. 

There is a new QB1 in town and that is Kirk Cousins. The Falcons signed Cousins as a free agent to a massive four-year deal to become their leader on offense. For the past two seasons since Matt Ryan departed Atlanta, the quarterback play has been towards the bottom of the league. Cousins will definitely improve that mark in 2024. 

Atlanta decided to fire their head coach Arthur Smith and hire Raheem Morris to take over the role. Morris was the defensive coordinator for the Rams for the past three seasons and spent some time in Atlanta beforehand from 2015 to 2020. 

The Falcons were able to go out and get two new weapons for Kirk Cousins and the offense. They signed wide receiver Darnell Mooney to a three-year deal to take over the WR2. They also traded for speedster wide receiver Rondale Moore to take over WR3. Pairing these two with Drake London accounts for a solid receiving core in Atlanta. 

Pair these receivers alongside Kyle Pitts who has yet to breakout in his time in the NFL. This will definitely be his make or break season which could possibly lead to his final season in Atlanta. You have all these names, but this biggest one of all is Bijan Robinson. 

Robinson broke into the NFL a season ago and instantly inserted himself as one of the premier running backs in the National Football League. His pure strength and speed is what has propelled him to take the league by storm in just a short time. 

The Falcons defense was a bright spot in 2023 after they finished just outside the top ten in total defense at #11. They had an outstanding pass defense, but the rush defense was not as strong. They brought back most of their pieces from last season and will look to improve once again. 

The one questionable move the Falcons made this offseason was drafting Michael Penix Jr. Penix was a star quarterback at the University of Washington and after the Falcons signed Kirk Cousins to a large deal, everyone thought they were done addressing this position. Turns out they were wrong. I'm not entirely sure what Atlanta's plan is for Penix but it will be interesting to see how this pans out. 

The Falcons have improved mightily on offense and if their defense can hold it down like they did in 2023, they could be sitting in the driver's seat of the NFC South. The new-look Atlanta Falcons will be an exciting story in 2024. 

Team Preview: New Orleans Saints

 

The Saints had an underwhelming season in 2023 after just narrowly losing the NFC South to Tampa Bay by just a game. Once again the NFC South is very up for grabs and the Saints are a much improved team over the last offseason. 

Saints quarterback, Derek Carr finished up his first season in the black and gold with pretty solid numbers after playing in all of their seventeen games. Carr, now 33 years old, has been in the league for a long time now and has yet to prove that he is a winner. Entering his 11th season, Carr will have no excuses to get New Orleans back into the playoffs. 

New Orleans made their mark known in this year's draft with a pretty solid couple of picks. They drafted Taliese Fuaga, an offensive tackle out of Oregon State, to help Derek Carr to play a full season once again. They improved their secondary after taking Alabama cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry. 

This offseason the Saints did have some notable cuts as well. Michael Thomas is no longer a Saint after one injury riddled season after another. Safety Marcus Maye is also no longer a Saint after he was cut in March as well. 

The Saints were able to sign Cedrick Wilson to a two-year deal to hopefully fill the shoes of Michael Thomas and pair well along with Chris Olave. On the defensive side, the Saints improved mightily after signing Chase Young and Willie Gay to one-year deals. Re-signing Demario Davis and Tyrann Mathieu was also huge for them. 

New Orleans always has a pretty scary defense and this year it looks even scarier for opposing offenses. For those who forgot about Cameron Jordan and Marshon Lattimore, don't worry they are still there as well. 

Dennis Allen desperately needs a healthy season from Alvin Kamara for this offense. When he's healthy, he's up there for one of the top backs in the National Football League. Although there are some contract disputes ongoing, the Saints will more than likely get this figured out. 

Another year where the NFC South is anyone's to win, the Saints are looking pretty good on paper as of now. They are hoping to end their three year drought and make it back into the playoffs for the first time under Dennis Allen.