The Carolina Panthers revived an old NFC South tradition in 2025. A division that for nearly a decade had been controlled by two teams returned to its early roots of "worst-to-first" upheaval, year after year.

The NFC South was born in 2002 when the NFL expanded to 32 teams and realigned into eight four-team divisions that were somewhat more geographically logical. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were one of the teams to find a new divisional home, leaving the former NFC Central (now the NFC North) to join the Panthers, New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons. The Buccaneers enjoyed their new home, taking the first NFC South crown at 12-4 and going on to win Super Bowl XXXVII for the first championship in franchise history.

The Panthers finished last that season with a 7-9 record. The next year, Carolina imporved to 11-5 and won its first NFC South title. That began a remarkable streak of five straight seasons, and six times in seven seasons, that the team that finished last in the division one season took the crown the following year. The worst-to-first chronology went as thus: Carolina from '02 to '03; Atlanta from '03 to '04; Tampa Bay from '04 to '05; New Orleans from '05 to '06; Tampa Bay from '06 to '07; and, after one season that bucked the trend, New Orleans from '08 to '09.

That's where the streak ended, however. No team in the NFC South went from worst to first for the next decade-and-a-half, and the Saints and Buccaneers combined to win the division title eight straight years from 2017-24. Then along came the 2025 Panthers. We have to blur the lines a little bit to make this work, because the Panthers and Saints actually tied for the worst record in the division in 2024, at 5-12 each, but it's close enough. Is the NFC South going to return to being the league's most unpredictable division in years ahead? Do we all have to watch out for the Saints in 2026?

You never know. The Panthers won their first division title in a decade in 2025. The Falcons have completely overhauled the top of their football operations. The Saints may have found a long-term solution at quarterback in Tyler Shough. It's difficult to predict which team will present the toughest challenge in 2026 to the Buccaneers' efforts to get back to the top of the hill.

Much of how the division will shape up next fall will be determined by the moves that the four teams make over between now and the summer, or in some cases have already made. For that reason, we're going to keep an eye on what is transpiring in Atlanta, Charlotte and New Orleans with our monthly "NFC South Check-Ins." Once a month from February through May we're going to look at how the rosters, leadership and opportunities are shaping up for the Falcons, Panthers and Saints, beginning this week with the Bucs' bitter rivals from Georgia.

2026 Atlanta Falcons

News/Developments Since the End of the 2025 Season:

The Falcons have been very busy charting a new path for the franchise since ending the 2025 season with an 8-9 record. While that did tie for the best record in the NFC South, it was still the team's seventh straight season with a losing record and without a playoff berth.

The changes began immediately after a season-ending win over the New Orleans Saints on January 4 (which coincidentally gave Carolina the tiebreaker edge over the Buccaneers for the division title), as the team fired both General Manager Terry Fontenot and Head Coach Raheem Morris later that evening. Fontenot's run with the team ended after five seasons while Morris had been on the job for two years. The next day, Owner and Chairman Arthur Blank penned a letter to Falcons fans and community in which he announced that Rich McKay was shifting to a new position as CEO of AMB Sports and Entertainment, with Greg Beadles promoted to the Falcons' CEO position long held by McKay. Blank also revealed that the team would be creating a new "president of football" position that would be filled by somebody from outside the organization.

That new president proved to be somebody who had previously been a very prominent figure inside the organization, former Falcons quarterback and NFL MVP Matt Ryan. The resulting search for a new Head Coach and General Manager led first to the hiring of Kevin Stefanski, just recently fired from his position as the Cleveland Browns' head coach, and Ian Cunningham, who comes over from the Bears' organization where he was the assistant general manager. While football decisions going forward are intended to be a collaborative effort between Ryan and Cunningham, Blank noted in his letter that the president of football would have "final decision-making authority."

Stefanski retained Defensive Coordinator Jeff Ulbrich on his staff but brought Tommy Rees with him from Cleveland to serve as offensive coordinator, as he did for the Browns in 2025. Stefanski handed Rees the play-calling duties midway through last season in Cleveland and indicated Rees will also call plays for the Falcons. Stefanski also reunited with Offensive Line Coach Bill Callahan, who has spent a quarter-century coaching that position in the NFL, including 2020-23 with the Browns.

Potential Unrestricted Free Agents

According to Spotrac, the Falcons have 19 players from their 2025 roster who could become unrestricted free agents in March. That includes three full-time starters last season in defensive lineman David Onyemata, edge rusher Leonard Floyd and linebacker Kaden Elliss. In addition, nickel corner Dee Alford, who played 57% of the team's defensive snaps, is on that list.

Onyemata and Elliss each started all 17 games in 2025 and Onyemata has started 47 of 51 games since signing with the Falcons in 2023. He finished with a career-low 1.0 sack last season and turned 33 in November, but still should get some interest on the open market if he doesn't re-up with the Falcons. Like Onyemata, Elliss went from the Saints to the Falcons in free agency in 2023; after starting only 12 games in four seasons in New Orleans he blossomed in a larger role in Atlanta, starting every game for three seasons and recording 380 tackles and 12.5 sacks. Floyd came to Atlanta on a one-year deal after a total of nine seasons with the Bears, Rams, Bills and 49ers. He started 15 games and had 3.5 sacks but that was the first time he failed to finish with at least 8.5 sacks in the past six seasons, and the Falcons invested two first-round draft picks in edge rushers last year.

The big name with a potential path to free agency on offense for the Falcons is tight end Kyle Pitts. The highest-drafted tight end ever when the Falcons took him fourth overall in 2021, Pitts made the Pro Bowl as a rookie after breaking the 1,000-yard mark, but his next three seasons didn't quite live up to the expectations that first season set. However,he rebounded with a career-high 88 catches for 928 yards and five touchdowns last year, was named a second-team AP All-Pro and is likely to be at the top of the free agency boards at his position. Atlanta does have the option of using its franchise tag on Pitts in 2026, which would come with a one-year price tag of about $16 million. He won't turn 26 until next October.

Other free agents of note on the Falcons' offense include running back Tyler Allgeier and guard Elijah Wilkinson. Allgeier averaged 848 yards from scrimmage and five touchdowns in his four seasons in Atlanta but is obviously second on Atlanta's depth chart behind Bijan Robinson. Wilkinson was supposed to be an experienced reserve for the Falcons' offensive line last year but ended up starting 17 games at right tackle after Kaleb McGary landed on injure reserve right before the season.

Bradley Pinion, who handled the punting duties the past four seasons in Atlanta after a three-year run in Tampa, is also due to become an unrestricted free agent. Last year he averaged 45.1 yards per punt with a net of 40.6.

2026 NFL Draft

By winning their last four games in 2025 the Falcons finished the season as one of four non-playoff teams with 8-9 records. Of those four, they had the lowest strength of schedule figure (.495) and thus landed the first draft spot in that group, number 13 overall.

The Falcons will not be picking 13th in April, however. That's because during last year's draft they sent second and seventh-round picks plus a 2026 first-round selection to the Rams for pick number 26 and a third-rounder. Atlanta used that pick on edge rusher James Pearce, doubling up at the position after taking edge rusher Jalon Walker with their own pick at number 15.

In successive rounds, the Falcons' pick rotates among that group of four, dropping to 16th in the second round, 15th in the third round and so on. That means the highest pick the team currently owns is number 48 in the second round. Atlanta has a total of five picks, comprised of its own selections in the second, third, fourth, sixth and seventh rounds. The team's fifth-round pick went to Philadelphia as part of a trade up of five spots in the third round to land safety Xavier Watts. Atlanta is not projected to receive any compensatory picks.

Atlanta could be seeking pass-catching help in the 2026 draft, particularly if Pitts departs in free agency. Drake London is the star of that group but he missed five games due to injury and finished third on the team with 68 receptions. Atlanta's top two pass-catchers were a tight end (Pitts) and a running back (Robinson). After London, the wideout with the most receptions was Darnell Mooney, with 32, followed by David Sills, with 18. Some receivers who could be available in the middle of the second round are Alabama's Germie Bernard, Texas A&M's KC Concepcion and Tennessee's Chris Brazzell. The Falcons are unlikely to land Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq in the second round but they might be in range for Ohio State's Max Kalare, Texas' Jack Endries or Vanderbilt's Eli Stowers.

The Falcons drafted two edge rushers and two safeties last year all four should be starting in 2026 so they have improved several areas of their defense with young talent. However, while improving its pass rush enormously, Atlanta still ranked 24th in the NFL against the run while allowing 4.61 yards per carry. With the possibility of an Onyemata departure in free agency, the Falcons might want to buttress their defensive front. They might be able to get Texas Tech's Lee Hunter or Georgia's Christen Miller in the second round.