A Look Around the NFC South on SB Nation

A weekly look at the top stories being discussed on the other three NFC South blogs on SB Nation.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (via Bucs Nation)

• Brady’s heir apparent? Rookie quarterback Kyle Trask already impressing head coach Bruce Arians in Bucs camp. Trask was taken quite high, in the second round of the 2021 NFL draft.

• Top record in the NFL in the 2021-2022 season? The Bucs are the darling of the NFL right now, and sadly for us Saints fans, deservedly so. They are the defending Super Bowl champions, return all 22 starters from the 2020-21 championship team, and have that quarterback who has won six times more Super Bowl than the Atlanta Falcons. Now the NFL media expect the Bucs to have the top record in the NFL next season.

• Pro Football Focus doesn’t have Brady as the No. 1 quarterback in the NFL heading into 2021. Oh the sacrilege!!! But who could have supplanted Captain America?

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Atlanta Falcons (via The Falcoholic)

• Could Julio Jones be on his way out of Atlanta? Will McFadden and David Walker of the Falcoholic discuss the rumors that the longtime and aging pass-catcher might catch passes for a new team when the next NFL season begins. Good listen.

• Matt Ryan goes to bat for Jones. Amid trade speculations, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan speaks on Julio Jones’ impact on his career as a quarterback. This isn’t surprising, as Ryan and Jones have been one of the most successful quarterback-wide receiver combo in the NFL for a decade.

• Falcons projected as an 8-win team. In a 17-game season, that would put Atlanta at 8-9 for the season, and under .500. Mike Clay of ESPN expects Atlanta to struggle on defense once again.

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Carolina Panthers (via Cat Scratch Reader)

• Pro Football Focus is not buying Sam Darnold. According to the statistics-driven website, Darnold is among the five worst starting quarterbacks in the NFL. That does not bode well for our friends the kitties, who just let Teddy Bridgewater go this offseason. It is also no entirely surprising, Darnold has had a dismal NFL career to this point, albeit with the highly dysfunctional New York Jets.

• Looking at the Carolina Panthers’ RAS. What in the world is RAS? It’s the Relative Athletic Score, a relatively (pun intended) new metric that attempts to measure a player’s athletic abilities relative to the position they play. This piece takes a look at Panthers’ players RAS both on offense and defense and predicts its impact on the upcoming season.

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