Falcons Winning NFC South's Offseason?

ESPN projects a much better offseason for the Atlanta Falcons than in recent years.

The Atlanta Falcons haven't finished better than third in the NFC South over the last two seasons. But to climb out of the division's cellar, the Falcons will have to first win in the offseason.

Kevin Seifert of ESPN writes there's potential for that to happen this year.

The self-proclaimed "Worldwide Leader in Sports" staff writer this week ranked all 32 NFL teams based on "offseason capital" - 2022 draft selections and salary-cap space. On the list, Seifert placed the Falcons at No. 13. 

That was well ahead of the other three teams in the NFC South, who were all in the bottom 12:

Carolina Panthers - 21

Tampa Bay Buccaneers - 25

New Orleans Saints - 30

Of the four NFC South teams, Carolina is the only one with more than $11 million in cap space as of Feb. 1. Both the Falcons and Saints are over the projected $208.2 million salary cap expected for the 2022 season.

The Falcons are one of just two teams with "negative" cap space that Seifert ranked in the top half of his list. The other team also over the projected salary cap holding a top 16 spot on Seifert's list was the New York Giants.

Seifert wrote that Atlanta is still significant ahead of the other NFC South teams in "offseason capital" despite the lack of cap space because of the draft picks the team holds. The Falcons currently have four selections in the first 75 picks of the 2022 draft.

"The Falcons will have to determine how far under the cap they can get before regulating their offseason ambition," wrote Seifert about placing Atlanta No. 13 on his list. "The good news is that they have a top-10 pick and an extra second-round selection via the trade that sent receiver Julio Jones to the Titans."

The Panthers will pick before the Falcons in the first round at No. 6, but they will not make another selection after that until early in the fourth round. Carolina packaged its second-round choice in the trade for Sam Darnold last offseason and then dealt its third-round pick for cornerback CJ Henderson during the season.

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Seifert expects the Buccaneers to open more cap space with quarterback Tom Brady retiring, but Tampa Bay still doesn't have much salary space, and a lot of the team's key players are free agents. Tampa Bay also picks in the bottom six of every round for the second straight year.

As for the Saints, they will draft players in the middle of each round, but New Orleans has the worst salary-cap situation in the league. Spotrac.com projects the Saints to be about $76 million above the 2022 salary cap. No other team is more than $47 million above the projected salary cap as of Feb. 1.

While none of this means the Falcons will have the best offseason of the four NFC South teams, ESPN is seemingly giving Atlanta the best chance for making improvements this offseason because of the draft picks the team possessions.

Who knows? Maybe the draft capital even increases with a Calvin Ridley trade?