2013 Offseason Needs: NFC South

I began going through the NFL division-by-division last week, writing about what each team needs to address this offseason. I have covered the bases in all four AFC divisions and half of the NFC, so today I move on to the NFC South.

I won’t pretend to know every detail of what each team needs, but am open to comments from those who may know better what their teams need.

Atlanta Falcons

Tony Gonzalez has been wavering in his resolution to retire this offseason. We know that if he returns, it won’t be any city other than Atlanta. The Falcons are being very patient with Gonzalez, but they can only do so much this offseason without knowing if they can count on him to return in 2013.

William Moore is another free agent the Falcons need back. Their secondary needs some work, but if they can hold on to Moore, that’s one less piece they have to add from outside the organization. There are also rumors that Atlanta is one of the teams looking at Darrelle Revis. If they can get him for the right price, and if he is healthy, Revis would be a huge addition to their secondary.

John Braham is gone, which means the secondary is not the only area of concern for Atlanta. The Falcons played much better against the run during the postseason than during the regular season in 2012, but Abraham was a big part of that improvement. Without him, they need a new pass rusher, someone strong enough to stop running backs, including the bruisers who seem to be making a comeback, and versatile enough to contain the increased number of mobile quarterbacks, including Cam Newton.

On offense, the only real concern to address is in the run game.

Carolina Panthers

A lot of analysts keep talking about how much less confident they are in the Panthers heading into 2013 than they were heading into this past season. Cam Newton went through some sophomore growing pains, but played pretty well down the stretch. If he puts in good work this offseason, I can see the Panthers really making an improvement on offense. They question will be whether they can compete with three other good teams in their division.

Carolina found itself a fantastic young middle linebacker to build their defense around in Luke Kuechly. The defensive line and secondary need some work though and it may be a multi-offseason job to get this team into playoff contention in such a competitive division.

Depth at receiver is also an area that needs major attention. Steve Smith has enjoyed a couple of breakout seasons with Newton in town, but he isn’t getting any younger. Even while Smith is still around, the Panthers don’t have a decent second option for Newton to look to.

New Orleans Saints

Sean Payton is back, and that’s the most important thing New Orleans needed for this offseason. Even if they were to do nothing else this offseason, that would be enough for a major improvement on purely a mental level.

Rob Ryan is in town, so the defense will hopefully see an improvement. It would be hard for it to get any worse, but I’ll try not to jinx it.

The defense needs an almost compete overhaul, especially if Will Smith and Jonathan Vilma don’t take the pay cuts they’ve been asked to take. On offense, New Orleans may want to add some depth to their line and have to make decisions about what to do with their running backs.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

After seeing him pull what I consider to be cheap shots against the Giants and Cowboys this season, to say I am not a fan of Greg Schiano would be the understatement of the year. Still, he is a hell of a coach and showed this year that he can handle the task of leading a professional team. The Buccaneers finished the season 1-5, but that is still better than the 0-10 finish they had in 2011. They also won three more games, and I see more improvement to come in 2013.

Josh Freeman returned to form and is likely going to be considered Tampa Bay’s franchise quarterback from here on. They also found themselves an incredibly talented running back in Doug Martin. Offensively, I can’t think of a time when Tampa Bay has looked better, even going back to the Tony Dungy/Jon Gruden era.

Defensively, Tampa Bay was the best in the NFL against the run in 2012, but their pass defense was atrocious and the Bucs will have to put a lot of work into their secondary to avoid a duplicate performance in 2013.

Tomorrow I will cover the NFC West’s offseason needs, team-by-team. Keep up with new posts as I publish them by ‘liking’ my Facebook page and by following me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl.