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Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving.
It’s been awhile since anyone talked about the NFC South and put much respect on the division’s name. That’s kind of understandable when you think the NFC South hasn’t landed multiple teams in the playoffs since the 2020 season and haven’t had a team receive a first round playoff bye since the New Orleans Saints in the 2018 season.
That’s why, when Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon predicts the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will “Fall Off A Cliff” in trying to win their fourth consecutive NFC South Division title and make the playoffs for a sixth consecutive season, it’s easy to see the rationale.
Remember this is also the same division that hasn’t put a team in the NFC Championship Game since the Buccaneers beat the Green Bay Packers on the road following the 2020 season — the same year quarterback Tom Brady led them to a Super Bowl win.
For Tampa Bay, their biggest competition will likely come from the Atlanta Falcons and second year quarterback Michael Penix Jr. in his first season as a full time starter — if he can be the wunderkind the franchise needs him to be the playoffs might not be far away.
“It may be time for the Bucs to fall off a cliff after hanging onto a bad division by a thread in recent years, paving the way for an Atlanta team that is loaded with offensive talent,” Gagnon wrote on June 21. “If Michael Penix Jr. can come through in his first full season as the starting quarterback, they’ll easily win the NFC South.”
Falcons Have Been Down Bad For Years
While the Carolina Panthers present no real threat in the NFC South, the New Orleans Saints may have finally sunken to that same level in 2025, when they’ll likely hand over the keys to their offense to rookie quarterback and second round pick Tyler Shough, with a first year head coach in Kellen Moore leading the way.
While the Panthers and Saints are in full rebuild mode, the Falcons are very much in “win now” mode thanks almost entirely to the quarterback position.
In a series of logic-defying moves, the Falcons signed veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins to a 4-year, $180 million contract in March 2024 and drafting Penix in the first round (No. 8 overall) just one month later.
Cousins, coming off a torn Achilles tendon suffered in 2023, was wildly ineffective for most of the season and finally benched in favor of Penix for the final 3 games of the regular season as the Falcons stumbled to an 8-9 record — their seventh consecutive losing season.
Buccaneers Appear Poised as NFC Contenders
The Buccaneers seem more inclined to ascend than descend in 2025. They bring back almost the exact same team as the one that battled significant injuries to go 10-7 and lose a heartbreaker to the Washington Commanders in the NFC Wild Card Round.
Tampa Bay made some significant upgrades in the offseason, most notably signing an elite edge rusher in free agent Haason Reddick, although they also drafted a potential star wide receiver in the first round with Ohio State’s Emeka Egbuka.
Tony Adame covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame
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