The NFC South has been one of the league’s most unpredictable divisions for years, and that chaos is exactly why the New Orleans Saints are suddenly being talked about as a possible dark horse.
With Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Matt Ryan long gone, the division has settled into a yearly free-for-all. It has been the kind of race where every team can talk itself into a path to the top, and where the crown can still be hanging in the balance deep into the season.
Atlanta fans, naturally, want the Falcons to be the ones standing there at the end. But if that doesn’t happen, there is one outcome they want no part of: the Saints taking over the division.
That possibility has started to pick up steam in the media. ESPN’s Ben Solak is among those who see New Orleans as a legitimate contender, and he laid out his case while making bold predictions for 2026.
"The Saints look like an ascendant team to me," Solak wrote. "They have a young quarterback good enough to win with, sharp coaches on both sides of the ball, good offensive line play and enough young bets at the skill positions for this offense to be more than just Olave.
They're a few blue-chip players away from true contention, but in the measly NFC South with a fourth-place schedule? A divisional title is achievable."
That optimism is tough to square with what Atlanta did to New Orleans last season. The Falcons swept Tyler Shough and the Saints with two different quarterbacks, and Shough’s numbers in those games weren’t exactly eye-popping: 43 completions on 78 attempts for 502 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. He was asked to throw 35-plus times in each matchup after the Saints were trailing in the fourth quarter, and New Orleans managed just 27 points across the two games against the Falcons.
Still, the Saints are being treated like a team on the rise, even though they were eliminated weeks before the end of the season. That’s part of what makes the projection so hard to buy for Atlanta fans, especially when the Falcons, Panthers, and Buccaneers all have cases of their own after stronger seasons and comparable additions.
One area that could decide whether New Orleans can actually make a run is the secondary. The depth chart there is thin, with Kool-Aid McKinstry, Quincy Riley, Jordan Howden, Julian Blackmon, and Justin Reid listed as the starters.
That group would have to deal with a division loaded with pass-catching talent, including Drake London, Kyle Pitts, Chris Godwin, Emeka Egbuka, and Tetairoa McMillan.
For now, the NFC South remains what it has been for several seasons: wide open, messy, and impossible to trust. And from an Atlanta perspective, the hope is simple - if somebody else is going to win it, make sure it isn’t the Saints.
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