What looked like a very strong division heading into last season is much more uncertain in 2014, as the New Orleans Saints are 2/3 favorites to win the NFC South for the second time in five years.
NFC South betting: odds say Saints march to division title in 2014
The Saints are favored big while the Carolina Panthers are projected as a fall-back team in 2014 in the NFC South.
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The Saints earned one of the Wild Card playoff spots in the NFC last year, but they are the team to beat this season with the Carolina Panthers (9/2), Atlanta Falcons (9/2) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11/2) all adjusting to major changes in personnel.
New Orleans (O/U 10.5 wins) also lost a couple key players in the offseason, trading away running back Darren Sproles to the Philadelphia Eagles and letting wide receiver Lance Moore sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
But the Saints did re-sign All-Pro tight end Jimmy Graham to a four-year, $40 million deal and added free safety Jairus Byrd from the Buffalo Bills to pair with second-year strong safety Kenny Vaccaro along with cornerback Champ Bailey from the Denver Broncos in what should be an outstanding secondary.
Scoring points still should not be an issue for this team either as long as quarterback Drew Brees is leading the offense. He said this summer than surpassing 5,000 yards again should be easy and one online sportsbook set his passing yard total at 4,900.
The Panthers (O/U 8.5 wins) are the defending division champions, but QB Cam Newton will be throwing to an all-new receiving corps outside of TE Greg Olsen. Gone are WRs Steve Smith (Baltimore Ravens) and Brandon LaFell (New England Patriots) in addition to arguably the team’s biggest loss, left tackle Jordan Gross, who retired back in February.
Carolina will replace Gross with either right tackle Byron Bell or former defensive lineman Nate Chandler.
The Falcons (O/U 8.5 wins) have won the NFC South in two of the previous four seasons and could return to prominence this year if they can just stay healthy. Atlanta’s star WR Julio Jones missed 11 games last season due to a serious foot injury while RB Steven Jackson was a big disappointment with just 543 rushing yards in 12 games.
The biggest loss the team will deal with this year is no longer having future Hall of Fame TE Tony Gonzalez as a security blanket for QB Matt Ryan due to retirement.
Finally, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (O/U 7 wins) have not won the division since 2007, which was one season after new head coach Lovie Smith led the Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl. Smith brings a strong defensive background with him to Tampa, and he will have a QB he is very familiar with as well in former Bear Josh McCown.
The Bucs will be one of the most interesting teams to watch with RB Doug Martin back from a severe shoulder injury that caused him to miss 10 games a year ago, and McCown will have a couple big targets in veteran wideout Vincent Jackson and rookie Mike Evans.
