What We Learned in 2021: NFC South

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Atlanta Falcons

• Cordarrelle Patterson is good at football, and he can be a true RB/WR with an accommodating coach like Arthur Smith. Patterson was right there with Elijah Mitchell for waiver-wire pickup of the year, while Mike Davis was another example of chasing opportunity gone wrong.
• Kyle Pitts got the opportunity to deliver on ADP, but Matt Ryan wasn’t the quarterback and this wasn’t the situation to finish the deal. Bigger and better things are in Pitts' future.
• Calvin Ridley decided to take some time away from football, and we might have seen him for the last time in a Falcons uniform but not the last time on an NFL field.

Heroes: Cordarrelle Patterson, Russell Gage
Zeroes: Kyle Pitts (mostly), Calvin Ridley, Mike Davis

You Might Have Missed: Gage posted a 50-611-3 line over the last eight games of the season

Biggest Offseason Questions: What will the team do at quarterback, running back, and wide receiver?

Bottom Line: Pitts didn’t live up to expectations, but more because of his surroundings than any shortcoming of his own. Bigger things are coming.

Carolina Panthers

• Christian McCaffrey broke down for the second straight year, raising questions of whether he was overworked on his rookie contract. He won’t be the consensus #1 overall pick in 2022 fantasy drafts but will remain in the top five of most.
• It wasn’t just Adam Gase. Sam Darnold got off to a good start against a creampuff early schedule and then nosedived.
• It wasn’t just covid or the lack of preparation in Josh McDaniels offense. Cam Newton came back and showed that he is an NFL backup at best at this point in his career.
• Robby Anderson didn’t benefit from being reunited with Darnold, and D.J. Moore didn’t benefit from anything that happened in this offense. Joe Brady wasn’t the answer, so in 2022 the team will turn to Ben McAdoo to run the offense after he was a consultant for the Cowboys last year.

Heroes: Sam Darnold for a month
Zeroes: D.J. Moore, Robby Anderson, Christian McCaffrey, Terrace Marshall

You Might Have Missed: Moore had one 100-yard game and one touchdown after Week 4

Biggest Offseason Questions: Who will be brought in to compete with Sam Darnold? What does new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo have in store for the offense?

Bottom Line: Sam Darnold isn’t a good NFL quarterback, and Matt Rhule might not be a good NFL coach.

New Orleans Saints

• Hand-wringing about Alvin Kamara without Drew Brees before the season ended up being correct as he suffered a dropoff in receiving numbers, rushing touchdowns, rushing efficiency, and had Mark Ingram resume his old role to add fantasy insult to injury.
• Jameis Winston seemed to be evolving under Sean Payton’s tutelage at times but went down with a catastrophic knee injury. Payton, Winston, and the Saints offense face uncertain futures.
• Concern about the Saints passing offense without Michael Thomas and Brees ended up being on the nose as they failed to produce anything remoting resembling a consistent fantasy target.

Heroes: Nobody
Zeroes: Alvin Kamara (kinda), Michael Thomas, Adam Trautman, Marquez Callaway

You Might Have Missed: Winston had 14 touchdown passes on only 161 attempts

Biggest Offseason Questions: Who will be the quarterback? How will the team fix the passing game?

Bottom Line: We might not have known how good we had it in the Brees/Payton era

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

• Tom Brady went out on a fantasy high note and was at the center of one of the most overachieving fantasy offenses. The Bucs offense for 2022 is a huge question mark with only Mike Evans under contract among the offense’s main producers and the ancillary receivers underwhelming when injuries struck the starters.
• Leonard Fournette still had his most productive football left in him. He was a major stabilizing force in the offense as he had been for the Jaguars team that was one play away from beating Brady in New England to go to the Super Bowl.
• Antonio Brown and Rob Gronkowski were getting close to glory days revival numbers before injuries derailed their seasons. Chris Godwin picked up a lot of the slack before going down with a knee injury that adds uncertainty to his free-agent outlook.
• Ronald Jones II got banged up soon after Fournette went down and enters free agency as mostly a disappointing second-round pick.

Heroes: Tom Brady, Leonard Fournette, Chris Godwin (eventually), Antonio Brown (at first), Rob Gronkowski
Zeroes: Ronald Jones II, Tyler Johnson

You Might Have Missed: Only Derrick Henry, Jonathan Taylor, and Austin Ekeler had more PPR points per game than Fournette

Biggest Offseason Questions: Who is going to be this team’s quarterback, #1 and 2 running backs, #2 and #3 receivers, and #1 tight end?

Bottom Line: It was great while it lasted.