2016 Team Needs: NFC South
By jonfox
The Panthers had a magical season, regardless of how it ended. Cam Newton rightfully earned his MVP award and took that big step forward that had eluded him up until now. Maintaining this success and the defensive success will be critical for them to continue their total success.
With 18 free agents, including major contributors like Josh Norman, Mike Tolbert, Roman Harper, Charles Tillman and Amini Silatolu, it’s going to be an interesting offseason for the Super Bowl runner-ups.
In the rest of the division, Tampa inexplicably fired Lovie Smith to make sure that they retained Dirk Koetter, who was then promoted to head coach. The Saints flirted with rebuilding by considering letting Sean Peyton bolt for the Giants (for compensation). Then they changed course, retained Peyton and Brees and are hoping to catch lightning in a bottle again.
The Falcons started off hot and looked like the favorites in the division. Then reality came crashed in: they were a one trick pony on both sides of the ball and teams were able to squash them once they figured out how to stop that pony.
The Panthers will have to avoid the post-Super Bowl hangover and try to replace some of those free agents on the fly if they want to repeat as division champs. But perhaps focusing on the Super Bowl might leave them vulnerable to a challenge inside the division.
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