New Orleans Saints: Not the Best Team in NFC South

ESPN currently has the New Orleans Saints ranked ahead of the Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers in their power rankings of all 32 teams in the NFL.

The Saints are ranked fourth overall, whereas the Falcons place in sixth, the Bucs’ twelfth and the Panthers all the way down at 30.  

I think this is just flat out incorrect.

The Atlanta Falcons will have better season than the Saints next year.

Last year, the Falcons went 13-3 and entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the NFC. The eventual Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers smoked them in the divisional round. The team should be motivated and hungry to avenge their early exit after having such an incredible regular season.

The Falcons have had a terrific offseason as well, much better than that of the New Orleans Saints. They acquired Julio Jones in the draft, who quite possibly could be a Rookie of the Year, as well as snagging a solid young RB in Jacquizz Rodgers during the third round.

The team also improved their pass rush by signing Ray Edwards, which was the biggest no-brain signing of the entire offseason. They kept their offensive line as consistent as possible by renewing Tyson Clabo’s contract too. The team also let go of the right players such as Michael Jenkins and Jamaal Anderson, who were costing too much or would have affected younger players' playing time.

The Saints, in contrast, made some head-scratching offseason decisions that will effect them negatively this coming season. The team knew they were probably parting ways with Reggie Bush, which made sense due to his contract; but they went overboard to replace him.

The team already has Pierre Thomas and Chris Ivory on the roster, who are both capable and affordable runners, and went ahead and grabbed Darren Sproles to replace the electric running and returning that Bush provided.

They then traded back up into the first round of the 2011 NFL draft to get Mark Ingram. The team now has four running backs in their platoon and that is simply too many to get everyone a productive amount of touches.

The only major free-agent acquisition is Shaun Rogers, whom they acquired from the Detroit Lions on a one-year deal. If he can play anywhere close to the level he was at in Cleveland, it will be one of the offseason steals.

I think the Saints will be a good team, and definitely a favorite for the wild card, but they simply did not make enough improvements to overtake the Falcons in the NFC South.

-Alex Kay

Follow @AlexPKay