The Falcons are hoping to do one thing they haven’t finished since 2017: Put up a successful season and make the playoffs. Optimism for that final result exists in Flowery Department and on this fanbase, but it surely additionally exists in pockets amongst nationwide analysts like NFL.com’s Adam Schein.

Writing up 5 groups with lengthy droughts, Schein decides three of them are very robust bets to make the postseason, with the Jets, Lions, and Falcons on that checklist. Schein singles out Arthur Smith for reward, calling him a “detail-obsessed workaholic” able to lifting this offense additional, and ends with the sort of temporary prediction that’s music to all of our ears.

I feel the Falcons can win 10 video games this yr and make the playoffs through the wild card.

This comes a few month after Schein named Atlanta the NFL’s greatest bandwagon to leap on, citing the energy of the additions and the teaching workers in that writeup. He’s a part of a small however vital refrain of specialists and analysts who appear genuinely excited in regards to the Falcons, a crew with 5 straight dropping seasons previous to this who had largely been relegated to an afterthought.

I share this not as a result of Schein is a prophet—although it will be good if he was—however as a result of it’s one other illustration that the energy of this crew’s offseason is getting discover. Barring harm or an entire Desmond Ridder implosion, it appears unimaginable that the offense will likely be lower than good. The defensive additions from Jessie Bates to David Onyemata are going to elevate this protection from constantly mediocre to…effectively, we don’t know but, however higher than that. Particular groups stays a real energy, and the NFC South has the look of one of many weaker divisions in soccer in 2023. You possibly can sigh about the identical outdated Falcons and the various methods this crew has elected to allow us to down lately, however the conclusion that they’re a greater crew with an actual alternative is a tough conclusion to flee.

You possibly can learn the writeup from Schein right here, should you’re within the full Falcons capsule and what he has to say in regards to the Panthers (feisty, however not more likely to be playoff materials). As we get nearer to coaching camp, the Falcons stay one of many NFL’s extra intriguing groups this yr, and on the very least it’s good to see how many individuals are taking discover of that.