After a 7-10 season in Arthur Smith and Terry Fontenot’s first year in Atlanta, the Falcons look dramatically different heading into 2022. The team carved out a little more cap space, traded Matt Ryan after trying to trade for Deshaun Watson, lost Calvin Ridley for the year, added Marcus Mariota and drafted Desmond Ridder, and turned over a solid portion of the roster with an eye on infusing youth and upside into it.
The team’s big splashes are all ahead of them in 2023 and beyond, when they’ll have the cap space and hopefully the foundation to be legitimate contenders for the long haul, but ideally they’d make a big push for the NFC South in 2022 as well.