NFC Notes: Buccaneers, Falcons, Saints

Buccaneers

• Buccaneers free agent LB Jason Pierre-Paul posted on Instagram with an uncertainty that he would be back in Tampa Bay next season. (Rick Stroud)

Falcons

• The Athletic’s Josh Kendall writes he wouldn’t necessarily discount the Falcons drafting a quarterback like Liberty’s Malik Willis at No. 8 overall. Falcons owner Arthur Blank has mentioned having a succession plan to QB Matt Ryan, but the veteran is still playing well. 
• Kendall also points out the way the team pushed back against a report that locked Ryan into their plans for 2022 suggests they don’t want to paint themselves into a corner with anything. 
• However, Kendall expects the Falcons to keep both Ryan and DT Grady Jarrett on the roster in 2022, with restructures or an extension in Jarrett’s case. 

Saints

The Saints settled on promoting DC Dennis Allen to head coach as the best way to proceed because they believe they largely have the foundation in place to have success, as opposed to the last time they hired a new head coach in 2006. Allen agrees and doesn’t plan to make a ton of big changes. 

“The foundation is there,” Allen said via Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. “The blueprint for how to do it is there. Now, I just gotta be me and put our own little spin on it. But I don’t see it as, ‘Man, we gotta change this or change that.’ The core of what we do is who we are, and it’s been successful. And so you want to try to keep that in place as much as you can.”