It’s been a pretty fantastic offseason for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team that has won three NFC South titles in four years. The Bucs have been able to keep some key free agents in-house, a move that seems to suggest they’ll be competitive for yet another consecutive season.

The Bucs brought back both Baker Mayfield and Mike Evans head of the legal tampering period opening, which set the right tone for some other deals that were made. Lavonte David, Chase McLaughlin, and Chase Edmonds headlined the rest of the group that came back, with Jordan Whitehead getting in on the reunion action after leaving the Jets to return to Tampa Bay.

Everyone in the NFC South seems to have been busy in free agency, though, which means things will only get harder for the Bucs next season.

Carolina spent big to rebuild the offensive line, New Orleans somehow found a way to create cap space, and Atlanta forked out $180 million to try and find a quarterback to compete with Baker Mayfield.

The Bucs are still the team to beat, but things will be significantly harder than they were last season.

3 free agent moves from NFC South rivals that should worry Buccaneers fans
Atlanta Falcons sign Kirk Cousins
Kirk Cousins is the biggest threat to arrive in the NFC South since Todd Bowles took control of the team. Some fans may laugh at the notion, but this move by itself could be enough to create a new favorite in the division if everything else works out.

The Falcons have been one of the punching bags in the South for the past few years (not on the same level as the Panthers), but that had far more to do with terrible coaching and some questionable quarterback play more than anything else.

Now, the Falcons have a far better quarterback, a head coach that might actually try to use his offensive weapons, and a supporting cast that is criminally underrated.

There are are a lot of ‘ifs’ surrounding the Falcons due to Cousins’ health after yet another season-ending injury, but Atlanta getting even 80% of what Cousins brought during his tenure with the Vikings mixed with any willingness to call an offense from this decade is going to spell trouble for the rest of the division.

The Falcons also signed Darnell Mooney
This is a good time to reiterate the point that the Falcons are going to be a legitimate team this year. No Arthur Smith alone probably added a win or two to that column on the sheet. Going after key free agents is only going to add to headache in Tampa.

Darnell Mooney is one such addition. Most fans would look at this addition and not worry. That would be a mistake.

Mooney is leaving one of the worst situations in football (at least it was at the time) and is joining a roster that will move him from being the second offensive option to the fourth or fifth. Teams will come in and have a plan for Drake London, Bijan Robinson, and likely Kyle Pitts, but teams without a ton of depth in their secondary are going to have to play hope defense against the deeper players on the Falcons.

That is a matchup that will work well for Mooney.

Instead of having to go up against a scheme that was built to plan for him, Mooney is going to get extremely favorable matchups for the first time of his career, matchups that will likely hurt the Bucs given their current lack of depth at corner.

The Falcons look like the Bucs’ biggest competition from a matchup standpoint and team perspective, and moves like this to improve in the fringes and take advantage of Tampa’s weaknesses should worry Bucs fans.

Carolina Panthers spent over $150 million on top offensive linemen

The 2024 NFC South competition is going to come down to two teams, but one of the big aspects of this race to keep a close eye on is how they handle the inferior competition in the division.

The Saints have done nothing and stand to gain little throughout the rest of free agency and the draft. While those games are always dog fights for the Bucs, Tampa does look like the much better team on paper.

The Panthers are a bit of a different story. While they lack draft capital, they have done surprisingly-well at adding talent in as many ways as possible as they try to build a team around Bryce Young.

Dave Canales did help Baker Mayfield play the best football of his career. The Panthers were able to re-tool their offensive line with two high-profile signings. The defense was able to find some cost-effective signings to stem the bleeding of the loss of Brian Burns.

Is this team dominant? Certainly not. But there are some interesting similarities between where they are at this year and where the Cardinals were at last season. The Panthers aren’t going to push anyone for the division, but they just might be the team that could decide who wins the division by stealing a game against the Bucs or the Falcons.

The Panthers aren’t going to be legitimate threats to the Buccaneers for a while at their current rate, but their moves this offseason are worth keepig a close eye on, especially for the future.