King likes Falcons to win NFC South

Peter King details why he's targeting the Falcons to emerge as division winners in the NFC South based on the players at skill positions on the roster, while Myles Simmons shares why he likes the Panthers more.

Video Transcript

PETER KING: OK the next question, it's a question from a reader who says, you have the Falcons winning the NFC South? Why, yes, I do. Is there a team in the NFC South that you absolutely love?

Is there a team in the NFC South that you think is absolutely can't miss and is going to roll over everybody? And I'm just going to tell you why I happen to really like the Atlanta Falcons and why, in my opinion, the NFL chose to put four teams not on in primetime this year. One of them is the Atlanta Falcons.

That is a big miss. And I'll tell you why. Look, we all know there's question marks-- nobody knows if Desmond Ridder is going to be the guy. I mean, it could be that Taylor Heinicke will be the quarterback of this team by Week 8. I don't know.

But let's just talk about the most interesting group of skill players in the NFL-- and I mean the entire NFL, all right? Let's start at the receiver position. Drake London, last year's first round pick-- and they're just OK after that. I happen to be a big Mack Hollins fan. We're going to see Mack Hollins get his opportunity to be a starting player for the Atlanta Falcons.

And I think he's going to play very, very well. I know that Josh McDaniels really liked him in Vegas last year. Then, OK, your slot receiver-- if this guy can stay healthy and give 15 or 16 games, Scotty Miller, to me, is a really good potential slot receiver who never had as much time as I thought he should in Tampa.

Now, let's go to the tight ends. To me, Kyle Pitts, Jonnu Smith-- I don't know how you get a lot better one two punch at tight end than that. And then you've got a returning 1,000 yard rusher, who I voted as my NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, in Tyler Allgeier. He's going to be joined by Bijan Robinson.

And Bijan Robinson also is going to play some slot receiver in Arthur Smith's offense. To me, I kind of like the Atlanta Falcons. And I really like the signings, maybe just for one year, of Calais Campbell and David Onyemata to bolster that defensive front. And I think the Falcons are going to be sneaky good. I just do.

- They could be. I mean, look, somebody's got to win that division. And no team, I think, is going to make a real serious run out of that division. But I would say that I kind of like the Panthers more than the Falcons, because I really like the Panthers defense.

I think it might be better under defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero. And then on offense, I love the coaching staff. And so even though they have a rookie quarterback, I think that they also could be one of those sneaky teams that either wins the division or maybe gets a 7 seed.

PETER KING: The last thing I'll say about the Falcons-- I think my guess is Matthew Bergeron, who was kind of a-- speaking of sneaky-- a sneaky fast riser up draft boards late, he was the second round pick of the Falcons, he was a tackle who grew up in Canada and was a late riser-- he probably is going to win left guard. And he's an important guy for this team, because Desmond Ridder needs some time.

And he's not going to be good if he's being chased around a lot. So we'll see about that. But I'm more fascinated than not about the Atlanta Falcons.