Fox Sports personality Nick Wright sure knows how to produce a hot take or two.
During this Thursday’s episode of “First Things First,” Wright unveiled his playoff predictions for every division in the NFC. As of this moment, he has Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers winning the NFC South. That’s not a bad bet considering they’ve won the division four out of the past five seasons.
What’s baffling about Wright’s NFC South prediction is that he also has the Atlanta Falcons making the playoffs.
“The Atlanta Falcons, my deep sleeper, sneaking into the playoffs at 9-8,” Wright said. “I think Michael Penix will end up being the starting quarterback. I think Atlanta is going to start off a little rough, I do think that. I’m holding out hope for Penix, I think Bijan [Robinson] might be No. 1 in the NFL Top 100 next year, and I think Kevin Stefanski is maybe an unbelievable coach.”
NFL fans around the country, including those who root for the Falcons, believe Wright’s take about Atlanta will age poorly.
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“Falcons lose both starting edges. Lose all their DL depth. Lose their starting qb (Kirk better than both they got rn),” one fan argued. “Falcons literally suck everywhere not skill positions. But ofc that’s all Nick sees and somehow their making the playoffs and the Panthers finish 4th in Division.”
“This is one of the worst takes I’ve seen about this season lmao. Panthers twitter gon head and bookmark it,” another fan wrote.
“I think picking 2 teams from the nfc south to make the playoffs is the wildest part of this video,” a fan pointed out.
“This is not a serious reporter if he thinks ATL wins more than 4 games. We will be so bad this year & miss the playoffs for the 9th straight season,” a Falcons fan commented.
Tough to be confident in the Falcons.
The Falcons have talent on their roster, make no mistake about it. However, we’re not sure if Bijan Robinson can carry an offense that has two injury-prone quarterbacks in Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa.
As for the defensive side of the football, they’ve already lost second-year pass rusher Jalon Walker to a torn ACL. James Pearce Jr. (10.5 sacks in 2025) could lead their pass rush, but he’ll miss eight games for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.
While it’s clear Wright has faith in the Falcons, oddsmakers do not. They have Kevin Stefanski’s squad at +400 to win the NFC South.
