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Let’s take a look at some of the highlights from Friday’s NFC South chat.

Free (Pittsburgh): Hey Pat, sort of glad tampa got rid of Winslow because he developed the Antonio Bryant, me first syndrome. I know that we are suppose be a run first team as we always say, but I am expecting big thing from Freeman and Mike Williams. Do you think that both can return to the 2010 form?

Pat Yasinskas: Possible on both. I definitely think Freeman can bounce back. Williams might have been humbled by last year and might come back better. He also might be helped by having Vincent Jackson taking up defensive attention.

Scott (Maine): If the falcons give matt ryan full control of offence I believe with the talet he has he could throw over 4500 yards your thoughts?

Pat Yasinskas: If they let him throw enough, I think that's certainly possible. He's got some great targets in Roddy, Julio and Gonzalez and they might even get some pass receiving yards out of Jacquizz Rodgers this year.

Tom Cruise (Crazy Town): If Cam throws for 4,500 years, but misses the playoffs, will critics still praise him so highly? Personally, I see Alex Smith's point. Stats look great on paper, but wins mean more.

Pat Yasinskas: I see his point too. But why say that publicly if you're Alex Smith?

Eric (Paris, Fr.): Do you feel it's Doug Martin's job to lose or shall we see Blount have the same amount of carries in bucs backfield?

Pat Yasinskas: Blount will still play a role, but my guess is his total carries will drop.

J. White (Georgia): Lots of negative stuff on Atlanta paper's website about Coach Smith being Falcon's problem. That's a pretty big turnaround isn't it?

Pat Yasinskas: Well, he lost his layer of insulation when the coordinators left. The pressure is squarely on him until he wins a playoff game ...or two.

Ryan (Raleigh NC): Pat are the Saints waiting for the bounty gate blow to over then sign Drew Brees to a long term contract to start the season off on a positive note

Pat Yasinskas: I don't think there's any big conspiracy or plot behind it. I think both sides simply just can't agree on a contract -- yet.

Ben (Atlanta): Pat after Kuechly, who would you rate as the most exciting pick the panthers have gotten in 2012?

Pat Yasinskas: Joe Adams because he seems to have the potential to be explosive as a receiver and return man.

Brandon (Lafayette,La) [via mobile]: Are the Saints moving Martez Wilson to de full time or just situationally and is this year that Scott Shanle is moved to his rightfull spot as a back up ?

Pat Yasinskas: They say they're experimenting with Wilson. My guess is he'll be at DE. They've got a whole bunch of LBs now. I think Shanle could end up as backup even if Wilson is at DE.

Sean (NO): What?s the deadline for signing Brent Grimes to a long term deal? That could definitely help out the cap in signing salary cap casualties later.

Pat Yasinskas: July 16 for all franchise players.

Mort (Rural Hall, NC): Any guess who will ultimately win the #2 corner job in Carolina?

Pat Yasinskas: Munnerlyn for now. But, like I said earlier, don't be surprised if Brandon Hogan becomes a factor.

Dale ( Union, MS ) [via mobile]: Who's probable to replace Will Smith, has there been any talk of trying to sign ir trade for defensive line and when abouts will you be covering some of the Saints workouts/camps? Thanks.

Pat Yasinskas: Think they're serious about giving Wilson and Romeus good looks and that might be the answer. Believe I'll be at Saints minicamp June 5 and 6.

Here’s the complete transcript of Friday’s NFC South chat.

The title of a project on the division blogs this week is “Dream/Nightmare scenarios’’ for each NFL team. When I first received the instructions, I called my boss.

I asked about the possibility of taking it one step further. I asked if I could write about the nightmare of all nightmares.

Let’s be clear: It’s not something that I think will happen. But nightmares, after all, are supposed to be the worst thing you can concoct. And there’s one remotely possible scenario in the NFC South that would go way beyond the run-of-the-mill nightmare scenario I cooked up in the team post on the Saints.

What if quarterback Drew Brees doesn’t get a long-term deal and somehow ends up sitting out the entire 2012 season?

If you’re a New Orleans Saints fan, this is where your stage of sleep goes from just dozing off to the start of the worst nightmare ever. This is where all the good feeling Brees has brought to New Orleans since 2006, and especially since the start of the 2009 season, disappears. This is where the Saints go from being the elite team they’ve been the past few years back to the mediocrity that was their trademark through almost their entire previous existence. This is where Chase Daniel takes the first snap of the season at home against the Washington Redskins on Sept. 9 and starts through the regular-season finale Dec. 30 at home against Carolina.

This is the land of 8-8, or maybe even 6-10.

Unlikely? Highly. I still believe Brees will sign a long-term contract, straighten out what’s been a mess of an offseason for the Saints and carry the team to another postseason berth, no matter how many coaches and other players are suspended.

But with each day that passes without Brees having that long-term deal, Saints fans must start worrying a little bit more. Brees carries the franchise tag, and the deadline for him to finalize a long-term contract is July 16. If he doesn’t have a deal by then, he has only one option -- sign the franchise tag and play for a little more than $16 million this season.

Wait, there is actually a second option. Brees could just decide to sit out the season.

Public perception is that Brees never would do that because he’s such a competitor. I’m not here to rain on Brees’ public perception. My experience around him leads me to believe he is what he’s perceived to be -- and that’s not true of all the people I cover. Brees really is a fierce competitor.

But that’s part of the problem. It’s hard to say exactly what he would do if the deadline passed with no deal. At this point, Brees himself might not even know what he would do. But my impression of him leads me to believe there’s at least the possibility he could feel like he has been wronged by the Saints and could swing back as strongly as possible.

Brees has made it clear he despises the idea of playing without any long-term security, so maybe he just doesn’t play. That would be beyond disastrous for the franchise.

This team might have lost its mastermind when head coach Sean Payton was suspended, but I think the Saints could go on nicely with Brees around. If he’s not, this team loses its heart, soul and at least as many games (eight) as it did the past two seasons combined.

Take Brees away from the Saints and you have the Jacksonville Jaguars. Wait, at least the Jaguars have Blaine Gabbert. Yeah, he was terrible as a rookie, but there were at least some reasons why he was a first-round draft pick.

Daniel, who was undrafted in 2009, has completed only six passes in his NFL career. Some people like to say Daniel is the second coming of Brees. He's not. The only things Brees and Daniel have in common are that they’re short by NFL quarterback standards and know the Saints’ playbook. Brees is a once-in-a-lifetime talent. Daniel might look fine in preseason games when he’s plugged into Payton’s system. But start him over an entire regular season, especially one in which Payton isn’t around, and you’ll get a quick reminder of why teams generally avoid quarterbacks who are 6 feet or shorter.

Daniel doesn’t have Brees’ arm, experience in the offense or his magic. Yeah, I know there’s a school of thought that says you could throw any quarterback out there with the likes of Jimmy Graham, Darren Sproles, Marques Colston, Devery Henderson and Lance Moore and he’d do just fine.

I don’t buy it. Daniel could get the Saints through a game or two (maybe a little more if Payton were around) if Brees were banged up. Brees could get the Saints through a season without Payton.

But Payton’s not going to be around. If, somehow, Brees joins him, the Saints suddenly would become a team with a defense that might or might not be average, some good skill-position players on offense and no threat at quarterback.

That sounds like a formula for instant mediocrity -- and a huge nightmare for a franchise and a fan base that has gotten very used to winning big.

Yes, the start of training camps is two months away, but it’s never too early to consider the coming season. A look at the best-case and worst-case scenarios for the Saints in 2012.

Dream scenario (13-3): The ending of this dream is simple. It ends exactly where it starts -- in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. That’s the site of this season’s Super Bowl and there’s no sweeter vision in the eyes of Saints fans than watching their team win the NFL’s biggest spectacle at home. If revenge is sweet, this would be 1,000 times sweeter.

New Orleans fans and players are mad about how severely the NFL punished the Saints for their bounty program. They would love it if Roger Goodell handed the Saints the Lombardi trophy in their own building.

It actually could happen. Think about it: Other than suspended coach Sean Payton, the Saints really haven’t lost that much from a team that went 13-3 last season. Linebacker Jonathan Vilma also is suspended for the entire season, but Vilma’s age (30) started to show last season. The Saints are better off with Curtis Lofton at middle linebacker. The Saints also will have to get through the first four games without suspended defensive end Will Smith.

But other than that, this team remains loaded with talent. Drew Brees and the offense always will put up a bunch of points. If new coordinator Steve Spagnuolo can make the defense better, the Saints easily are a playoff team. They’ll be motivated by an us-against-the-world mentality, so anything is at least possible.

Nightmare scenario (6-10): It’s easy to say Payton had a great system in place and a veteran team, so the assistants can just run the show and it will be business as usual. I tend to agree with that theory. But what if the importance of a head coach is even greater than we realized? And what if the emotional weight of the most turbulent offseason in NFL history catches up to the Saints?

That’s when all bets are off and when things could start falling apart. Since winning the Super Bowl in the 2009 season, the defense hasn’t been very good. The greatness of the offense has been enough to carry the Saints to the playoffs the past two seasons, but it hasn’t been great enough to carry them deep into the postseason. There’s no doubting Spagnuolo has a good defensive mind, but he might not have all the personnel he needs to run his scheme successfully.

Well, the easy thing to say is that the offense will carry this team no matter what. But even if Payton wasn’t suspended, it’s hard to imagine the offense being even more productive than last season. Take Brees and the offense back down to what they were in 2007 and ’08, give New Orleans a defense that’s no better than last season's, and the Saints could tumble to a middle-of-the-pack team.

» AFC Scenarios: East | West | North | South » NFC: East | West | North | South

Yes, the start of training camps is two months away, but it’s never too early to consider the coming season. A look at the best-case and worst-case scenarios for the Panthers in 2012.

Dream scenario (11-5): With the Saints dealing with turmoil and the Falcons facing enormous pressure, it’s at least possible that the two teams that have dominated the NFC South in recent years won’t win it in 2012. The Panthers are the next logical choice, and there are all sorts of reasons for optimism.

Coach Ron Rivera’s entering his second season and so is quarterback Cam Newton, who was the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year despite not having an offseason with his coaches and their playbook. Newton should only continue to improve, a scary thought for a guy who lit up defenses with his arm and his legs last season. He has Steve Smith still going strong, a backfield that includes Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams, and has added fullback/tailback Mike Tolbert.

There are far fewer questions about Carolina’s offense than there were a year ago. It’s obvious the Panthers are going to score some points on offense. But the defense will tell the story. If this team is going to make the playoffs, Jon Beason and Ron Edwards must make strong comebacks from injuries and rookie linebacker Luke Kuechly must make an instant impact.

Nightmare scenario (6-10): Anything less than last year’s 6-10 record would be a huge disappointment. Although I don’t think it’s likely, it’s at least possible that Newton will take a step back. If he does, then maybe Smith no longer looks so young and maybe that loaded backfield doesn’t look so good. Then there’s the matter of the defense that was so bad a year ago. A lot of people seem to assume the return of Beason and Edwards and the addition of Kuechly will solve everything. But maybe Beason and Edwards aren’t the players they were before their injuries, and maybe Kuechly doesn’t live up to his billing.

If all that happens, then the Panthers really aren’t going to be any different than they were the last couple of seasons.

Time for a look at some headlines from around the NFC South.

• After San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith downplayed Cam Newton’s stats, Carolina linebacker Jon Beason defended his quarterback. Beason took to Twitter with a message for Smith. Beason said Smith would have been looking for a job if Peyton Manning had signed with San Francisco.

• Kellen Winslow, who was traded away by Tampa Bay on Monday night, said he can breathe in Seattle. He said things were getting a little stuffy in Tampa, where he and new coach Greg Schiano had some philosophical differences.

• New Orleans coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is installing a defense that won’t feature as many all-out blitzes as the Saints used in recent years. But safety Malcolm Jenkins said that doesn’t mean the Saints will be any less aggressive on defense.

• New Orleans offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael said backup quarterback Chase Daniel has been stepping up and taking a leadership role with Drew Brees not participating in organized team activities.

• The Sporting News ranks the 32 NFL head coaches and there is not an NFC South coach in the top 14. Suspended New Orleans coach Sean Payton isn’t included in the rankings, but his replacement, Joe Vitt, is. New Orleans fans, who have been a bit sensitive lately, aren’t going to be happy when they see where Vitt was ranked.

» AFC Scenarios: East | West | North | South » NFC: East | West | North | South

Yes, the start of training camps is two months away, but it’s never too early to consider the coming season. A look at the best-case and worst-case scenarios for the Buccaneers in 2012.

Dream scenario (10-6): This will only happen if coach Greg Schiano makes the transition from college to the NFL more like Jim Harbaugh than Nick Saban or Bobby Petrino. Harbaugh isn’t the norm in this category, but it’s possible Schiano could follow in his tracks. The cupboard isn’t bare, it just needs organizing. The Bucs have assembled a lot of young talent in recent drafts -- Josh Freeman, Gerald McCoy, Brian Price, Mike Williams, Arrelious Benn, Adrian Clayborn, Mark Barron, Doug Martin and Lavonte David -- and Schiano showed he can build during his time at Rutgers.

The key to it all is Freeman. Is he the quarterback who threw 25 touchdowns and six interceptions in a 10-6 season in 2010 or the guy that threw 22 interceptions and looked awfully anxious last season? Schiano and his staff firmly believe the 2010 version was the real Freeman and they’ve done everything possible to upgrade his supporting cast. They brought in Vincent Jackson to be the No. 1 receiver and guard Carl Nicks to bolster an offensive line that has a chance to be very good. They also drafted Martin and plan to use him as an every-down running back.

If Freeman is for real, he should bounce back strong from last year’s debacle. Lots of coaches and scouts around the league still believe in Freeman, but we’ll soon find out if he still believes in himself or if last year forever shattered his confidence. But even if Freeman improves, the Bucs must be a lot better on defense than they were last season when they allowed more points (494) than any team in franchise history.

Nightmare scenario (4-12): As demonstrated by the likes of Saban and Petrino, NFL players don’t always respond well to hard-charging college coaches. There’s no doubt this team needs some order after the Wild West days of Raheem Morris, but Schiano must get his players to buy into the new order in their worlds or he could be in for trouble. Although ownership showed a willingness to spend in free agency and the Bucs have had some early draft picks in recent years, this job is far from paradise.

Few, if any, of those early draft picks have shown that they are the real deal. Maybe all they need is better coaching, but maybe the Bucs just haven’t drafted very well. If Freeman struggles again, the Bucs suddenly have a quarterback quandary on their hands. If they struggle on offense, there’s no way they can win games in the NFC South. You don’t win a lot of games with defense in the modern NFL and, at least on paper, Tampa Bay’s offense is much more talented than its defense.

If Freeman doesn’t take a step forward and the defense doesn’t show improvement, it will become last season all over again. This is not a franchise that can handle a lot more misery. Attendance has been lacking in recent years, and the Bucs aren’t going to fill up their stadium until they escape obscurity and win consistently.

Yes, the start of training camps is two months away, but it’s never too early to consider the coming season. A look at the best-case and worst-case scenarios for the Falcons in 2012.

Dream scenario (13-3): Let’s note right up front that that dream record would also include at least two postseason wins, which would be a first in the era of coach Mike Smith, general manager Thomas Dimitroff and Matt Ryan. In their time, the Falcons have played the days after Christmas exactly like they’re the days after Christmas. There’s been a huge letdown when January has rolled around.

That’s putting an enormous amount of pressure on the Falcons. But that might be a good thing. Smith has said postseason failures have caused him to rethink how he does a lot of things. There’s little doubt those failures played a role in the hiring of new offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter and defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, moves that might get the Falcons over the hump.

There are a lot of scouts and coaches around the league who believe Ryan was held back by former offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey and the defense never established any sort of identity under Brian VanGorder. The Falcons can score with any team if Ryan is allowed (and has time) to throw the ball downfield to Roddy White and Julio Jones. Nolan is preaching about the need to be more aggressive on defense.

Nightmare scenario (8-8 or anything worse): Let’s face it: The only way the Falcons are a .500 (or worse) team is if they have several major injuries or a huge implosion. This is a team that is loaded with individual talent on both sides of the ball. Or so it seems.

When coordinators go, head coaches and key players tend to lose their insulation. If Koetter can’t get more out of Ryan than Mularkey did, the Falcons suddenly have a huge issue at quarterback. If Nolan can’t get guys like Ray Edwards and Dunta Robinson to do more than they did for VanGorder, then maybe it’s not all about the coordinators or offensive and defensive schemes.

Owner Arthur Blank has said Smith isn’t on the hot seat, no matter what happens this season. But I think Smith is at least entering the same territory Tony Dungy once did in Tampa Bay. Smith is being labeled as a nice guy who can win a lot of games in the regular season but can’t win in January. If this team doesn’t win a playoff game, Smith officially is on the hot seat. If this team somehow fails to even make the playoffs, Blank might be forced to rethink his statement. This team is too talented not to win.

I know it’s a holiday weekend, so I’d like to take this opportunity to let you know that the NFC South chat still will be held Friday.

We’ll kick it off at 1 p.m. ET and chat for a full hour. We’ve had some interesting developments in offseason workouts so there should be plenty to talk about on all four teams.

Here’s your free ticket into Friday’s NFC South chat.

If you’ve spent any time at all around New Orleans middle linebacker Curtis Lofton, you know he’s a guy with a lot of pride.

That’s why I wasn’t at all surprised as I read through a transcript of Lofton’s quotes from Thursday’s media session. Lofton spent the past four seasons in Atlanta. When he hit the free-agent market, word got out that the Falcons viewed him only as a two-down linebacker going forward.

“When you are a free agent, every weakness you have, they are going to look at,’’ Lofton said. “If you look at my time in Atlanta, my first year I was a first- and second-down linebacker. My second year, I played more than 95 percent of the snaps. The past two years, I played 99 percent of the snaps. I guess, if you play 99 percent of the snaps, you couldn’t say that I was a first- and second-down linebacker.”

Lofton, who is expected to be a three-down linebacker with the Saints, admitted that label bothered him.

“As much as you don’t want it [to], it plays in the money,’’ Lofton said. “That’s what it comes down to. Every team has their makeup of what they think a player can do and what they think he can’t do. A lot of teams may have said that. A lot of teams didn’t. It is on me to prove those guys wrong. I do have that chip on my shoulder. Every day I am going to go out and get better, and work on my weaknesses.”

Lofton also said a few other things that at least look like they were veiled references to (or maybe even direct shots at) the Falcons. The Atlanta defense Lofton played in looked a little like what coordinator Steve Spagnoulo is implementing in New Orleans.

“They are similar, but they are not the same,’’ Lofton said. “Spags, I would say he is more aggressive, and I like that.’’

The Falcons like to preach a “family’’ concept, frequently saying they like to draft players, develop them, and keep them for the long term. They didn’t keep Lofton, even though he was a leader of their defense pretty much from the start of his rookie season.

“When I was going through the process and they said the Saints were interested in me, I only took one visit, and that was here,’’ Lofton said. “Up in Atlanta, I hated these guys. That is the rivalry, you hate each other. Once I got here, hanging around coach (Sean) Payton, (general manager) Mickey (Loomis), (assistant head coach Joe) Vitt, and coach Spags, it felt right,’’ Lofton said. "It was family. Before I made my decision, I called Harp (Roman Harper), I called Will (Smith), and they were very receptive. They talked to me and said 'Hey, we need you. Come be a part of something great.'"

The Falcons haven’t won a playoff game during a four-year streak of winning seasons, which is more than a little bit of a sore spot among Atlanta's front office, coaches, players, and fans. I’m not sure that Lofton was aiming for that spot, but it sure sounded like it.

“The reason why I came here is to win a championship, and that is what everyone’s expectations are,’’ Lofton said.

Sounds to me like the NFC South's best rivalry has become even more heated.

We mentioned that the Saints will be inserting more zone coverage into their defense when we told you about linebacker Martez Wilson making the move to defensive end.

If Wilson stays at end, he might have to drop into coverage from time to time. But the secondary is going to be impacted much more by any change in coverage schemes.

“It is a little bit of a transition for cornerbacks Patrick (Robinson) and Jabari (Greer) but they really have done a good job so far fitting into that mode,’’ interim coach Joe Vitt said. “There is a little bit more adjustment wise with motion and formation, but that is why we have OTAs.’’

Vitt said there’s been a league-wide trend of offenses getting more big plays, and said those plays are less prevalent against zone defenses.

“Offensively, last year, we had 124 big plays of runs of 10 yards or more or pass plays of 20 yards or more,’’ Vitt said. “Defensively, we gave up more last year than we ever have at 99. The big plays on offense, we would like to keep that number exactly where it is. We have to get that number on defense down to about 75. Just a little bit more zone defense and not selling the farm is going to give you an opportunity to keep those big (plays) off your back.”

Safeties Malcolm Jenkins and Roman Harper also will face adjustments. But Vitt said new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is doing a good job of getting his system installed.

“Spags is a hands-on coach,’’ Vitt said. “He loves to teach. He loves to have the whole defense in there so everybody is on the same page. I would categorize him as a player’s coach. He puts a lot of the decision-making on the player in the course of practice and the course of a game. He doesn’t dwell on mistakes. I think he is going to produce a very positive atmosphere around here for us.”

The Carolina Panthers are making the right call on middle linebacker Jon Beason, even if it’s not what he wants.

The Panthers are letting Beason walk through installation periods during their organized team activities. But they don’t plan on letting him do any real drills until training camp. That makes lots of sense because Beason suffered a torn Achilles tendon early last season. Beason said he feels fine.

“I think they're just protecting me from myself,” Beason said. “Practice is practice. But to me you come out and compete. You try to win every down and you play the game a certain way. I think that had a lot to do with it, too.”

I respect Beason as much as any player in the NFC South and that is in large part due to his competitive nature. I understand that he wants to be out there practicing at full speed. But the Panthers are doing the smart thing by holding him out until training camp. They also are proceeding cautiously with outside linebacker Thomas Davis, who is coming off his torn ACL.

“I'd like to believe when we get to training camp, we can put Jon in full-go at that point, and Thomas, we'll ease him back in,” coach Ron Rivera said.

Beason and Davis are both veterans and smart guys. They already know the defense and can pick up any new tweaks simply by watching practice. I’d rather see Beason and Davis fully healthy on opening day than see them exposing themselves to setbacks in May.

Apparently, Rivera and the Panthers feel the same way.

Ah, here’s a prime example of what’s known in my business as “room service."

I’ll stay out of the way and let San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith do the heavy lifting. He took a shot at Carolina quarterback Cam Newton that speaks for itself.

"This is the honest truth: I could absolutely care less on yards per game," Smith said. "I think that's a totally overblown stat. Because if you're losing games in the second half, guess what? You're like the Carolina Panthers and you're going no-huddle the entire second half and, yeah, Cam Newton threw for a lot of 300-yard games, that's great. You're not winning, though."

Well, the 49ers and Panthers aren’t scheduled to play this year. But Smith’s comments could come back to be a big storyline if Newton has another big year, the defense improves and Carolina and San Francisco end up meeting in the playoffs.

For now though, Smith, who threw for 3,144 yards last season, can say whatever he wants about Newton, who set a rookie passing record with 4,051 yards. The 49ers went to the NFC Championship Game last season and the Panthers went 6-10.

For the most part, the New Orleans Saints are keeping things status quo while coach Sean Payton is suspended.

But interim coach Joe Vitt revealed a few tweaks when he met with the media after Thursday’s practice. There are changes coming on defense, which isn’t Payton’s side of the ball. But you can bet Payton signed off on the changes before he began his suspension. He already had brought in coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to improve a defense that struggled at times the past two seasons.

Vitt said the Saints gave up too many big plays last season and the defense will look to include more zone schemes. It appears that also means there will be some personnel changes. Linebacker Martez Wilson, who showed some promise last year, has been moved to defensive end. He was lining up Thursday opposite Greg Romeus, another 2011 draft pick who missed last season with an injury.

"We've got a lot of zone pressures now and it's going to call for a defensive end to drop into coverage," Vitt said. "And Martez has got a pretty good foundation from being here a year ago with coverage and coverage aspects. So we've been very encouraged for the first week of what he's done. He'll be our right end. He does a pretty good job with pattern recognition. This is a time to experiment and we'll see what he can do."

Wilson has some quickness and that should help him at defensive end in a Spagnuolo defense. Spagnuolo likes to generate most of his pressure from the front four, but Wilson’s ability to drop into coverage could give the Saints some flexibility. Wilson’s quickness also could help him as a pass-rusher. Romeus also has potential as a pass-rusher.

Cameron Jordan, a first-round pick last year, is set to start at one defensive end spot. The Saints could have three players from the 2011 draft as their top three ends on opening day. Will Smith is New Orleans’ top end, but the NFL has suspended him for the first four games. Smith is appealing the suspension, but it looks like the Saints are coming up with alternatives.

As we wait for the Saints and Panthers to hold media sessions after Thursday’s workouts, let’s fill some time by taking a look at updated salary-cap figures for each NFC South team.

The Atlanta Falcons are $2.8 million below the salary cap and have only one draft choice (fifth-round pick Jonathan Massaquoi) left to sign. The Falcons don’t have a lot of room to work with. But, if some veterans they like come available, it wouldn’t be that difficult for the Falcons to restructure some contracts to free up salary-cap room.

The Carolina Panthers are $3.2 million under the cap. That figure is a little misleading. The Panthers released guard Travelle Wharton and designated him as a June 1 cut. That means Wharton’s entire cap figure ($7.6 million) currently is counting against Carolina’s cap. Once June 1 gets here, the Panthers will be allowed to spread Wharton’s cap hit out over this year and next.

The New Orleans Saints are $2.3 million under the cap. Like the Panthers, the Saints could be looking at some dramatic changes in their cap room. If linebacker Jonathan Vilma’s season-long suspension is upheld, the Saints will immediately free up his $4.9 million cap figure. The Saints can use that room as they try to get quarterback Drew Brees signed to a long-term contract.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are $16.5 million under the cap. That figure is updated with the trade of Kellen Winslow, which freed up $4.8 million in cap space. The Bucs still have to sign first-round picks Mark Barron and Doug Martin, but there still is plenty of room if the Bucs see an available player they like.

We don’t know exactly what Tampa Bay’s new offense will look like until September, but there are some clues out there that suggest the Buccaneers could go away from the league-wide trend of throwing more to tight ends.

The Bucs had a major shakeup at the position this week when they traded Kellen Winslow to Seattle and brought in free agent Dallas Clark. The Bucs basically replaced one veteran pass-catcher with another.

Tampa Bay coach Greg Schiano said he believes Clark can get back to being the same player he was before injuries limited his production with Indianapolis the past two seasons. In 2009, Clark caught 100 passes.

But, even if Clark is healthy, he might have a tough time registering a 100-catch season. The Bucs hired former New York Giants quarterbacks coach Mike Sullivan as their offensive coordinator, so it’s safe to assume this offense will at least look a little like what the Giants run.

In a 2011 season in which eight tight ends, including Winslow, were targeted at least 110 times (according to ESPN Stats & Information), the Giants took a completely different approach. New York’s top tight end, Jake Ballard, was targeted 58 times and ranked No. 25 in tight-end targets. Ballard produced 38 catches for 604 yards and four touchdowns. Backups Bear Pascoe and Travis Beckum were targeted 16 and 10 times, respectively.

Maybe Sullivan doesn’t take the exact approach the Giants did. Maybe a healthy Clark convinces Sullivan to throw to the tight ends more often.

Or maybe the Bucs will follow what the Giants did and dare to be different than the rest of the league.