The Atlanta Falcons are in the midst of a rebuild having missed the playoffs for the last five seasons. CBS Sports analyst and former National Football League cornerback Bryant McFadden believes the upcoming season could be the year the Falcons capitalize on a weaker division and claim the NFC South for the first time since 2016.
“They have improved in regards to talent, especially if you’re looking at a year ago,” McFadden said in an interview with The Morning Shift on 92.9 The Game. “Me personally, Arthur Smith has done a real good job. I think this is the year where he really turns the corner and everybody in the football world will take notice.”
Morning show co-host Tiffany Blackmon recognized the structure of McFadden’s response about how the rest of the football world will notice what the Atlanta Falcons are doing, and she utilized her journalistic background to ask an insightful follow-up question.
Blackmon wanted to hear McFadden’s perspective, as a national media member himself, whether or not he feels the team is disrespected by outlets covering the National Football League. She had also listened to another show on the station recently speak with Smith, during which he expressed his nonchalance towards what other media members think about the Falcons.
“At times they do,” McFadden said of the national media disrespecting the Falcons. “It’s more about the market compared to some of the other prolific markets in the NFL. With the Falcons, that’s just the nature of the game, but it’s their job to change that.”
McFadden categorized the Falcons, who play in the sixth-largest media market in the United States, in the same category as the Jacksonville Jaguars. From an outsider’s perspective, it may seem like a questionable comparison.
“When you’re not on the radar, there’s no pressure because no one is expecting you to do anything,” McFadden said. “That’s the unique thing about the Falcons because no one is giving the Falcons any chance to do anything in a watered-down division once again.”
