Matt Ryan

For some teams, a vast improvement in the win column only takes one offseason. Typically, the return of a key player, especially a quarterback, dramatically changes a franchise's short-term outlook.

The Houston Texans and Chicago Bears saw a seven-win increase between the 2017-18 seasons and won their divisions last year.

Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson played a full 16-game slate after tearing his ACL midway through the 2017 campaign. Defensive end J.J. Watt reverted to All-Pro form after struggling with injuries in 2015 and 2016. He recorded 16 sacks and seven forced fumbles for a defense that ranked fourth in scoring.

Chicago hired head coach Matt Nagy, traded for edge-rusher Khalil Mack and surrounded quarterback Mitchell Trubisky with new pass-catching options, wideouts Allen Robinson, Anthony Miller, Taylor Gabriel along with tight end Trey Burton.   

Who's going to take a big leap forward after a disappointing 2018 campaign? Let's take a look at three teams set for a bounce-back year.

            

Atlanta Falcons

In 2018, the injury bug didn't just bite the Atlanta Falcons—it feasted on key players.

Running back Devonta Freeman suited up for two games and eventually landed on injured reserve with a groin problem. Safeties Keanu Neal (ACL tear) and Ricardo Allen (torn Achilles) went down with season-ending ailments within three weeks. Linebacker Deion Jones missed 10 contests because of a foot injury.

Head coaches don't use injuries as an excuse, but the Falcons couldn't overcome major losses on both sides of the ball. Damontae Kazee performed well in a bigger role at safety, but the overall talent drop-off hurt this team, specifically on the defensive side of the ball.

Last year, Atlanta's defense ranked 25th in scoring and 28th in yards allowed. Head coach Dan Quinn expects Neal and Allen to return to action this summer. After snagging eight interceptions last year, Kazee will handle nickelback responsibilities, replacing Brian Poole.

In Freeman's absence, Ito Smith played quality snaps as the No. 2 running back behind Tevin Coleman, who departed for San Francisco. Now paired with Freeman, the duo should produce under new-old offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter whose offense ranked eighth twice with the Falcons in 2012 and 2014.

Quarterback Matt Ryan has arguably the strongest trio at wide receiver, featuring Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley and Mohamed Sanu—all three recorded at least 60 receptions and 800 yards last year.

With a healthy defense and an electric passing attack, the Falcons win the NFC South in 2019. 

2018 record: 7-9

2019 prediction: 11-5

             

New York Jets

The New York Jets bottomed out under Todd Bowles, going 4-12 and repeating mistakes resulting in penalties and missed defensive assignments that led to big plays. Gang Green's defense ranked 29th in scoring and 25th in yards allowed in 2018.

The front office took an offensive approach, hiring head coach Adam Gase to develop quarterback Sam Darnold, the No. 3 overall pick in last year's draft. The Jets fired general manager Mike Maccagnan in May. To make matters worse, he and the team's new lead skipper reportedly butt heads on roster decisions. 

According to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, Gase didn't want to pay a high price for a running back and balked at the financial investment in linebacker C.J. Mosley, who signed a five-year, $85 million deal.

Despite the friction, turnover in the front office and Gase's reluctance to pay premium free agents, the roster talent will overcome offseason turmoil. Unless the Jets trade running back Le'Veon Bell and Mosley, both will become key factors in this squad's improvement in the upcoming season. 

Darnold can lean on Bell in the short passing game, which may cut down on his erratic throws downfield, dropping his interception count. He can also hand off to the two-time All-Pro running back who's averaging 4.3 yards per carry for his career and accustomed to handling a big workload.

On the perimeter, wideout Robby Anderson could take another step forward with more targets in the passing attack. He's confident the new coaching staff will feature him in the offense, per Brian Costello of the New York Post.

"You know that you should be at least a 10-targets-a-game receiver because you know the impact you have on the game and that's not given to you," Anderson said. "You've proven that. Now, I have a coach that's going to utilize me as a player and not just make me run straight down the field." 

Mosley will serve as the centerpiece for Gregg Williams' defense. He's not a speedy coverage linebacker, but the 27-year-old can reach his spots in shallow areas to defend against the pass. He's rock-solid moving downhill to strike ball-carriers and pressure the pocket. The four-time Pro Bowler has 398 solo tackles, 8.5 sacks, 35 pass breakups and nine interceptions in five seasons.

Up front, in the trenches, Leonard Williams and Quinnen Williams—assuming he eventually signs his rookie deal—should improve the Jets' 26th-ranked run defense.

In a weak division with three teams, including the Jets going through early rebuild stages, the talent should propel Gang Green to a .500 record.

2018 record: 4-12 

2019 prediction: 8-8

                 

San Francisco 49ers 

The San Francisco 49ers hope to see quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo back on the field for the upcoming season. Last year, in Week 3 against the Kansas City Chiefs, he tore his ACL, which limited the team's offense. Still, the passing attack finished 15th in yards with C.J. Beathard and Nick Mullens at the helm.

Garoppolo will have a pass-catching group stacked with young talent, including Dante Pettis along with rookies Deebo Samuel and Jalen Hurd, who were selected in the second and third rounds, respectively. Tight end George Kittle emerged as a Pro Bowler with 88 catches for 1,377 yards and five touchdowns last year.

In addition to Garoppolo's return, the 49ers have an underrated running back stable that's not earning enough praise. Coleman, Jerick McKinnon and Matt Breida can all run and catch out of the backfield, making it hard for defenses to predict run or pass on any given down. 

The 49ers rushing offense ranked 13th with Breida and Alfred Morris handling the bulk of the carries. With Coleman and McKinnon in the backfield, this group should rank top five in yards from scrimmage.

Defensively, the 49ers have holes on the back end with two injury-prone safeties in Jimmie Ward and Jaquiski Tartt coupled with a question mark at cornerback opposite Richard Sherman. However, a revamped pass rush featuring Dee Ford and rookie defensive end Nick Bosa will shorten the pocket time for quarterbacks looking to dissect the secondary. 

2018 record: 4-12

2019 prediction: 9-7

The Atlanta Falcons' 2018 season was one to forget. Besieged by injuries on defense, the Falcons lost four of their first five games and never recovered. After making the Super Bowl in 2016 and earning a wild-card spot in 2017, Atlanta watched last year's playoffs from home.

Given that disappointing campaign, not a lot is expected from the Falcons this year. But that defense has gotten a healthy Deion Jones and Keanu Neal back, and the offense is still loaded with skill-position talent and led by an MVP quarterback.

Atlanta could well be the most slept-on team in the NFC in 2019.

To say the Atlanta defense was a hot mess last year is being kind. The team ranked toward the bottom of the NFL in a fistful of statistical categories—points allowed (25th), yards allowed (28th), passing yards allowed (27th) and rushing yards allowed (25th).

But in fairness, that defense lost its two best players before the season reached its second week. Jones missed 10 games with a foot injury suffered in the team's Week 1 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Neal did one better—his season ended in that same game courtesy of an ACL tear.

As Tim Weaver wrote for Falcons Wire, the importance of those two talented young players to the Falcons defense can be summed up in one simple stat. According to Next Gen Stats, since 2016 Atlanta's defense has allowed a touchdown rate of 3.6 percent when Neal and Jones are both on the field. When one or both are sidelined, that number jumps to 6.3 percent.

The return of Jones and Neal isn't the only good news for the Falcons defense in 2019. After parting ways with both coordinators in the offseason, head coach Dan Quinn will run the defense this season. He told Kelsey Conway of the team's website that Atlanta is going to return to playing physical, disciplined defense.

"More than anything the tweaks in the scheme along with the tweaks in the style to make sure we recapture that," Quinn said. "I'm going to make sure the things are the most important stay at the front of our thinking, and the physicality and the ball-hawking will certainly be some of those."

Now, Atlanta's defense isn't suddenly going to morph into Chicago's. In the team's Super Bowl season, the Falcons were 25th in total defense and 27th in scoring defense. Those aren't the sort of numbers that inspire terror in opponents. But two years ago, the Falcons were a top-10 defense in both those categories. If Quinn can get the unit back into the top half of the NFL, the Falcons will be in business.

That's because Atlanta doesn't have to be a great defensive team to be a force to contend with in the NFC South. The offense is loaded for bear.

It got lost somewhat in last year's struggles, but quarterback Matt Ryan's 2018 season was statistically similar to his 2016 MVP campaign—4,924 passing yards, 35 touchdown passes, just seven interceptions and a passer rating of 108.1. The 12th-year veteran told ESPN's Vaughn McClure that he thinks the Falcons have what it takes to get back to the Super Bowl.

"The group of guys that we have, we have a locker room of competitive, hardworking, unselfish people, and I think it's the people in our building that give us a great chance to get back and obviously hopefully win a Super Bowl," Ryan said. "We've got a great coaching staff. We've got a combination of guys that are going to try and put the players that we have in the best position to be successful."

Ryan is in a good position to be successful because he's supported by an array of offensive weaponry. Julio Jones is arguably the best wide receiver in football. Second-year pro Calvin Ridley caught 10 touchdown passes as a rookie. Mohamed Sanu is a capable veteran wideout. Tight end Austin Hooper quietly caught 71 passes in his third season. And while tailback Devonta Freeman lost most of the 2018 season to groin and foot injuries, he's a two-time Pro Bowler who has topped 1,100 yards from scrimmage three times in five seasons.

Just like on defense, there's reason to believe that the 2019 Falcons could be better offensively than last year's sixth-ranked unit. After allowing 42 sacks in 2018—the 13th-most in the league—Atlanta spent a pair of first-round picks on guard Chris Lindstrom and tackle Kaleb McGary to retool the right side of the offensive line. The Falcons also showed much-maligned offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian the door and replaced him with Dirk Koetter.

Ryan told CBS Sports Radio that he's eager to work again with Koetter, who was Atlanta's offensive coordinator from 2012 to 2014.

"I think we both learned a lot in the last four years since we've kind of gone our separate ways and competed against each other, and we're both further along at this point in our careers," Ryan said. "I'm excited about working with him. He brings a lot to our organization, to our team, a lot of knowledge, and it's going to be great."

This isn't to say the Falcons are without issues. Atlanta ranked 20th in takeaways and tied for 22nd in sacks last year. With Tevin Coleman now in San Francisco, there's not much on the backfield depth chart behind Freeman.

But if you look at Atlanta's roster—really look at it—you'll see a team that's comparably talented to the one that won 10 games two years ago. And the team that won 11 games the year before and had a 28-3 lead over the Patriots in the third quarter of the Super Bowl before the, um, unpleasantness.

However, despite that fact, the Falcons are all but an afterthought in a division that most have already ceded to the New Orleans Saints. The Falcons are +155 (bet $100 to win $155) to make the playoffs at all at Caesars and rank in the NFC's bottom half in odds to make the Super Bowl.

The Saints are indeed a very good team—one of the leading contenders to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LIV. But the Falcons aren't an also-ran. They're at the very least a solid contender for one of the NFC's wild-card spots. And frankly, discounting Atlanta as a threat to win the division based solely off a down 2018 is selling the team woefully short.

Assuming that Atlanta's defense makes through Week 1 without being eviscerated by major injuries, the talent gap between the Falcons and Saints isn't all that wide.

That so few think so is more a matter of perception than reality.

And that perception is skewed.

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones said he doesn't think the team needs to pursue a trade for fellow superstar wideout Antonio Brown from the Pittsburgh Steelers.

On Friday, TMZ Sports provided comments from the six-time Pro Bowl selection about the potential of adding Brown to the Falcons' already high-powered offense.

"Nah, man. We tight over here," Jones said. "We good over here."

Atlanta ranked fourth in passing yards per game and sixth in total offense in 2018. Jones, Mohamed Sanu and Calvin Ridley, the team's top three receivers, all remain under contract for next season.

So, while Jones and Brown could create one of the best pass-catching tandems in NFL history, the Falcons are likely better off focusing their attention to other areas of the roster during the offseason.

Atlanta finished the campaign 28th in total defense and 20th in takeaways. Struggles on that side of the ball were the main reason for the team's 7-9 record and a first playoff-less season since 2015.

Meanwhile, questions about Brown's future were amplified Thursday when Steelers President Art Rooney II told Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette it's "hard to envision" the two-time NFL leader in receiving yards remaining on the roster by the time training camp arrives.

"There's not much we can do right now; we have time to make a decision," Rooney said. "We'll look at all the options. We're not going to release him, that's not on the table. But I will say all other options are on the table."

Brown missed the Steelers' Week 17 game against the AFC North rival Cincinnati Bengals following a rumored dispute with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

The Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers, Tennessee Titans and Washington Redskins are among the teams with wide receiver at or near the top of their to-do list heading into the offseason.