NFC South notebook: Panthers will reportedly hire McAdoo and Arians’ helmet slap drama

The biggest NFC South headlines from SB Nation blogs

Let’s take a look around the NFC South and check out the latest SB Nation news and notes revolving around each team, starting with our Carolina Panthers.

Carolina Panthers

Carolina will reportedly hire former New York Giants head coach Ben McAdoo as their new offensive coodinator.

The Panthers hosted former Washington coach Jay Gruden for his second interview with the team this week for the vacant offensive coordinator position. That comes after Pep Hamilton declined an interview with the Panthers. All of the following candidates have now interviewed for the job: Gruden, Ben McAdoo, Klint Kubiak, Mike Groh and Scottie Montgomery.

Meanwhile, Panthers fans got a first taste of draft possibilities this week when Mel Kiper released his mock draft 1.0, sending Mississippi State tackle Charles Cross to the Panthers at the sixth pick.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Buccaneers advanced past the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday during Super Wild Card weekend. The Bucs defense shut out the Eagles until the fourth quarter, en route to a 31-15 win. However, the talk of the town is head coach Bruce Arians’ famous “helmet slap,” which the NFL has decided did cross the line. Arians will now appeal the $50,000 fine handed down by the league.

Following the action, Arians told media earlier this week he didn’t regret it, and was “trying to knock him off of that guy so he didn’t get a penalty.”

More than 1500 members of Bucs Nation voted on a poll asking whether or not Arians went too far, and 35 percent of readers picked, “If Andrew Adams Doesn’t Care, Neither Do I”, while 52 percent picked “No” and “Not At All”, combined.

And just to get you all nice and ready for the Buccaneers Rams Divisional Round matchup, Bucs Nation made sure to write up a good preview piece on the game. Bucs Nation also proposed the question: Should Aaron Donald be allowed to play this week after some of his past antics? You be the judge!

Atlanta Falcons

Over in Falcons country, Falcoholic fans and readers weighed in on on a possible Calvin Ridley trade and it’s clear that they believe he will be departing Atlanta imminently. Interestingly, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler asked around the league about Atlanta’s wide receiver and it seems that some general managers around the league would be willing to part ways with a first round pick.

One has to wonder what exactly happened behind closed doors for Ridley and the team to want to cut bait on the relationship after just two years. How did it really get to this point? It does seem pretty unusual. In these situations there’s usually a little bit more to be known rather than simply a desire for “a fresh start.” I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

The majority of the fans in that Falcoholic poll also gave head coach Arthur Smith a “B” grade.

Meanwhile, the Falcons signed tight end Daniel Helm to a futures contract and Mel Kiper sent the Falcons an absolute stud cornerback in his mock draft 1.0.

New Orleans Saints

The Bayou has been a little quiet over the past few weeks. Over at our friends at Canal Street Chronicles, the blog has been focused on which free agents the team should stick with and which they should part ways with.

Specifically, CSC believes it may be time to cut bait with left tackle Terron Armstead, wide receiver Tre’Quan Smith, running back Ty Montgomery. Armstead is a pretty big name on that list and I’m sure there’s a few fans out there who may not want to hear it. But give it a read and hear them out.

And how about some of the in-house priorities for the Saints? Another write believes that list will include safety Marcus Williams, quarterback Jameis Winston, and none other than Terron Armstead. So now I say read both pieces and decide for yourself. Should Armstead stay or go?

And what the heck happened with franchise wide receiver Michael Thomas this year? CSC dives into Thomas and argues that the Saints need to figure that situation out. And don’t forget about Deonte Harty (formerly Deonte Harris), who CSC sees a big future out of.

Finally, the folks at Pro Football Focus recently sent Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ritter to the Saints in their latest mock draft.