ESPN: Ranking the most talented rosters

[ActualCowboysFan]

The Insiders over at ESPN got together with PFF to rank NFL teams. They then ignored the PFF rankings and made some odd guesses about the depth chart to compile their rankings. Three teams were tied for the most elite/ high quality starters. Two of them were ranked 1 and 2. The other, 11th. Five teams were tied for the best record in the league. Four of those teams were ranked in the top 5. The other, 11th. You can guess the other.

Can't get link to work.

 

[Stash]

More dreck from ESPN. Four teams tied with a 12-4 record. 3 are in the Top 5 rankings while the other is 11th. Wanna guess who?

And somehow the Eagles are ranked 6th with those receivers and that quarterback.

The only thing this list does is damage the credibility of anyone who put it together.

 

[daveferr33]

I continue to be baffled by all the Eagles love.

But I welcome it. I want the team to play with a big "they don't respect us" chip on their shoulders.

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

11. Dallas Cowboys 2014 Ranking: 18

Top five players: Dez Bryant, Greg Hardy, Orlando Scandrick, Tyron Smith, Tony Romo

Starters who should be upgraded: Nick Hayden, Morris Claiborne, Anthony Hitchens, J.J. Wilcox, Terrance Williams, Tyler Clutts, Joseph Randle

Analysis: The Cowboys have one of the league's best offenses, but some big question marks on defense. The offensive line might be even better this season after last year's dominant campaign, which is why Dallas was fine moving on from DeMarco Murray. Randle averaged 6.7 yards per carry last season and 4.2 yards per carry after contact on 51 carries, and the team is banking on him being very productive behind that blocking. The defense overachieved a year ago, and the D-line looks very thin entering 2015. The secondary is an issue, while the linebacker corps will get a huge boost if Sean Lee can return healthy.

 

[xwalker]

The Insiders over at ESPN got together with PFF to rank NFL teams. They then ignored the PFF rankings and made some odd guesses about the depth chart to compile their rankings. Three teams were tied for the most elite/ high quality starters. Two of them were ranked 1 and 2. The other, 11th. Five teams were tied for the best record in the league. Four of those teams were ranked in the top 5. The other, 11th. You can guess the other.

Can't get link to work.

Here are the rankings only (2014);


At Pro Football Focus we run position rankings and have done unit group rankings in the past, but here we're going to do something a little more in-depth coming out of the draft -- ranking entire rosters.

We got together PFF's analysts and composed a ranking of each team's roster using our grading, data and football knowledge for added context. Along with each team's ranking we have color-coded the projected starters -- blue for the elite players through to red for the poorest (you can see the color key in the chart at right -- the more blues and greens you have, the better, while a lot of oranges and reds are bad news).

For our starting units we have gone 12 players deep to reflect the base and nickel/third down sets from both sides of the ball.

Here you have it: Our 1-32 ranking of every roster in the NFL. The team at the top is no surprise, although there are plenty in the top 10 and further down the list.


1. Seattle Seahawks
2. San Francisco 49ers
3. Denver Broncos
4. New Orleans Saints
5. Philadelphia Eagles
6. New England Patriots
7. Cincinnati Bengals
8. Green Bay Packers
9. Arizona Cardinals
10. Kansas City Chiefs
11. Detroit Lions
12. Indianapolis Colts
13. Miami Dolphins
14. San Diego Chargers
15. Chicago Bears
16. Baltimore Ravens
17. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
18. Dallas Cowboys
19. New York Giants
20. Buffalo Bills
21. Tennessee Titans
22. Carolina Panthers
23. New York Jets
24. Cleveland Browns
25. Houston Texans
26. Washington Commanders
27. Pittsburgh Steelers
28. Oakland Raiders
29. Minnesota Vikings
30. Atlanta Falcons
31. St. Louis Rams
32. Jacksonville Jaguars

 

[popp1234]

I continue to be baffled by all the Eagles love.

But I welcome it. I want the team to play with a big "they don't respect us" chip on their shoulders.

Me too, but I think it's all about Chip Kelly (which is equally as baffling). I have never seen an NFC East champ, which was one game away (and perhaps a bad call) from playing for the right to go to the Super Bowl, significantly improved their roster in the off-season (on paper, which is the bases for these rankings), be disrespected so much. Also, I agree with you, I like the underdog role. I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[theogt]

11. Dallas Cowboys 2014 Ranking: 18

Top five players: Dez Bryant, Greg Hardy, Orlando Scandrick, Tyron Smith, Tony Romo

Starters who should be upgraded: Nick Hayden, Morris Claiborne, Anthony Hitchens, J.J. Wilcox, Terrance Williams, Tyler Clutts, Joseph Randle

Analysis: The Cowboys have one of the league's best offenses, but some big question marks on defense. The offensive line might be even better this season after last year's dominant campaign, which is why Dallas was fine moving on from DeMarco Murray. Randle averaged 6.7 yards per carry last season and 4.2 yards per carry after contact on 51 carries, and the team is banking on him being very productive behind that blocking. The defense overachieved a year ago, and the D-line looks very thin entering 2015. The secondary is an issue, while the linebacker corps will get a huge boost if Sean Lee can return healthy.

This is a terrible write up.

Replacing Hitchens makes no sense. He played excellent, particularly for a ROOKIE. Any NFL GM would be elated to have a rookie linebacker come in and play that well.

Morris Claiborne? He's not a starter, and even if he was I think drafting a 1st round corner counts as at least attempting an upgrade.

We have no idea if Joseph Randle needs to be upgraded -- we don't even know what he looks like as a starter.

And the D-line isn't thin. There are questions marks for various players but there is depth, no question.

 

[mldardy]

I continue to be baffled by all the Eagles love.

But I welcome it. I want the team to play with a big "they don't respect us" chip on their shoulders.

I haven't and don't understand the Eagles love. They are worse than last year but ESPN is all behind the 'Chip Kelly is a genius' card. They want him to succeed so badly for some reason.

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

Here are the rankings only;


At Pro Football Focus we run position rankings and have done unit group rankings in the past, but here we're going to do something a little more in-depth coming out of the draft -- ranking entire rosters.

We got together PFF's analysts and composed a ranking of each team's roster using our grading, data and football knowledge for added context. Along with each team's ranking we have color-coded the projected starters -- blue for the elite players through to red for the poorest (you can see the color key in the chart at right -- the more blues and greens you have, the better, while a lot of oranges and reds are bad news).

For our starting units we have gone 12 players deep to reflect the base and nickel/third down sets from both sides of the ball.

Here you have it: Our 1-32 ranking of every roster in the NFL. The team at the top is no surprise, although there are plenty in the top 10 and further down the list.


1. Seattle Seahawks
2. San Francisco 49ers
3. Denver Broncos
4. New Orleans Saints
5. Philadelphia Eagles
6. New England Patriots
7. Cincinnati Bengals
8. Green Bay Packers
9. Arizona Cardinals
10. Kansas City Chiefs
11. Detroit Lions
12. Indianapolis Colts
13. Miami Dolphins
14. San Diego Chargers
15. Chicago Bears
16. Baltimore Ravens
17. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
18. Dallas Cowboys
19. New York Giants
20. Buffalo Bills
21. Tennessee Titans
22. Carolina Panthers
23. New York Jets
24. Cleveland Browns
25. Houston Texans
26. Washington Commanders
27. Pittsburgh Steelers
28. Oakland Raiders
29. Minnesota Vikings
30. Atlanta Falcons
31. St. Louis Rams
32. Jacksonville Jaguars

Believe that's last season's.

 

[perrykemp]

Saints at #4? HUH?

 

[xwalker]

2015 Rankings Only:



For the second year in a row, we are ranking the entire rosters of each team in the NFL for ESPN.

We got together PFF's analysts and ran through the data, composing a ranking that incorporated our grading as well as football evaluation for added context -- allowing us, for example, to reward teams that have an excellent quarterback situation but a relative hole along the defensive line when it came to run defense. We have collected the number of elite or high-quality players each team can count among its starters (for these purposes we gave each team a starting side of 12 on each side of the ball to reflect both base and nickel/third-down defense), and you will see those figures in the chart at the bottom of the page.

Here is our 1-32 ranking of every roster in the NFL. The team at the top remains the same from a year ago, but nearly every other franchise made moves up or down the list.


1. Seattle Seahawks

2014 Ranking: 1



2. Green Bay Packers

2014 Ranking: 8




3. Baltimore Ravens

2014 Ranking: 16



4. New England Patriots

2014 Ranking: 6



5. Denver Broncos

2014 Ranking: 3



6. Philadelphia Eagles

2014 Ranking: 5



7. Detroit Lions

2014 Ranking: 11



8. Minnesota Vikings

2014 Ranking: 29



9. Cincinnati Bengals

2014 Ranking: 7



10. New Orleans Saints

2014 Ranking: 4



11. Dallas Cowboys

2014 Ranking: 18



12. Pittsburgh Steelers

2014 Ranking: 27



13. Indianapolis Colts

2014 Ranking: 12



14. Cleveland Browns

2014 Ranking: 24



15. Buffalo Bills

2014 Ranking: 20



16. Carolina Panthers

2014 Ranking: 22



17. San Francisco 49ers

2014 Ranking: 2



18. San Diego Chargers

2014 Ranking: 14



19. Kansas City Chiefs

2014 Ranking: 10



20. New York Giants

2014 Ranking: 19



21. New York Jets

2014 Ranking: 23



22. St. Louis Rams

2014 Ranking: 31



23. Miami Dolphins

2014 Ranking: 13



24. Arizona Cardinals

2014 Ranking: 9



25. Chicago Bears

2014 Ranking: 15



26. Houston Texans

2014 Ranking: 25



27. Washington Commanders

2014 Ranking: 26



28. Oakland Raiders

2014 Ranking: 28



29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

2014 Ranking: 17



30. Tennessee Titans

2014 Ranking: 21



31. Atlanta Falcons

2014 Ranking: 30



32. Jacksonville Jaguars

2014 Ranking: 32

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

Thanks. I would say those make no sense, but if their using analysis like Tyler Clutts as a hole on the team for the rest, I don't think there's any point. ESPN gotta ESPN

 

[big dog cowboy]

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

Dallas has seven starters that need to be replaced. Philly has one.

 

[loublue22]

Dallas has seven starters that need to be replaced. Philly has one.

is it the QB

 

[RW31]

Pro football focus is run by a handful of fantasy football geeks who have never played football let alone coached football, I find it hilarious that there are people out there that pay for this horse****. It's like one of us trying to teach Warren Buffett about stocks.

 

[viman96]

Commanders @ 27 is too high

 

[DallasEast]

Pro football focus is run by a handful of fantasy football geeks who have never played football let alone coached football, I find it hilarious that there are people out there that pay for this horse****. It's like one of us trying to teach Warren Buffett about stocks.

I have never been interested enough to research the biographies for the PFF guys. It would be sad if they lack backgrounds in the sport(s) they track.

 

[JonJon]

How are we worse than the last place Bucs???

 

[DallasEast]

How are we worse than the last place Bucs???

That's the 2014 rankings. xwalker posted the 2015 rankings in post 11.