Baltimore Ravens have the best roster in the NFL in 2020?
Do the Baltimore Ravens have the NFL’s best roster in 2020?
Deciding which team in the NFL has the best roster is an inexact science and you will undoubtedly get different opinions depending on who you ask the question to.
It’s always interesting to evaluate the opinions of others, however, and ESPN recently put out a ranking of all 32 rosters in the NFL in which the Baltimore Ravens ranked number one overall.
The Ravens are led by NFL MVP Lamar Jackson, the league’s top-ranked rushing attack, and led the NFL last season in passing touchdowns despite throwing the fewest passes.
After a 14-2 regular season, the Ravens were expected to go deep in the playoffs but were upset by the red hot Tennessee Titans.
Even with a number of losses in the 2020 offseason, the Ravens’ roster remains one of the best in the NFL after a tremendous 2020 NFL Draft class.
ESPN’s top five rosters in the NFL
https://twitter.com/ESPNNFL/status/1275871857053511682
ESPN’s rankings here were based mostly on Pro Football Focus ratings, and they have been for a
few years now. They identified each team’s biggest strength, weakness, and X-factor heading into the 2020 season.
No roster around the league is going to be perfect, but the top five they’ve selected are certainly solid contenders to all be considered among the best and most well-constructed rosters in the NFL right now.
Let’s look at the validity of each of these rosters as top five candidates.
Baltimore Ravens
Boasting the league MVP at quarterback in Lamar Jackson and a loaded group of young offensive skill players, it’s hard to dispute the Ravens as the best roster in the league right now.
Their biggest question marks are on the interior offensive line and off the edge in the pass rush department. Nobody on Baltimore’s roster finished in the double digits last year in sacks, and only Matthew Judon (9.5) had more than five.
New Orleans Saints
It’s hard to find a weakness on the Saints’ roster at this particular point in time. The offseason additions of Emmanuel Sanders, Malcolm Jenkins, and Cesar Ruiz are among the most substantial upgrades made around the league.
It’s tough not to have the Saints at number one overall with the talent they have even two-deep on their depth chart. The one major weakness on this roster is at tight end.
San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers have one of the best rosters in the NFL despite having what I would consider to be one of the most average quarterbacks.
Jimmy Garoppolo kept them steady throughout last season and made plenty of plays, but he missed a lot of plays, too many for my liking.
Still, this is easily a top two or three roster with weapons all over the offense, Trent Williams now at left tackle, and a very good defense at every level.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs return just about every starter from last year’s Super Bowl-winning team. They didn’t hardly lose anybody and they added Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Willie Gay as impact rookies in the 2020 NFL Draft.
The cornerback position is a glaring weakness for this KC roster. If not for their linebackers and cornerbacks, they would easily be number one on this list.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
I feel like this is where ESPN really reached, but the more you look at the Bucs’ roster, the harder it is not to like it.
They obviously brought in Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski this offseason, and then drafted Tristan Wirfs at right tackle and Antoine Winfield Jr. at safety.
Next. 2020 NFL Draft: Grades & Recap for all 32 teams. dark
The improvements the Bucs made in the last fourth months were tremendous, but there might still be other rosters overall that are better across the NFL.