ESPN.com released their annual future power rankings Tuesday morning and according to their metrics, the Green Bay Packers are ranked first overall in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks coming in second. The New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, and Pittsburgh Steelers finished out the top five respectively.
The ranking metrics are once again based on a team’s current roster minus the quarterback, the quarterback, draft performance, front office and coaching. The scores, which were given by John Clayton, Louis Riddick and Mike Sando of ESPN, reflect the average rating given by each for each category. Category averages are then weighted by importance to generate an overall score.
Here is the Steelers overview from Sando:
Pittsburgh moved up two spots thanks to strong gains in coaching (13th to fifth, despite parting with defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau) and non-QB roster (15th to fifth). In fact, the team ranked within the top seven in every category, as our voters continued to see the Steelers as a model franchise. That could be an optimistic view for a team that remains very much in transition on defense, though Pittsburgh does arguably have top-five talents at quarterback, running back and wide receiver. Perhaps only Green Bay can come close to making such a claim.
While it is close, it’s quite interesting that the Ravens finished ranked higher than the Steelers this year after being ranked 10th last year. It looks like the ranking they gave quarterback Joe Flacco is the main reason why they jumped the Steelers this year in addition to their recent draft.
Personally, I think this could be the year that the Ravens fail to live up to expectations as they’ve lost quite a few pieces on both sides of the football.
So, did the three “experts” at least get the top five teams right regardless of order? Do the Ravens deserve to be ranked higher than the Steelers?
