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Apr 12, 2023

Ranking NFL's 10 most complete teams: Reigning Super Bowl participants headline list, Cowboys inside top 5

The NFL offseason is a time of change. Teams spend months trying to improve

The NFL offseason is a time of change. Teams spend months trying to improve their rosters so they can come into the next season in the best shape possible to make a run at a Super Bowl. Some of them, obviously, are more successful than others.

Some teams fill out the roster with talent in a way that leaves them with very few holes, and enough depth to paper over potential injury-related absences. We're going to talk about some of those teams here. In the space below, we're going to explore the most complete rosters in the league. Which teams have depth charts where they are worried about the fewest number of things heading into the 2023 season? That's what we're looking for here.

Without further ado ...

Honorable mentions: Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions, New York Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers

Seattle's offense was one of the biggest surprises of last season. I was ready to declare the line the biggest strength after the Seahawks landed bookend starting tackles (Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas) in last year's draft, but the interior could still use some work, and you're not going to find many receiver trios better than DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and rookie Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Adding Zach Charbonnet to a backfield that already included Kenneth Walker and DeeJay Dallas only makes the skill position group better. Geno Smith had by far the best season of his career, but he did slow down a bit toward the end of the year, and the track record is not exactly all that long. Two of the best draft picks of 2022 were Tariq Woolen and Coby Bryant, and the Seahawks added Devon Witherspoon to that group this year. With Bobby Wagner returning to the fold, Jamal Adams healthy, and Julian Love complementing Quandre Diggs, the back seven is strong. But the defensive front is lacking -- even after the team signed Dre'Mont Jones to a sizable free-agent deal.

Stop me if you've heard this before, but the Chargers were decimated by injuries last season. Rashawn Slater played just three games. Keenan Allen and Mike Williams were on the field together for only 180 plays. Even Corey Linsley missed some time. But the talent remains, and the offensive line should be better with Slater back from injury, Zion Johnson in his second season, and Jamaree Salyer now an entrenched starter. Throw Quentin Johnston into the mix at wideout, and Justin Herbert is going to be cooking with some gas in Kellen Moore's offense. L.A.'s defense finally started playing up to its talent level over the second half of last season, but former defensive coordinator Renaldo Hill left for a job with the Dolphins, and there are still some question marks in the defensive backfield. Still, with Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack coming off the edge and Sebastian Joseph-Day, Morgan Fox, and Austin Johnson up front, they should be able to play Brandon Staley's style of defense.

The Ravens finally turned the page from both the Greg Roman era and from the days of refusing to invest at wide receiver. Todd Monken is here to open up the passing game, and Odell Beckham Jr., Nelson Agholor, and Zay Flowers are here to help him. If Rashod Bateman can actually stay healthy, there are actually a bunch of quality passing-game options outside of Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely. Injuries are a concern at quarterback (Lamar Jackson), offensive line (Ronnie Stanley, Ben Cleveland), and running back (J.K. Dobbins, Gus Edwards), but the pieces are there to be successful. The defense was better than you think last year, especially after adding Roquan Smith via trade. Cutting ties with Calais Campbell hurts the depth along the defensive front, and the edge rushers are more solid than spectacular, but with Smith, Marlon Humphrey, and Marcus Williams anchoring the back seven, the Ravens should still be quite good on that side of the ball.

There is just a preposterous amount of speed on Miami's offense. Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson, Devon Achane, Cedrick Wilson Jr., even Braxton Berrios... Sheesh. With Tua Tagovailoa playing point guard-esque football at quarterback and Mike McDaniel scheming things up, things will be explosive. Ya know, assuming the offensive line can hold up. The Dolphins may have made the two best defensive additions of the offseason by bringing in Vic Fangio as defensive coordinator and landing Jalen Ramsey via trade to add to a defensive backfield that already included Xavien Howard, Jevon Holland, Brandon Jones and Kader Kohou and then brought in Cam Smith in the draft. With a full season of Bradley Chubb across from Jaelan Phillips, the pass rush should be better as well.

Take a look at Buffalo's offensive depth chart and imagine what you'd think of that offense if Josh Allen didn't exist. It's not pretty. Stefon Diggs is one of the game's best receivers, but the rest of the offense is remarkably average. Still, the Bills have one of the NFL's best defenses, and one that should be back at full health. They barely had the league's top safety duo (Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde) on the field together last season. Tre'Davious White took a while to get back from his ACL injury, and then a while to get back to being himself. By the time he did, the Bills lost Von Miller to an ACL tear of his own. With depth up front, stability in the secondary, and Matt Milano still in town at linebacker, there are few units better set up to prevent points than Buffalo's. We reserve the right to move the Bills up if they are the team that ends up adding DeAndre Hopkins.

Had Cincinnati not lost both of its starting safeties and/or if there were more certainty about Chidobe Awuzie's knee, Jonah Williams' willingness to report if he's going to play right tackle, and whether or not the team is sticking with Joe Mixon for another year, the Bengals might rank even higher than this. As it is, they have one of the NFL's best offenses, led by Joe Burrow and arguably the league's best receiver trio (Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Tyler Boyd). The offensive line should be better with Orlando Brown on the blind side, and the kinks that needed to be worked out in relation to run/pass tip-offs when they were in shotgun or under center were mostly worked out last season. Lou Anarumo's defense is always going to be solid, but losing veterans on the back end could affect its ability to play multiple styles as cleanly as they've been able to in the past. Adding Myles Murphy to aid Trey Hendrickson and Sam Hubbard up front was a nice move, though, and in general the front is just very strong, if not necessarily all that deep beyond the starters.

San Francisco's embarrassment of riches at wide receiver (Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, Jauan Jennings, Danny Gray), tight end (George Kittle, Ross Dwelley, Cameron Latu), and running back (Christian McCaffrey, Elijah Mitchell, Tyrion Davis-Price, Jordan Mason) helps make up for an offensive line that secretly looks slightly shaky outside of Trent Williams, as well as the fact that we have absolutely zero idea who will be playing quarterback for this team come Week 1. Flip over to the defense, though, and these dudes are once again loaded. They signed Javon Hargrave to join Nick Bosa, Arik Armstead, and Drake Jackson up front. The have the best linebacker duo in the league with Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw. And they always manage to make things work in the secondary, even without any stars.

The quality of talent on hand has never been the problem for the Cowboys except in the years where their quarterback (whether it be Tony Romo or Dak Prescott) has gotten hurt, and this once again looks like a loaded roster this year. The offensive line should be better with Tyron Smith healthy (assuming Terence Steele can also return from his injury), and the addition of Brandin Cooks protects against Michael Gallup not getting back to form and/or Jalen Tolbert not taking a step forward in his second year. With Prescott throwing to CeeDee Lamb and with Tony Pollard finally, at long last fully anointed as the lead back, even a switch from Kellen Moore to Mike McCarthy calling plays likely won't slow down the offense too much -- except for those frustrating, too-frequent games where it for some reason does. And the defense... good lord. Mazi Smith wasn't a sexy draft pick, but he filled the biggest hole Dallas had on its defense -- a huge run-stuffer to play alongside the absolute banshees they have rushing the passer alongside Micah Parsons. Add Stephon Gilmore to a defensive back room that already included Trevon Diggs, fifth-round find DaRon Bland, a returning Jourdan Lewis, and as many as four starter-caliber safeties, and there is just so much for Dan Quinn to play around with.

The formula for Kansas City on offense is now clear: As long as they protect Patrick Mahomes with an above-average or better offensive line, they can be the best offense in the league. And their offensive line is much better than above-average, and they still have Travis Kelce, and they'll get a full season (on the roster, if not necessarily on the field) of Kadarius Toney, and Isiah Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon are back to split the backfield work, and oh my these guys might even add DeAndre Hopkins soon. K.C.'s defense is also surprisingly stronger than you think, and could be an above-average unit all season. The Chiefs added Charles Omenihu up front and now have multiple pocket pushers from the edge with him and George Karlaftis, plus Chris Jones wrecking things up the middle. Nick Bolton and Willie Gay Jr. are excellent linebackers, and there is good depth behind them. All the investments in Day 2 and 3 defensive back picks (plus Trent McDuffie in Round 1 last year) have paid off as the Chiefs have a strong, versatile, and most crucially, extraordinarily inexpensive secondary.

Having the most complete roster doesn't necessarily make you the best team -- just the one with the fewest holes. And that's the Eagles. They have the league's best offensive line, and should seamlessly replace Isaac Seumalo up front. They have a quarterback who opens up all kinds of avenues offensively, a pass-catching group that threatens all areas of the field, and a stable of running backs that can give them any type of look they want. Even after letting Hargrave and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson leave in free agency, the defense is still stacked -- particularly up front and at corner. The Eagles pass rush comes in waves and waves, and so long as Darius Slay and James Bradberry can stave off age-related regression for another season, the secondary should be just fine while they figure out the best direction to go with their safety reps.