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If there was ever a truly meaningless power ranking it's one done in the preseason... and yet here they are. ESPN has released their first ranks of the season. The Eagles are the only NFC East team to crack the top ten, although the Giants just missed at #11.
They've got Green Bay at #1, which I guess makes sense given that they are the defending champs. The Patriots are #2, which other than the fact that they're usually good I'm not sure what they've done to deserve. The Eagles are at #3, the Saints are at #4 and the Steelers round out the top five.
They've got the Falcons at #6 and really seem to like the NFC South overall. They've got two teams in the top 10 and the Bucs sitting just behind the Giants at #12. It's also interesting to see how they view the two conferences. It appears as though the AFC is top heavy, but not deep. The NFC has as many elite teams as the AFC, but seems to have more mediocre/potentially good squads.