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Pro Football Focus Says the Eagles Have the League's 6th Best Roster

Chip Kelly's roster changes have earned high marks, but holdovers carry the Eagles to a high ranking.

Rob Carr/Getty Images

Pro Football Focus ranked the 32 rosters of NFL teams using their own player ratings system, weighing each team on a case by case basis:

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.

They list the five best players on each team and starters who should be upgraded. The article is behind a pay wall, but thanks to Phil Sheridan we can see all the relevant information for the Eagles. Entering the 2015 season, PFF rates the Eagles as the sixth best roster.  Here's the top nine:

Rank Team
1 Seattle Seahawks
2 Green Bay Packers
3 Baltimore Ravens
4 New England Patriots
5 Denver Broncos
6 Philadelphia Eagles
7 Detroit Lions
8 Minnesota Vikings
9 Cincinnati Bengals

As Sheridan notes, the Eagles are the top team that does not have a Super Bowl winning QB. PFF rates the Eagles best five players as Jason Peters, DeMarco Murray, Fletcher Cox, Evan Mathis and Brandon Graham. These selections come as no surprise. All five made PFF's Top 101 Players of 2014, and they rate both Peters and Mathis as "elite" players. Peters is one of the best left tackles in the league. Murray is the reigning rushing leader. Cox established himself as one of the best 3-4 defensive ends. Mathis is one of the best guards in the league and a favorite of PFF since joining the Eagles in 2011. And Graham has ranked high on their grading rankings for his pass rushing despite limited playing time so far in his career.

Illustrating the overall strength of the roster was their claim that the Eagles only have one starter in need of replacement, DeMeco Ryans. Ryans would appear to be in a position to be at least partially replaced this season with the Kiko Alonso added to the ILB duo of Ryans and Mychal Kendricks. But with Kendricks' future still in the air, that partial replacement might be only for the short term.

The Cowboys ranked 11th with seven starters that are in need of replacing. Rounding out the NFC East, the Giants came in at 20th and the Redskins 27th.

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