Lions have 7th-best roster in NFL, analyst says

The Detroit Lions may have lost the likes of Ndamukong Suh, Nick Fairley and Reggie Bush, but the rest of the roster looks pretty good to one ESPN writer.

Sam Monson, ESPN Insider contributor and Pro Football Focus senior analyst, ranked every NFL roster, top to bottom, this off-season and placed the Lions 7th among 32 NFL teams.

That might seem high to some, considering who the Lions lost following a surprising 11-5 season under first-year coach Jim Caldwell. But Monson speaks highly of who the Lions still have and the depth they've been able to develop and sign the past few years.

In particular, Monson mentions wide receivers Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate, plus safety Glover Quin, defensive end Ezekiel Ansah and offensive lineman Larry Warford.

"The Lions have done a really good job of upgrading their roster the past few seasons," Monson wrote. "Elite talents like Johnson remain, but they have been augmented by a steady influx of talent on both sides of the ball: Wide receiver Tate, free safety Quin, defensive end Ansah and guard Warford.

"As a result, the Lions have a roster with few holes, even after the departure of Ndamukong Suh in free agency. They nearly won a close, controversial playoff game last season, and it won't take much of an improvement for Detroit to be a real contender in 2015."

Thoughts through Week 3 of Lions OTAs

No. 1 is the Seattle Seahawks, followed by the Green Bay Packers and Baltimore Ravens in the top three.

Keep in mind, these aren't normal NFL power rankings; these are roster rankings, put together by Pro Football Focus' analysts using the site's plethora of data available.

"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," Monson wrote. "We have collected the number of elite or high-quality players each team can count among its starters (for these purposes we gave each team a starting side of 12 on each side of the ball to reflect both base and nickel/third-down defense), and you will see those figures in the chart at the bottom of the page."

The Lions, according to PFF, have seven elite/high-quality players on their roster. PFF didn't specify who.

You can read more here (but you'll need an ESPN Insider account to see the full rankings).

Contact Brian Manzullo: bmanzullo@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BrianManzullo.