The Athletic surveyed eight NFL executives for their rankings of the 16 AFC team. The only teams that were ranked among the top three in every ballot were the Ravens (unsurprisingly), the Bills (not surprisingly), and the Kansas City Chiefs.

With four first-place votes, two second-place votes and two third-place votes, the Ravens ranked No. The Ravens took the top spot with four votes for first place, two votes for second and two votes for third. Bills came in second place, followed by Chiefs.

One voter stated, “I think [the Ravens] really were the best team last season and are even more hungry now after the loss in playoffs. Not getting over the hurdle,” “I believe they’ll be able to have a top five defense, or maybe even a top three. It took them some time to adjust last year after they lost [coordinator Mike] Macdonald. “They won’t go through the Justin Tucker struggles either.”

Another executive who ranked the Ravens as No. I’ll pick Baltimore this year because of the quarterback, and the rest of the roster. This year, they have a great mix of veteran and young players.

The Ravens’ AFC North opponents were ranked as follows: fourth (Cincinnati Bengals), seven (Pittsburgh Steelers), 16th (Cleveland Browns).