FanPost

Where does the Ravens franchise rank?

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

This fanpost will attempt to evaluate the Ravens franchise using ownership, front office, coaches, players and fans as the criteria.

OWNERSHIP: Steve Bisciotti has been a part owner or full owner for two Super Bowl teams and 10 playoff teams in 15 years. He built the Ravens state of the art training facility 'The Castle', and has added amenities to M&T Bank Stadium, which have both been praised as among the best in the league. Bisciotti has been commended for his humility, low profile, support of his employees and hands off approach to NFL ownership. This article ranks Bisciotti as the 8th best owner in the NFL, and would rank him higher if he was more tenured - http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/nfl/47071/57/the-nfls-best-owners. The Ravens rank as the 10th most valuable franchise in the NFL, even though they are located in a medium sized media market - http://www.forbes.com/nfl-valuations/list/.

FRONT OFFICE: Ozzie Newsome has served as the Ravens general manager since their inaugural season and is widely regarded as one of, if not the very best in the game. He has drafted a plethora of Pro Bowl players and Hall of Fame players. Ozzie has done a masterful job of drafting, acquiring valuable free agents, deciding which homegrown free agents to retain and keeping the Ravens roster at a playoff caliber level throughout his time in Baltimore. This recent article ranked him as the second best GM in the game - http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/nfl/53473/57/nfls-best-gms-2015. Eric DeCosta is second in command and has turned down at least three offers of promotion to GM from other NFL teams.

COACHES: John Harbaugh has served as the Ravens head coach for 7 seasons and has won a playoff game in 6 of his 7 seasons. Harbaugh has a .643 regular season winning percentage and has a 10-5 record in the playoffs, which is the second best playoff winning percentage among all active NFL coaches. Harbaugh is ranked as the 3rd best head coach in the NFL by this article - http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/nfl/52307/57/nfls-best-coaches-2015. The assistant coaches in Baltimore have generally been of high quality, with more than a dozen, mostly defensive, former Raven assistant coaches earning head coaching jobs. The Ravens have hired four consecutive former head coaches to serve as offensive coordinators.

PLAYERS: The Ravens have had 3 surefire first ballot Hall of Famers play the vast majority of their careers in Baltimore, with another two probable hall of famers play the entirety of their career for the Ravens so far. Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Jon Ogden are not only Hall of Famers, but at the top of the conversation for best at their positions in the history of the NFL. The Ravens have also had 3-4 Hall of Famers play on their team who played the majority of their career for other teams and many Ring of Honor worthy players play the majority of their career for the Ravens. The current Ravens team is lead by Super Bowl MVP Quarterback Joe Flacco and has young stars on defense including Brandon Williams, CJ Mosley and Jimmy Smith.

FANS: The Baltimore Ravens have sold out every home game since the team's inception in 1996. In addition to that very impressive streak, the Ravens have the best home field advantage in the NFL - http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8480725/nfl-hot-read-best-home-field-advantage-no-1 and http://grantland.com/features/bill-barnwell-best-home-field-advantages/. The Ravens have done well to spread their brand and attract fans from around the country, especially considering they are a relatively young franchise - https://interactive.twitter.com/nfl_followers2014/#?mode=team&team=ravens.

In summary, the Ravens franchise has at least a Top 10 owner, a Top 3 Front Office and Head Coach, a wealth of past and present Pro Bowl and Hall of Fame caliber players, and fans who have sold out every game in the team's existence and provide the best home field advantage in the league. How do the Ravens compare?

The opinions posted here are those of the writer of this article. They are in no way official comments from the team, the editors of this site or SB Nation as a whole, and should not be misconstrued as such.