I think Garp should be > Rayleigh now unfortunately. What do you think? Garp shouldn't be placed below anyone from that era except maybe Xebec. He's making WB look bad.
Rayleigh ~ Roger
Oda only portrays characters based on their relevance to the arc regardless of their power level
Garp was clearly portrayed below Old Sick Whitebeard calling him King of Sea and Whitebeard was portrayed much bigger than Garp and Sengoku. Oda also portrayed Rayleigh superior to Garp in his introduction.
But Garp is more relevant than Rayleigh in this flash back i guess so he looks better. Same applies to Whitebeard.
The reason for Whitebeard not getting downscale is because we have seen him in Pirate King Level clashes later and splitting sky and WSM title etc.
Rayleigh has good portrayal but not concrete like Whitebeard.