Adjusting the handful of offenders is the sensible way to go. This attitude of "don't nerf the tops, just buff everyone else" is a flawed approach. We've seen what this does firsthand in MKX. Putting the above mentality into effect is colloquially known as "power creep" in the MOBA (and probably other) community(s). What this term refers to is a situation where one or more characters or elements (usually those introduced later in the form of an update) are extraordinarily overtuned either in power, in ability, in 'tools', mobility, et al. and instead of reining them in to a more reasonable level you move the whole roster upwards to meet them, effectively shifting the average strength of the entire cast. Often the effects and consequences of power creep seeping in are somewhat gradual, so at face value everything may seem okay. You are, in a sense, achieving some semblance of inherent "balance" in the fact that everyone is now (in theory) similar overall 'strength.'
The problem, as mentioned before, is that this is how you end up with your agency and decision making diminished, as in MKX (combos do more damage, 50/50s are more abundant, etc.) or Marvel 3 where you get touched once on a left right guess and lose a character. Is it balanced if everyone has a touch of death? Sure. Is it fun and the healthiest way to structure your competitive game? No. The stronger everyone collectively is, the less you need to do to win. More 50/50s means less neutral, more damage (be it in the form of krushing blows, combos, whatever) quite literally directly translates to "I need to make less guesses/reads/outplays to defeat my opponent and close out a round." The answer to say Geras is not to give everyone oki off every throw, or every character 5-6 krushing blows that deal 32-35% per use. It's to rein that silly sh*t in so instead of nobody getting to play the game no matter their character, we ALL get to play it.
We can take a look at the mid range characters and see they feel like healthy designs, most of them not overbearing in the least -- NRS just needs to determine who they want to balance the game around and what they consider to be the ceiling for strength. I'd say Baraka or Kabal feel like respectable bars to meet from above and below, as capable and even powerful characters that don't lack tools or come across as haphazardly stitched together and innately hold a fairly level "strengths and weaknesses" balance, but that's just me.
