The Philadelphia Eagles were one of the busiest NFL teams this offseason and their average roster age of 25.67tells you exactly what type of players they have been shopping for. Eagles General Manager Howie Roseman was very active going into the new season and his focus was to bring in young and talented players.
The fact that the Eagles have just five players who are over 30 in their 53-man roster and are now the sixth-youngest team in the NFL speaks volumes about Roseman and his strategy of recruiting young players. Most of those young players will be filling key positions too, so Eagles fans will be hoping their GM did a good job.
Young Teams Stay Healthier
One of the reasons why the Eagles went for a younger team is player health. Analytics say that young teams pick up fewer injuries. Eagles fans probably still remember that their team had its fair share of injured players from 2018 to 2020. So last year, they changed course and went for younger players.
They were the second-youngest team in the NFL and remained healthier than most teams in 2021. Also, their 6-1 record near the end of the season seems to have been the result of the Eagles staying mostly injury-free (changing the practice routine helped too.)
Andy Reid and Joe Banner were the first that went all-in when it came to replacing older and more established players with younger stars twenty years ago. Howie Roseman seems to be doing something similar these days and is doing it quite well.
The Cleveland Browns are the Youngest NFL Franchise
The Eagles’ roster now seems to have that perfect combination of young and talented players that will likely stay healthier than older teams in the league.
In Zach Pascal, they have the oldest skill player, and he is still only 27. Their oldest linebacker, Haason Reddick, will be 28 later this month, whereas Jalen Hurts (24) will be the seventh-youngest NFL quarterback projected to start.
New players Trey Sermon (23), Chauncey Gardner-Johnson (24), and A.J. Brown (25) will fill key positions, and time will tell if Roseman did a good job in bringing them in.
The five players who are on the wrong side of 30 in the Eagles roster are Jason Kelce (34), Brandon Graham (34), Lane Johnson (32), Fletcher Cox (31), and Darius Slay (30). Only Slay and Johnson have a contract that doesn’t expire after this season, though, so the Eagles team will get even younger next year.
Interestingly, even players who are in their 20s have been replaced by players younger than them. Alex Singleton, Hassan Ridgeway, Richard Rodgers, Steven Nelson, and Jordan Howard have all had to make way for younger NFL stars to join the Eagles’ ranks.
But the Eagles are not the only team turning to youth. In fact, five other NFL rosters are younger than the Philadelphia-based franchise. The Cleveland Browns have the youngest team in the NFL, with an average age of 25.30. They are followed by the Detroit Lions (25.42), the Jacksonville Jaguars (25.57), the Dallas Cowboys (25.58), the New York Giants (25.58), and the Philadelphia Eagles (25.67).
