The strength of the NFL is that we can find all types of players on the field. Big ones, small ones, heavy ones, light ones, muscular ones or more corpulent ones. With such large rosters, the stars rub shoulders with undrafted and more anonymous players, and young people barely old enough to drink alcohol in the United States share a locker room with veterans with more than 10 seasons in the league. league.
Like every year, the NFL compiled the 32 squads in the league during the first week to highlight the profile of each team using data such as the age, height and weight of the players. Here’s what comes out of it.
Grandpa Jets and Baby Packers
The average age of an NFL roster is 26.08 years old. At the top, we find the Jets, with an average age of 27.11, the only NFL team above 27 years. This first place is obviously due to the presence (then) of Aaron Rodgers in the squad, but not only that. The Jets have the most thirty-somethings (15) and the most experienced team (5.24 NFL seasons on average).
Ironically, Rodgers’ departure to the Big Apple now makes the Packers squad the youngest in the league, with an average age of 25.13. A figure which can be explained by the presence of 17 rookies in the 53, and only three players aged 30 or over. David Bakhtiari, Preston Smith and De’Vondre Campbell must feel old around all these kids.
The giant Trent Brown and the little Texans
Young, the Packers team is also the greatest in the NFL. With an average of 1m90.5, Green Bay is ahead of the Chargers (1m89.9). The tallest player in the league is Patriots tackle Trent Brown, measured at 2m06.
Conversely, the shortest team on average in the NFL is the Texans with an average of 1m86.8. The smallest player also plays for a Texan team, the Cowboys. This is rookie running back Deuce Vaughn, who measures 1m65. He is the second shortest player to ever play in the NFL, tied with former Texans and Broncos returner Trindon Holliday, and behind Jack Shapiro, a 5-foot-10 fullback who played one game in 1929 with the Staten Island Stapletons.
Houston, in addition to being the smallest team in the NFL on average, is also the lightest, averaging 108.1 kg. 1m86 and 108 kg, the average Texans player is the smallest and lightest in the league, and obviously remains a much stronger man than the average.
The heaviest squad is that of the Patriots, with 113 kg. Unsurprisingly, you have to look at the offensive linemen to find the two heaviest players in the league: Trent Brown, also the tallest player, and Daniel Faalele, the Ravens tackle. Both weigh 172 kg.
Sweet Home Alabama
Unsurprisingly and for the seventh consecutive year, it is the University of Alabama which has the most players in the NFL squad. There are 57 people to have worn the Crimson Tide jersey in the league. Alabama is the university that has produced the most active quarterbacks, running backs, defensive tackles and defensive backs.
Behind, we find other university teams accustomed to releasing numerous NFL players: Ohio State (47), Georgia (46), LSU (43), Michigan (38), Clemson (37) and Notre Dame (37).
Quarterbacks: room for young people
Tom Brady retired after 23 seasons in the league, leaving Aaron Rodgers as the sole representative of the 2000s. The NFL quarterback position is in the midst of a renaissance, and a new generation of players has now taken over. Of the 32 starters from the first week, 23 are under 30 years old. There are also 7 of them playing their first or second season in the league.
When we see Brock Purdy’s takeover in San Francisco, we can say that a starting pitcher can be picked up at any time in the draft. However, the Niners quarterback is an exception in the league. 21 of the 32 starters were drafted in the first round, including 6 with the very first pick. There are only 7 to have been selected from the third round of the draft. If exceptions therefore exist, the norm is to have a young quarterback picked up very high in the draft.
