Bear Digest

Bears rank among younger NFL teams but vote for older captains

The Bears rank among the fewest teams in the league for players 29 and older but they'll have all older captains except for Caleb Williams.
Gene Chamberlain|
Caleb Williams celebrates a TD pass with Olamide Zaccheaus against Buffalo. Williams is the youngest regular Bears team captain.
Caleb Williams celebrates a TD pass with Olamide Zaccheaus against Buffalo. Williams is the youngest regular Bears team captain. | Matt Marton-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The Bears are among the younger teams in the NFL but apparently they know the value of age as it relates to wisdom.

Ben Johnson announced the team captains for this season and four of the five permanent captains are 32 or older. The only one who isn't is quarterback Caleb Williams, and a starting quarterback should be a team captain. Williams did it last year when he was a rookie, as well.

The other offensive captain is 32-year-old guard Joe Thuney. The defensive captains are 32-year-old safety Kevin Byard and 32-year-old defensive tackle Grady Jarrett. The special teams captain is kicker Cairo Santos, who is 33. There will be one revolving captain each week, as well.

The team voted on the captains.

"A lot of respect for that voting process," Johnson said. "To be well-respected by your peers like that goes a long way."

The NFL is a young man's game but there apparently is leadership value with the older guys who have pretty much seen everything.

The Bears had to look hard to find their 30-somethings.

They had only 10 who were 29 or older after NFL final roster cuts. According to data compiled by Phillyvoice.com, there are only seven teams with fewer players who are 29-and-older.

Green Bay has the fewest with four and for the second straight year the Packers have the youngest team in the NFL. Their average age after the 53-man roster cutdown was 25.23. The Eagles were second at 25.49.

The Bears' average is in the youngest half of the league, but barely. They are 16th youngest on average at 26.23 years old and second youngest team in the NFC North.

Perhaps Washington is re-assembling the old "over the hill gang," from the George Allen era. The Commanders have the oldest team per average and the most players 29 and older. Their average age is 28.09 and they have 25 players 29 or older.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.