Packers Are NFC’s Undisputed Heavyweights
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers are the heavyweights of the NFC.
Literally.
In the NFL’s annual review of Week 1 rosters, the Packers have the conference’s heaviest roster. Their average player is 248.57 pounds. Only the Baltimore Ravens are heavier, with their average player tipping the scales at 249.23 pounds. The average weight league-wide is 244.56 pounds.
Green Bay has six players who are less than 200 pounds. Only the Los Angeles Chargers, with five, have fewer. The Buffalo Bills, by contrast, have 15.
With most of last year’s key players back on the roster but 13 rookies and first-year players added to the team, the Packers continue to field one of the league’s younger teams. This year, they’re lining up with the 10th-youngest team.
Since Ted Thompson took over as general manager in 2005 and through the first four teams assembled by Brian Gutekunst, the Packers have fielded a roster younger than the league average every season. In fact, other than 2017, Green Bay has fielded one of the 10 youngest rosters every season. In that lone exception, it was 11th.
While tight end Marcedes Lewis, quarterback Aaron Rodgers and kicker Mason Crosby are 37 and the team added offensive tackle Dennis Kelly (31) and receiver Randall Cobb (31), only the Detroit Lions (15) and the New York Jets (14) have more rookie and first-year players than Green Bay.
On the other side of the age spectrum, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Arizona Cardinals are tied for the league lead with 16 players ages 30 and over. Chicago and Baltimore have 13 apiece. Green Bay has the aforementioned five.
The Packers’ opponent on Monday night is Detroit, which has gone through quite a transformation. Last year, its average player was 26.51 years old, which gave it the sixth-oldest roster. Now, it has the league’s youngest roster, with an average of 25.13.
Packers Remain Forever Young
Here are the average ages for the Packers, by season, since 2005 (with how they ranked among the NFL’s youngest teams):
2005 — 26.19 (9th-tied)
2006 — 25.57 (1st)
2007 — 25.72 (1st)
2008 — 25.57 (1st-tied)
2009 — 25.70 (1st)
2010 — 25.92 (5th)
2011 — 25.74 (3rd-tied)
2012 — 25.70 (6th)
2013 — 25.64 (9th)
2014 — 25.75 (8th)
2015 — 25.23 (2nd)
2016 — 25.55 (5th)
2017 — 25.81 (11th)
2018 — 25.74 (10th-tied)
2019 – 25.58 (6th-tied)
2020 – 25.51 (6th)
2021 – 25.74 (10th)
NFL Average Age By Team, 2021
Detroit, 25.13; N.Y. Jets, 25.13; Carolina, 25.22; Cleveland, 25.29; Jacksonville, 25.58; Cincinnati, 25.68; Indianapolis, 25.69; L.A. Rams, 25.69; Miami, 25.70; Green Bay, 25.74; Pittsburgh, 25.75; Denver, 25.76; N.Y. Giants, 25.78; L.A. Chargers, 25.79; Atlanta, 25.87; Dallas, 25.96;
Philadelphia, 26.04; Minnesota, 26.05; New Orleans, 26.08; Las Vegas, 26.17; Kansas City, 26.19; Washington, 26.19; Seattle, 26.26; Buffalo, 26.43; Baltimore, 26.49; Tennessee, 26.53; San Francisco, 26.81; New England, 26.93;
Arizona, 27.06; Houston, 27.09; Chicago, 27.13; Tampa Bay, 27.20.
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