The New England Patriots lead the league in a horrible statistic

According to spotrac.com, the New England Patriots are leading the league in a category that no team wants to be number one in.  This actually came as a shock to me, and honestly, this is a horrible statistic to be leading the league in.

According to spotrac.com, the New England Patriots are leading the league in average age among active players.  The Pats are currently the oldest team in the NFL, and their average age among active players is 27.59 years old.

On the surface, that doesn’t sound like an old age, right?  Well, the youngest team in the NFL, the Los Angeles Rams, have an average age of 25.91 years old.  The third youngest team in the NFL belongs to the Kansas City Chiefs, who have an average age of 26.18 years old.

Spotrac.com also indicates that the team has 74 signed players on their roster, which is tied for the third highest total in the NFL.

The Houston Texans, Buffalo Bills, Las Vegas Raiders, and New York Jets are the next oldest teams in the NFL.  Ranking right in the middle is the Minnesota Vikings, who have an average age of 26.56 years old.

The main reason why this is a horrible statistic to be leading the league in is because it doesn’t bode well for the long-term.  Young teams are generally well positioned for the future because players’ primes in the NFL are quite short, in fact, perhaps the shortest among all professional sports leagues.

Being young in valuable positions like quarterback, cornerback, wide receiver, and edge are fabulous advantages to have.  The Pats are somewhat young in three of those positions, but another problem that the Patriots have is that they don’t really have elite, high-end players on their roster, which will greatly limit them in 2023.

We’ll see if their average age can get a bit younger, as that is generally the direction to go.