2013 Projected Starter Age Rankings
Some starting jobs will change hands when NFL players compete during training camps this summer. Most are relatively easy to project based on factors such as past production, health and 2013 draft status.
With that in mind, I've gone through rosters to calculate average ages for projected starters on offense and defense.
The chart ranks NFL teams from oldest to youngest for all starters. Overall rankings appear in the final column. Rankings for offensive and defensive starters appear in the middle columns.
Some of the rankings will change as starting jobs settle out. That is why there's an asterisk next to the word "projected" in the headline above.
In general, though, we can see the St. Louis Rams and Seattle Seahawks fielding younger starting lineups than their NFC West rivals are fielding.
I would expect Arizona's starters to get younger over the next year as the team continues to develop younger players.
The Rams, though young overall, have the third-oldest projected starting offensive line in the league after adding Jake Long to a group featuring Scott Wells and Harvey Dahl. Drafting a starting lineman next year could make sense for St. Louis in that context.
The depth charts at Ourlads.com were helpful in filling out lineups for some teams. I went with O'Brien Schofield and Karlos Dansby instead of their projections for Arizona at linebacker. There were some other changes as well, and I'm sure you could find others.
We'll revisit these as the information firms up. For now, though, we've got at least a general feel. And yes, the defensive starters for Cleveland and St. Louis tied in average age at 25.263636, improbable as that seems when calculating ages to the day.
