Oakland Raiders “Oldest Roster” Label Belies Youth Movement

Aug 28, 2014; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr (4) celebrates after throwing a touchdown pass against the Seattle Seahawks during the second quarter at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

As of the final roster deadline on Saturday, the Oakland Raiders have the oldest roster in pro football, with an average age of 27 years old.  And while the math is sound, and there are certainly a number of older players on the current Raiders roster, numbers can lie. The Raiders are currently in the early stages of a youth movement, with young talent all over the field, just waiting to take the place of the older and established stars. Nearly every older vet on the team has a young player right behind him, learning from him, waiting to one day take his place. In some high-profile cases, this is already occurring.  While the Raiders roster is indeed old with vets like Charles Woodson, Sebastian Janikowski, Matt Schaub and Carlos Rogers, the roster is also young: 29 players on the roster are 26 or younger, many of them acquired through the draft or as undrafted rookie signings. Only eleven players on the 53 man roster are over the age of 30, only nineteen have played more than five years in the NFL, and the majority of these (14) were acquired in the past couple years, mostly on relatively inexpensive, short-term deals with the Raiders. If you name any player over the age of 30, or indeed over the age 0f 27, you will almost always find a young player at the same position being groomed to be the future of that position.

Here are a few examples: