The NFL is a young man’s game. Father Time is undefeated in professional sports and that’s especially true in the NFL when peak performance levels hover around the mid-20s for most players. Oftentimes the younger the roster, the more positioned for success a team is for the future. In the midst of an extremely disappointing season, team age could be something for the Cowboys to be optimistic about.
Such was the case four years ago. Coming off the 2020 season when Dallas won just six games, they clocked in as the fifth youngest team in the league based on snap-weighted age. They turned that youthful roster into three consecutive 12-win seasons. For as disappointing as the 2020 campaign was, their team age filled them with hope for the future.
2024 doesn’t appear as hopeful.
Based on FTN Data by way of Doug Analytics, the 2024 Cowboys rank 22nd in snap-weighted team age.
Snap-weighted team age differs from usual averages because rather than averaging entire rosters, snap-weighted age looks at just the players who play and only according to the size of their role. A 35-year veteran riding the bench doesn’t hurt that average any more than a 20-year-old developmental prospect who can’t see the field would help.
Bad teams like the Giants can take solace in the fact they are the second youngest team in snap-weighted age. Just like bad teams like the Cowboys, Panthers and Jets should all take caution because they reside on the older end of the spectrum.
This should be a cause for concern in Dallas but there are things working in Dallas’ favor as well.
Key veteran players like Zack Martin (34), Ezekiel Elliott (29), Cooper Rush (31), C.J. Goodwin (34), Linval Joseph (36), DeMarcus Lawrence (32), Eric Kendricks (32) and Brandin Cooks (31) are all set to hit free agency in 2025. Most, if not all, are predicted to leave. Assuming the Cowboys don’t sign old veterans to replace them, Dallas stands to get much younger next season.
While the drop in age says very little about the quality of play replacing these aged veterans on the field, it does indicate the Cowboys are working to grow and improve rather than just trying to hang on.
Unlike 2020 the news isn’t as optimistic in regard to age this season. The Cowboys are one of the older teams in weight-adjusted age and can’t just expect to organically improve like they did four years ago. The Cowboys task over the offseason won’t only be to purge old players on the decline but to replace them with young players on the incline. They’ll need free agency and the draft to accomplish it all.
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