Tag: average

Saints’ offensive line experiencing a youth movement in 2024

The New Orleans Saints new scheme prioritizes offensive line’s athleticism. This shift coincides with a drop in the unit’s average age:

The New Orleans Saints offensive line is going through a youth movement. By their scheme, it is necessary. Trevor Penning highlighted Klint Kubiak’s wide zone scheme for utilizing the athleticism of the offensive line. That change of direction has also coincided with the unit getting much younger. Not every change can be tied scheme, but it does feel like an intentional shift.

Erik McCoy and Cesar Ruiz are the only returning starters from last season. Trevor Penning is excluded because he spent most of the season on the bench. The offensive line’s average age drops from 28.2 to 24.6 years old. Even if Shane Lemieux starts at left guard ahead of Nick Saldiveri, the average age only rises to 25.2, which would still be a 3-year drop from last year’s average age.

James Hurst was the oldest player on the line last year, and he simply didn’t fit the new offensive scheme Kubiak is installing. He was the one player who needed to be replaced. New Orleans has always valued athleticism, so the pieces were already there. Of the new starters, first round pick Taliese Fuaga is the only one who wasn’t on the roster in 2023. His experience in a similar scheme, however, may provide one of the smoother transitions to Kubiak’s offense.

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Saints average player age ranked 21st in the NFL

Led by young playmakers like Marshon Lattimore and Marcus Williams, the New Orleans Saints average player age ranked 21st in the NFL:

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There are still some roster moves in the works as the New Orleans Saints continue to tweak things, but for now the average age of their players ranks 21st across the NFL — clocking in at 25.962, or just under 26 years old.

Some of New Orleans’ best and brightest fit in that age range: Marshon Lattimore, Marcus Williams, Erik McCoy, Deonte Harris, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Marquez Callaway, Zack Baun, and Marcus Davenport are all 26 or younger. Alvin Kamara celebrated his 26th birthday in late July.

That feels significant, but it’s all relative when you consider the greater scope of teams around the league. The difference between the Saints at No. 21 (25.962) and the last-place Tampa Bay Buccaneers (27.018) is 1.056, which is 127% larger than the 0.83-gap between New Orleans and the NFL-youngest New York Jets (25.132).

But how does it compare to the other teams in the NFC South? The actively rebuilding Atlanta Falcons (25.906) and Carolina Panthers (25.245) are both slightly younger than New Orleans and Tampa Bay, but not by much. There just isn’t great variance across the league. 22 of the NFL’s 32 teams are 25 years or younger on average.

So let’s focus on New Orleans’ specific situation. Last year, they were one of the league’s oldest squads on average — clocking in at 26.7 years, per the Philly Voice’s Jimmy Kempski. The Saints relied on over-30 talents like Drew Brees, Janoris Jenkins, Emmanuel Sanders, Thomas Morstead, Jared Cook and Josh Hill, none of whom are still on the roster. That exodus dropped the team’s average, and we should expect them to continue to get younger in the future.

More departures are on the horizon. Left tackle Terron Armstead turned 30 this summer and will be a free agent in 2022. Key defenders like Malcolm Jenkins, Cameron Jordan, and Demario Davis are all over 30; so are Taysom Hill and Latavius Murray, and backup safety Jeff Heath. With inevitable roster turnover on the way, the post-Brees Saints are only going to continue to change and get younger.

Is that really a good thing? Playing more young guys on affordable rookie contracts is great for the team’s cap situation, but the sky-high level of play that Armstead, Jenkins, Jordan, Davis, and other veterans have provided is tough to replace. Without Brees and all those other respected voices in the locker room, you’ve got to wonder how the team responds to adversity. We’ll find out soon enough.

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Saints have one of the NFL’s oldest rosters in 2020

The Saints have stocked up on older talent, hoping veterans like Malcolm Jenkins and Emmanuel Sanders can take them to the 2020 Super Bowl.

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Very few teams have a higher average age for players than the New Orleans Saints, per Jimmy Kempski of Philly Voice. In fact, just one: the Atlanta Falcons (26.9 years). The Chicago Bears are tied with the Saints (26.7 each), making them the three oldest teams in the NFL, on average.

But context matters here. The Saints may be ranked all the way down the list at No. 30, but teams listed near the middle of the pack like the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets, and Philadelphia Eagles (tied for No. 17) have an average age of just 26.0. So the Saints players are about eight months older, collectively, than mid-tier squads. Just one team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, has an average of below 25 (and they’re listed at 24.9).

So let’s not blow this out of proportion. The Saints do have some aging veterans at key spots like quarterback (Drew Brees is 41, and Taysom Hill is 30), tight end (Jared Cook is 33 and Josh Hill is 30), punter (Thomas Morstead is 34), and cornerback (Janoris Jenkins and Patrick Robinson will both be 32 this year), but they’re balanced by a young core of talent that’s been drafted and developed over recent years. It’s not like everyone is about to bolt into retirement.

How does this compare to previous Saints teams? From 2019 to 2016, they’ve carried an average age fluctuating between 26.2 (at its lowest, in 2019) and 26.5 (at its highest, in 2017). That’s pretty consistent, and has ranked in the bottom third of the NFL.

But it’s tough to argue with their results. In this same time period, the Saints have won three consecutive NFC South titles and gone as deep into the playoffs as the NFC Championship Game. They have their sights on a Super Bowl victory, and this group of experienced veterans and young stars just might have what it takes to reach that goal in 2020.

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