Do Packers Have Youngest Roster in NFL?

The Green Bay Packers have three players on their rosters who are 30-plus years old. Where does that rank among the rest of the NFL teams?

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
May 30, 2023 8:45 AM EDT

In this story:

Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – For the Green Bay Packers, it’s out with the old and in with the new.

Literally.

The 2022 NFL season kicked off with the Packers fielding the 16th-oldest roster in the league – by far the oldest dating to at least 2005, which was the late Ted Thompson’s first year as general manager.

They’ll be much, much younger in 2023.

With the Packers trading quarterback Aaron Rodgers and moving on from kicker Mason Crosby, tight end Marcedes Lewis and receiver Randall Cobb, they have only three players who are 30 years old or older on their 90-man roster.

A Packer Central examination of the 32 NFL rosters shows only one team – the Indianapolis Colts – have fewer players than the Packers in the 30-plus group.

For Green Bay, punter Pat O’Donnell is 32, left tackle David Bakhtiari is 31 and outside linebacker Preston Smith is 30.

Inside linebacker De’Vondre Campbell, who will turn 30 on July 1, is the only other player on the roster who will hit the three-decade mark this season.

Last year, the Packers had six on their 53-man roster for Week 1; the league average was 7.4.

“It’s fun. It’s exciting,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “There’s talented guys, and it’s our job to try and coach them up and it’s their job at night to try and stay up on this stuff. We’ve only got two installs in at this point on both sides of the ball. And there’s a lot more offense and defense than that in our system. So, we’ve got a long ways to go and we’ve just got to take it literally one day at a time and try to build out upon each practice.”

The Packers reside in the youngest division in football – at least by the old-guys metric. The Lions and Bears also have only three players who are 30-plus, and the Vikings have five. While Campbell is Green Bay’s only player who is 29, the Bears have six and the Lions have five.

The AFC East is the NFL’s equivalent of senior living. The Patriots boast a league-high 15 players who are 30-plus, followed by the Bills with 14 and the Rodgers-led Jets with 13. The 39-year-old Rodgers is the oldest player in the NFL.

NFL Rosters: Players 30 And Older

The following list shows the number of players age 30-plus on each roster, with ages as of Monday night. Because so many of the league’s oldest players are specialists, the player listed in parentheses is the oldest on offense or defense.

Patriots: 15 (WR Matthew Slater, 37)

Bills: 14 (OLB Von Miller, 34)

Jets: 13 (QB Aaron Rodgers, 39)

49ers: 12 (OT Trent Williams, 34)

Raiders: 12 (QB Brian Hoyer, 37)

Ravens: 10 (QB Josh Johnson, 37)

Panthers: 10 (QB Andy Dalton, 35)

Saints: 10 (LB Demario Davis, 34)

Texans: 10 (QB Case Keenum, 35)

Falcons: 9 (DT Calais Campbell, 36)

Broncos: 9 (S Kareem Jackson, 35)

Eagles: 8 (C Jason Kelce, DE Brandon Graham, 35)