Falcons currently have 8th-youngest roster in the NFL

Every year, it seems, we react to the news that Atlanta has a roster that ranks among the oldest in the NFL. The Falcons have been more or less continually all-in since 2016, and while that paid increasingly dim dividends, it did mean you could count on the team having an extremely veteran roster every year. That might change in 2021, however slightly.

At least for the moment, the Falcons are actually in the top quarter of the league in terms of youth on the roster, a direct result of a young draft class and a lot of undrafted players. They’re tied with the Colts, with an average age on the roster of just under 25 years, per Colts writer Andrew Walker.

Atlanta went into 2020 with an average roster age of 26.9 years, the eldest in the NFL, and cratered with a 4-12 record. If you’re in the middle of what you perceive to be a title window, being the oldest team in the league is hardly the end of the world, but Atlanta was both (relatively) old and not very good. They’re due for an infusion of young talent, and the new Falcons brass just added a nine man draft class and a ton of undrafted free agents to the mix.

This age will go up when the team makes final cuts, inevitably, because that flood of young players will not all make the roster and this team signed plenty of 30ish year old stopgaps at key positions. It’s readily apparent that Atlanta wants to get younger as they navigate a new era and ongoing cap turbulence, however, so it won’t be particularly surprising if this team does end up among the NFL’s youngest in the years to come.