NFL Notebook: Youth movement on Patriots defensive line stands out in roster analysis

In this week's edition of the NFL Notebook, we talk basketball with the biggest NBA fan in the New England locker room and get a glimpse of the Patriots' 2017 AFC championship rings. But first -- with the understanding the numbers will change between now and the start of the regular season -- we deconstruct the Patriots' current roster by age and position.

1. We’ve had some fun over the last few years breaking down the Patriots roster by age, and with New England done with the spring portion of the offseason workout program, it's a good a time as any to measure the state of the team. Let's make sure we all understand one thing here: these numbers will change between now and the start of the regular season -- the team-building process will inevitably bring some shuffling of personnel, while the roster has to be cut to 53 before the 2018 campaign gets underway. (And we’ll provide a similar breakdown when that time comes, as well as one that shows how New England stacks against the rest of the league.) But as things stand on the precipice of the summer break, here's how things look:



3 quarterbacks — average age: 31.7
7 tight ends — average age: 25.3
15 offensive linemen — average age: 25.6
7 running backs — average age: 25.6
10 wide receivers — average age: 26.3

11 cornerbacks — average age: 24.1
7 safeties — average age: 26
15 defensive linemen — average age: 24.4
9 linebackers — average age: 24.8

6 special teamers — average age: 28.3 (Ebner, Slater, Gostkowski, Cardona, Allen, Bojorquez)

A few notes:

2. With 40-year-old Tom Brady on the roster it certainly makes sense, but as has been the case since we started tracking this information in 2013, quarterback remains the oldest average position on the roster. The only difference? It was at 28 in 2013. It’s at 31.7 now. The youngest average position? Cornerback, which has consistently been one of the youngest positions on average over the last five years. In 2016, the average age of New England’s cornerbacks at this point on the calendar was at 23.9. This time? It’s 24.1. That was likely helped by the arrival of first-year players like Duke Dawson and Keion Crossen.



3. This will mark the seventh-consecutive year Brady will be the oldest player on the New England roster. (The last time Brady wasn't the oldest player on the New England roster was at the end of the 2011 season, when offensive lineman Brian Waters, defensive lineman Shaun Ellis and running back Kevin Faulk were all on the team at the time and all older than the quarterback.) Overall, the Patriots have 10 players on the roster age 30 or older — five on offense (Brady, Julian Edelman, Chris Hogan, Brian Hoyer and Marcus Cannon), three on defense (the McCourty Twins and Patrick Chung) and two special teamers (Stephen Gostkowski and Matthew Slater). That plus-30 number has vacillated over the last few seasons: two years ago, they had 10. In 2015, the Patriots had six players on the roster age 30 or older. In the spring of 2014, they had nine players 30 or older.

4. One thing that was interesting was the average age of New England’s defensive line. Two years ago, it was at 26.4 years old. The departure of Alan Branch and Ricky-Jean Francois played a role here, but the current average age of 24.4 speaks to the overall youth of this group. It was something that both Deatrich Wise, Jr. and Vincent Valentine pointed out to me when I spoke with them this spring. “We have great camaraderie between us,” Wise said of the young defensive front. “We’re a young group, but we’ve all played together, so we have that chemistry. We know each other know. We’re looking forward it playing together, I feel like it’ll be great.”

5. As an addendum to our conversation with Patriots linebacker Marquis Flowers earlier this week, it’s worth reminding you that he’ll be one of a handful of Patriots who will be participating in the All-American Fundamental Camp Showcase, set for July 22nd in Lynn. “To be able to give back to kids, whether it’s here or kids back home in Arizona, is the best,” Flowers said. “I went to Anquan Boldin’s camp as a kid back in Phoenix, and a couple of other camps as a kid, and just to be able to hang with a guy like that at the end of the day, it was the best. I saw him, and my one goal was to get where he was at. It was definitely inspiring, and I’m just trying to bring some of that here to let them see what it takes. You’re going to get to see some of the guys off the field. It’s just a great chance to take the opportunity to help the kids. They’re the next generation — they’re coming up. I want to do whatever I can to help out. I just want to have fun out there — it brings me back to my days going to those same sorts of camps.”



6. Flowers remains one of the most hardcore basketball fans in the Patriots’ locker room — specifically, he said he “bleeds purple and gold” as a Laker fan since the age of 8. He loves talking basketball on Twitter. “It’s always been fun going back and forth with people on Twitter,” he said when it comes to arguing about the NBA on Twitter. “The first thing I thought of when I was traded to the Patriots was that I was happy, but I’m going to be in a spot with the Celtics and be around a bunch of Celtics fans all the time. But it’s all good. I’m always arguing for the Lakers. That’s just the way I’m going to be.” As for the chance to meet Kobe Bryant, he said it was “one of the best days of his life.” (Bryant was an invited guest of Belichick and the Patriots, and he spoke to the team.) “Getting a chance to meet Kobe during the offseason program, that was great,” he said. “Just being able to talk to him and hear from him as a professional, talking about what he went through and his struggle, it was great. One day I won’t forget. He kicked a lot of knowledge to us — and now, I really can see why he’s the greatest. To hear from him and how he’s handled some of what he’s been through, it was great.”

7. We touched on some of this on Friday, but it was fascinating to read multiple reports out of San Francisco this week said Jimmy Garoppolo has been underwhelming this spring, particularly when it came to being able to deliver the deep ball. For all the flashes of greatness he showed at times last season, Pro Football Focus had him at 4-for-16 when it came to the deep ball in 2018. And in minicamp, there were multiple missed connections with wide receivers when the San Francisco offense went deep. As we wrote here, it can be a struggle when you are joining a team midseason, so we’ll give Garoppolo the benefit of the doubt in this case. And in our experience, Garoppolo was always a bit wobbly in the spring and summer, and into the preseason. But given the rich new deal and the increased expectations in 2018, it’ll be interesting to see how he responds to the struggle and whether or not he gets the same leeway he did earlier in his career.

8. While the Patriots’ Super Bowl ring ceremonies in year’s past were often over-the-top affairs that were well-publicized — with pictures of the ring being released to the general public relatively quickly — this year’s presentation of the rings the team received for winning the AFC was done relatively quietly. As Mike Reiss of ESPN noted, they were handed out last week at the end of OTAs, but we never really got a good look at them. One guy who isn’t around anymore — wide receiver Brandin Cooks — got his, and posted a shot on Instagram of the jewelry. While I’m sure many of the players were thankful for the hardware, the juxtaposition of the AFC rings and the fact the Eagles got their Super Bowl rings this past week reminded me of the quote from Edelman, who told NFL Films at the end of the 2014 season: “AFC championships are fun, but AFC championship rings suck.”



9. Speaking of rings, a shoutout to the Karras Family: The father of New England offensive lineman Ted Karras — Ted Karras, Sr. — received a championship ring this past week as a part of the 1987 Replacement Redskins, a group of players who stepped in during the 1987 strike and allowed Washington to keep winning. Karras can now join his family’s legacy, because his father has a ring with the 1963 Bears, and his son with the 2018 New England Patriots.

10. It’s Father’s Day weekend. For me, that means a shout-out to the guy who took me to the Harvard-Yale game when I was 9, preached from the pulpit about the value of gridiron heroes (like Joe Namath), and never hesitated when it came to spending time throwing around the football in the backyard. Happy Father’s Day, Dad. Hope you guys get a chance to spend some time with your father this weekend.