Panthers' youth a blessing in disguise???

[The Don]

Since the beginning of the NFL, a statement that has been uttered so many times has now befallen upon our beloved Carolina Panthers... "This is a young man's game."

Entering the 2010 season, the Carolina Panthers have the 3rd youngest team in the NFL, with only the Green Bay Packers and San Diego Chargers surpassing us in youth. Two teams, I might add, that both went to the playoffs last season.

Turning the clock back about 7 years, when players such as Jake Delhomme, Jordan Gross and Julius Peppers were first breaking on to the scene, in their youth, might I add...

Does this all point to a more obvious question? Why yes it does... Does this mean that the 2010 Carolina Panthers will have a better shot at getting into the playoffs this year, led by youth and exuberance of the likes in which we, the fans, haven't seen since the 2003 run at the super bowl?

[Highlandfire]

You know all teams esp great ones go through this. there is a time to part ways with older vets and retool with younger guys.

We may be one of the youngest teams in the NFL but we are fortunate to have many really good pieces in place that are young, OL and RB are the first that come to mind. If moore develops like we think he can then add QB to that

[Mother Grabber]

I thought Fast Eddie said that pool is a young man's game. Now I'm all confused.

[monstercat]

The thing is, this team is young, but the only way a rookie starts at any position on this team, is if he wins the job fair and square. So it's not like the whole team is starting from scratch or anything.

[ChucktownK]

With Meeks at the Defensive helm, I think so.

[carolinarolls]

we did not trim the team to get younger

we did not trim the team to get older

we trimmed the team to get rid of old and aging problems that have been festering for several years

we trimmed the team to get rid of salary

we trimmed the team to promote competition

we trimmed the team to give the possible staff exodus plenty of outs

there are lots of positives and negatives and intelligent arguments for what happened and for why it should not have happened.

the only thing I truly believe about youth is that it is much more entertaining to watch a bunch of young guys fvck up repeatedly than to watch a bunch of wiley vets with huge contracts do the same thing.

[Davidson Deac II]

According to this we are fourth youngest. And the Chargers are in the middle, although the colts are younger than us.

1 Redskins 28.02

2 Saints 27.99

3 Cardinals 27.74

3 Patriots 27.74

5 Lions 27.62

6 49ers 27.51

7 Steelers 27.50

8 Vikings 27.48

9 Seahawks 27.41

10 Falcons 27.39

11 Titans 27.29

12 Browns 27.18

13 Jets 27.16

13 Broncos 27.16

15 Bears 27.02

16 Cowboys 26.93

17 Bills 26.93

18 Chargers 26.93

19 Texans 26.89

20 Giants 26.88

21 Ravens 26.83

22 Raiders 26.82

23 Eagles 26.81

24 Rams 26.73

25 Jaguars 26.61

26 Bengals 26.60

27 Dolphins 26.47

28 Bucs 26.46

29 Panthers 26.39

30 Chiefs 26.36

31 Colts 26.34

32 Packers 26.16

The Saints were almost the oldest team, the Colts were nearly the youngest. Guess that means young or old, you still need talent.

[smash_n_dash]

I saw something on ESPN the other week about us being THE youngest... I'll look it up

EDIT: Of course this was on July 12th so perhaps with cuts/additions to the roster, perhaps things have changed...

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/19677/age-rankings-for-every-nfl-team

Either way, according to this, the colts are/were the second youngest and they were in the SB

[Davidson Deac II]

I saw something on ESPN the other week about us being THE youngest... I'll look it up

The difference between the 16 youngest teams is not that much, so signing a couple of players could change the numbers.

[smash_n_dash]

According to this we are fourth youngest. And the Chargers are in the middle, although the colts are younger than us.

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The Saints were almost the oldest team, the Colts were nearly the youngest. Guess that means young or old, you still need talent.

That was from September of last year I think.

[Cyberjag]

I wonder where we would be on the list if we didn't have a 60 year old kicker on the roster...

[ed bell]

There are probably a lot of ways to evaluate the "average age" of an NFL team....I'd say that the average of your starting 22 is probably a little more significant than an average of your overall 53 man roster.....I think the fact that besides kickers, Smitty is the oldest member on our squad indicates that there is a true youth movement here that isn't what I would consider the classic "rebuilding" type scenario. It's exciting....

[JungleCat]

I just hope it translates into being healthy.

[carolinarolls]

OMFG! our average age is 26.39 and the vaGiants average age is 26.88

opening day is doomed!

they are so much more experienced!