Each year, Jimmy Kempski of the Philly Voice calculates the average age of every NFL team after final rosters are announced. To no one’s surprise, the Los Angeles Rams are the youngest team in the league...again.
No, that is not an echo you hear. This 2016 season will mark the fifth consecutive year the Rams will start their campaign as the league’s youngest under Head Coach Jeff Fisher and General Manager Les Snead:
The Rams traded the second pick in the 2012 NFL Draft for a bevy of picks over subsequent years, so it was expected that the Rams would be one of the youngest teams in the league then. Those picks, like Janoris Jenkins, were taken so long ago that those players are now vets who are leaving via free agency.
In five years, a regime should begin to show sings of some roster maturity, but not in this case. While there is no direct correlation between winning and the age of an NFL roster, there is a school of thought that it’s better have a younger defense and a bit older offense. The Rams are just the opposite at an average of 24.5 years on offense and 25.3 years on defense.
Four of the NFL’s ten-youngest teams in the league (Packers, Chiefs, Texans, and Vikings) made the playoffs last season, so it’s not impossible to accomplish...
It’s just something Jeff Fisher has yet to figure out.