How old is pro football

Running backs, in many ways, are the opposite of quarterbacks. They have much shorter careers, and they—if you'll forgive the joke—hit the ground running:. To qualify for this chart, backs had to start plus games and rack up or more carries on the season. That's Pro Football Reference's minimum number to qualify for rate stats. As rookies, most running backs good enough to start are about as good as they're ever going to get. The top rookie backs are legitimately great, the floor is quite high and the average is right in line with where it'll be for the first seven seasons or so.

From the second year to the fourth year, a gap opens up between the haves and have-nots; the floor declines while the peak climbs. Maximum AV is reached at 26 and stays very high for the next few seasons. In the eighth season, the high and low hold steady while the average declines; I presume this is because backs are starting to fade and dwindle. In the ninth year, a big jump in the floor and average confirms the poorest starters are gone and only the best producers remain.

Even the elites don't have long after that, though. The top AV value drops like a rock from the ninth year through the 14th, and the average and floor seesaw underneath it.

The volatility there comes from the rapid drop-off of qualifying backs:. Look at the slow, steady climb of tailbacks who qualify from ages 21 through 25, then the quick, straight drop-off from the high of 27 down to Though we think of quarterback as a "development" position, once quarterbacks have a few years' experience, they're either starters or out. Running backs not talented enough to start right away, though, spend years getting stronger and waiting for their opportunity.

It's too bad that by the time the most backs are starting age 27 , their skills are about to evaporate. We think of receivers as being volatile, but their performance chart is actually one of the most sane and stable:. The eerily flat floor, I suspect, is partly due to the minimum qualifications of plus games started and 30 receptions.

That said, besides a small jump from year one to year two, the peak and average AV for receivers is basically just as flat. From year two to year 10, the typical production of starting receivers basically doesn't change. There's an upward trend in the peak AVs, but that's it. Year 10 begins a steep, steady decline in peak AV and a rise in average AV. This is the same effect we've seen before: Mediocre starters are stop playing, and the remaining elites are showing their age.

From Year 14 on, the small sample size starts making things squirrely. Also, there's the Jerry Rice Effect to contend with: He was so very good for so very long, the last three data points are all him.

Again, a big jump from year one to year two, then shockingly similar production until top AV peaks at 32 and begins a steep decline. Average AVs get a big bump as the decent starters fall off, but then they decline as well. After age 38, it's all Jerry Rice. Remember the old saw about receivers taking a big jump in their third year? It's the truth. Even though the receivers good enough to start right away start out at nearly great and climb from there, there's a massive jump in qualifiers from year one to year two, and then from year two to year three.

Just like receivers, tight ends have a big jump in high and average AV from year one to year two, and then it's mostly flat. Unlike receivers, though, the peak AV never gets any higher than year two's high-water mark, and there's a big decline in the average from year seven to year By the 10th year, there's an across-the-board dip.

Then, even though high AV stays flat as a board, average and low AV steadily rise to meet it. My theory here is that all tight ends begin to decline around year seven, but the two-way tight ends really start to go. Roethlisberger was selected 11 th overall during the first round of the draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has remained with the team since then, starring as its quarterback. Roethlisberger has been one of the most efficient passers in the history of the NFL. He currently is ranked 7th all-time in NFL career passing yards.

Jason Peters is currently an offensive tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles, the team Peters has been with since In high school, Peters was a football and basketball star, but went on to play college football for the University of Arkansas.

Although Peters was projected to be an early fourth round pick by Sports Illustrated in , he went undrafted. However, Peters was signed by the Buffalo Bills that year and Peters stayed with the Bills until Andrew Whitworth is one of several players on this list who is currently 39 years old and will be turning 40 during the NFL season.

Whitworth was first drafted in and played with the Cincinnati Bengals until Since , Whitworth has been with the Los Angeles Rams. In , Whitworth signed a new three-year contract with the Rams. Before joining the NFL, Whitworth played football in high school and participated in the first-ever U.

Army All-American Bowl game on December 30, After high school, Whitworth attended Louisiana State University to play college football. Besides football, Andrew Whitworth is an excellent golfer and often hosts a fundraising golf tournament in Louisiana and serves as a motivational speaker to youth groups in both Greater Cincinnati and in Louisiana.

Don Muhlbach is known for being the longtime long snapper of the Detroit Lions. Muhlbach has played for the Lions pretty much his entire professional football career after briefly signing with the Baltimore Ravens as part of its practice squad. Exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded by an ice-ax-wielding assassin at his compound outside Mexico City. Trotsky died from his wounds the next day. Born in Viking 1, an unmanned U.

On June 19, , the spacecraft entered into orbit around Mars and devoted the next month to imaging the Martian surface with the purpose of finding an appropriate landing During the Lebanese Civil War, a multinational force including U. Marines lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestinian withdrawal from Lebanon. It was the beginning of a problem-plagued mission that would stretch into 17 months and leave U.

In , a Czechoslovakians protested the invasion with public demonstrations and other Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox.

A twenty-seven-year-old may have gotten hurt severely enough to be forced to end his career before he's even thirty. George Blanda holds the record for being the oldest NFL player, choosing to retire one month prior to his forty-ninth birthday. Most of the time a player makes the decision of when he wants to discontinue playing professional football. Sometimes, though, it may be recommended by their physician or some other person whose opinion matters.

As long as a football player is healthy and in shape, as well as able to pass the countless physical agility tests and examinations, then he can leave it up to his own body to tell him when it's time call it quits. Some football players are especially fragile, and may have a history of sustaining multiple injuries. If these fragile players decide to leave one team and join another one, they may be forced to retire. So, ultimately, it's up to each individual player and his experiences to decide when it will be time to retire from the NFL.

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