The 2022 Eagles will be one of their youngest rosters in a decade

NFL teams announced their original 53-man rosters on Tuesday, and the Eagles pulled off a few surprises, like trading for Saints safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, while questionably retaining a few players, like wide receiver Jalen Reagor and guard Josh Sills.

The certainty is the 2022 Eagles are younger and apparently more talented than their 2021 predecessors.

The average age of this Eagles’ team is 25.67 years, which is the youngest average age since 2013. PhillyVoice’s incomparable Eagles beat reporter and BGN Radio co-host Jimmy Kempski each year does an NFL age breakdown that dates to 2013. The Eagles haven’t been this young since 2013, when the team’s average age was 25.74.

What’s more, there were 11 players that were 30 or over on the Eagles’ original 53-man roster in August 2021 (Five on offense: Joe Flacco, Lane Johnson, Brandon Brooks, Jason Kelce, and Zach Ertz; six on defense: Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham, Rodney McLeod, Darius Slay, Anthony Harris and Ryan Kerrigan). This year, that’s been cut to five (Kelce, Johnson, Cox, Graham and Slay). There are 38 players back on offense from 2021, 17 on offense, 18 on defense and all three from special teams.

The Eagles’ average age of projected starters on offense is 26.3, while the average age for projected defensive starters is 28, showing that’s the far-more experienced side of the ball. The average age of all 22 starters is 27.1 years, a nice comfortable fit of not too young, or not too old. What’s interesting is that all five players on the roster that are 30 or over are all starters.

The Eagles will carry 23 players on offense and 27 on defense. Here’s a nice balance, the average age on both sides of the ball is 25.5 years. Kelce is the team’s oldest player, at 34, five months older than Graham.

One player that stands out who is still on the team is Reagor.

It’s what Eagles general manager Howie Roseman and head coach Nick Sirianni addressed on Tuesday in announcing their initial 53-man roster. “I think when you look at Jalen, one of the things that one of our scouts said to me today is he was one of the only guys that practiced every day.” Roseman said. “The guy brought it every day. He worked on his craft. He had a great attitude, great energy. Obviously, he’s a talented guy. He’s 23 years old. We’re going to do whatever we think is in the best interest of the team, and we felt like there was no doubt in our mind that he deserved a role on this team.”

Sirianni followed up by saying, “I just felt like he made plays this summer, and it started right from the beginning, from day one of training camp, and it continued on throughout the practices that we had. You could definitely see the explosion that—he’s never lost that, right? He’s had this explosion in his body, and he uses it to separate from the defense. I just thought he had a good camp and he made plays and he was more consistent this year throughout training camp.”

Here’s a breakdown of the Eagles by age/position:

OFFENSE

Quarterback (2):

Gardner Minshew-26

Jalen Hurts-24

Running Back (3):

Boston Scott-27

Miles Sanders-25

Kenneth Gainwell-23

Wide Receiver (5):

Zach Pascal-27

A.J. Brown-25

Quez Watkins-24

DeVonta Smith-23

Jalen Reagor-23

Tight End (3):

Dallas Goedert-27

Jack Stoll-24

Grant Calcaterra-23

Offensive Line (10):

Jason Kelce-34

Lane Johnson-32

Isaac Seumalo-28

Andre Dillard-26

Sua Opeta-26

Jack Driscoll-25

Jordan Mailata-25

Josh Sills-24

Landon Dickerson-23

Cam Jurgens-23

Ave age: 25.5

DEFENSE

Defensive Line (9):

Brandon Graham-34

Fletcher Cox-31

Javon Hargrave-29

Derek Barnett-26

Josh Sweat-25

Tarron Jackson-24

Milton Williams-23

Marlon Tuipulotu-23

Jordan Davis-22

Linebacker (8):

Haason Reddick-27

T.J. Edwards-26

Kyzir White-26

Shaun Bradley-25

Davion Taylor-24

Patrick Johnson-24

Kyron Johnson-24

Nakobe Dean-21

Cornerback (6):

Darius Slay-31

James Bradberry-29

Avonte Maddox-26

Zech McPhearson-24

Josh Jobe-24

Josiah Scott-23

Safety (4):

Marcus Epps-26

K’Von Wallace-25

Chauncey Gardner-Johnson-24

Reed Blankenship-23

Ave age: 25.5

SPECIAL TEAMS

P: Arryn Siposs-29

LS: Rick Lovato-29

K: Jake Elliott-27

Ave age: 28.3

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Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who has written feature stories for SI.com, ESPN.com, NFL.com, MLB.com, Deadspin and The Philadelphia Daily News. In 2006, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for a special project piece for ESPN.com called “Love at First Beep.” He is most noted for his award-winning ESPN.com feature on high school wrestler A.J. Detwiler in February 2006, which appeared on SportsCenter, and his breaking story on Carson Wentz for PhillyVoice on January 21, 2019. In 2015, he was elected president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.