NFL Offensive Line Age Comparisons

With help from Baltimore Beatdown and many other NFL blogs, Jimmy Kempski of Blogging The Beast took a look at the ages of the offensive lines both as a unit as well as individually. His blog focuses on the NFC East and while that is the purpose of the story, he touches on the rest of the league in comparing the ages in the offensive trenches.

As far as the Ravens are concerned, their offensive line ranks as the 18th oldest in the league, with an average age of 28 years and 29 days. Comparing the rest of the AFC North, both the Steelers (29 years, 17 days) and Bengals (29 years, 4 months, 21 days) o-lines are older than the Ravens and the Browns (27 years, 9 months, 19 days) are just behind by a few months.

Looking at the players on the league's offensive lines, Ravens center Matt Birk is the fourth oldest offensive lineman in the entire NFL at a bit over 35 years old. No other lineman on the team is in the top 86 players in terms of age. Guard Ben Grubbs clocks in 87th at 27 years and six months, while RG/T Marshal Yanda is the only other Raven in the top 100 in the 99th spot at a tad under 28 years old. Both Jared Gaither and Michael Oher are under 26 years old and when Matt Birk finally decides to retire, there's a solid chance that the Ravens might have one of the youngest offensive line in the NFL, good news for a unit that can grow together with a young QB and at least two new rookie wide receivers.