With an average age of 25 years and 214 days, the Packers are not only the youngest team in the NFL this season but also the youngest team to make the NFL playoffs since the 1974 Buffalo Bills. That Bills team, led by star RB O.J. Simpson, had a more impressive regular season at 9-5 but lost 32-14 to the Steelers in their first postseason game.
While a lot of Green Bay's skill players are young, notably 25-year-old QB Jordan Love and the team's cornucopia of rookie and second-year pass catchers, the Packers as a whole aren't all that much younger than numerous other NFL teams. A snapshot on the day rosters were cut down to 53 players prior to the start of the season by Jimmy Kempski of Philly Voice shows that the Packers had the league's youngest team at the start of the season with an average age of 25.0 years, but the Rams weren't far behind at 25.3, and 19 of the league's 32 teams came in under 26.0. When Kempski ran the same exercise in previous seasons, the 2022 Browns and 2020 Dolphins matched Green Bay's 25.0, while the 2020 Jaguars were the youngest team heading into a season since at least 2018 with an average age of 24.9 years.
Given the context that the Packers are younger than other NFL teams, but not significantly so, the focus should really be on how important individual youngsters fare in the postseason rather than average team age. Franchises usually rise and fall with their quarterbacks, and Green Bay's Jordan Love is one of three fresh faces at that position about to start a playoff game before his 26th birthday. Let's see how other notable potential franchise QBs fared in recent years when thrust into the playoff spotlight for the first time:
| Quarterback | Team | Season | Age At Debut | Team Results | Stats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamar Jackson | Ravens | 2018 | 21 years, 364 days | Lost wild card | 192 yards, 2:1 TD:INT, fumble lost |
| C.J. Stroud | Texans | 2023 | 22 years, 102 days | TBD | TBD |
| Brock Purdy | 49ers | 2022 | 23 years, 18 days | Won wild card, won Divisional Round, lost NFCCG | 546 yards, 3:0 TD:INT, rushing TD (two* games) *Omitted NFCCG stats |
| Jared Goff | Rams | 2017 | 23 years, 84 days | Lost wild card | 259 yards, 1:0 TD:INT |
| Deshaun Watson | Texans | 2018 | 23 years, 113 days | Lost wild card | 235 yards, 1:1 TD:INT, 76 rushing yards |
| Trevor Lawrence | Jaguars | 2022 | 23 years, 100 days | Won wild card, lost Divisional Round | 505 yards, 5:5 TD:INT |
| Patrick Mahomes | Chiefs | 2018 | 23 years, 117 days | Won Divisional Round, lost AFCCG | 573 yards, 3:0 TD:INT, rushing TD (two games) |
| Mac Jones | Patriots | 2021 | 23 years, 132 days | Lost wild card | 232 yards, 2:2 TD:INT |
| Jalen Hurts | Eagles | 2021 | 23 years, 162 days | Lost wild card | 258 yards, 1:2 TD:INT |
| Dak Prescott | Cowboys | 2016 | 23 years, 170 days | Lost Divisional Round | 302 yards, 3:1 TD:INT |
| Josh Allen | Bills | 2019 | 23 years, 228 days | Lost wild card | 264 yards, 0:0 TD:INT, rec TD, rushing TD, fumble lost |
| Kyler Murray | Cardinals | 2021 | 24 years, 163 days | Lost wild card | 137 yards, 0:2 TD:INT |
| Justin Herbert | Chargers | 2022 | 24 years, 310 days | Lost wild card | 273 yards, 1:0 TD:INT |
| Joe Burrow | Bengals | 2021 | 25 years, 36 days | Won wild card, won Divisional Round, won AFCCG, lost Super Bowl | 1,105 yards, 5:2 TD:INT (four games) |
| Jordan Love | Packers | 2023 | 25 years, 73 days | TBD | TBD |
| Daniel Jones | Giants | 2022 | 25 years, 233 days | Won wild card, lost Divisional Round | 436 yards, 2:1 TD:INT, 102 rushing yards |
| Baker Mayfield | Browns | 2020 | 25 years, 271 days | Won wild card, lost Divisional Round | 467 yards, 4:1 TD:INT (two games) |
| Tua Tagovailoa | Dolphins | 2023 | 25 years, 317 days | TBD | TBD |
All in all, the table above consists of 18 QBs. The QBs in that group who have already made their playoff debuts went just 6-9 in their first playoff start, which doesn't bode well for Love, C.J. Stroud and Tua Tagovailoa, who are poised to make their respective playoff debuts this weekend in the wild-card round. Tua's Dolphins made the postseason last year, but he was injured and didn't play. There is a reason for Packers and Dolphins fans to be optimistic, though, as the last three 25-year-old potential franchise QBs thrust into the NFL playoff spotlight all won their playoff debuts, posting a combined 5-3 record thanks to Joe Burrow's run to the Super Bowl.
Fresh faces under the age of 25 from the above list went just 3-9 in their playoff openers, and one of those wins came in a fresh face-off between Trevor Lawrence and Justin Herbert last season, which means that only Patrick Mahomes and Brock Purdy led their teams to victories over playoff opponents helmed by veteran QBs. That stat doesn't bode well for Stroud's Texans, but the future looks bright for Stroud nonetheless, as only Lamar Jackson — whose playoff debut came one day before his 22nd birthday — was younger than Stroud among recent fresh faces to start a playoff game. When Stroud starts Saturday's home game against the Browns at 22 years and 102 days young, he will become the fifth-youngest QB all time to start a playoff game behind Jacky Lee (21 years, 174 days; 1960 season), Jackson, Rich Gannon (22 years, 14 days; 1987 season), and Bernie Kosar (22 years, 40 days; 1985 season). Lee won AFL Championships in both 1960 and 1961, while both Jackson and Gannon have an MVP award on their respective mantels.
Prescott's loss in his playoff debut came at AT&T Stadium against the Packers, so he would love to repay the favor in Love's first playoff start seven years later at the same venue. Tua's Dolphins will go on the road against Mahomes, who is now a grizzled playoff veteran, with 14 playoff games under his belt at age 28. Stroud will face a Browns team helmed by Joe Flacco, who turns 39 on Tuesday but won a pair of playoff games before his 24th birthday in his first trip to the postseason 15 years ago with the Ravens.
Interestingly, all three QBs from the above list that have switched teams helped their new squads make the playoffs this season. Deshaun Watson won five games for the Browns in 2023 prior to his season-ending shoulder injury, while the man he replaced, Baker Mayfield, guided the Buccaneers to the AFC South title. Goff's Lions are set for a playoff matchup with his former team, though the Rams certainly don't regret trading Goff considering they won a Super Bowl in their first season with Matthew Stafford, who threw for 380 yards, a 3:2 TD:INT and a rushing TD in a losing effort as a fresh face with the Lions, 31 days before his 24th birthday back in the 2011 season.
