The youth movement in Cleveland is afoot.
According to data distributed by the NFL today, the average age of the Browns’ 53-man Week One roster was 24.17 years. That makes Cleveland by far the youngest roster in the NFL. The next-youngest roster is nearly a year per player older: The Rams are the second-youngest team with an average age of 25.11 years.
When the new brain trust took over in Cleveland a year and a half ago, getting younger was a major part of the plan. And the youth movement shows no sign of slowing down, as the Browns have two first-round draft picks in 2018 (their own and Houston’s), as well as three second-round picks (their own, Houston’s and Philadelphia’s).
The Browns have gone 1-16 since the new brain trust took over, but the goal was never to win in 2016 and 2017. The goal was to build a team that could compete for a Super Bowl in 2019 or 2020. It remains to be seen whether that can happen, but the Browns should have a whole lot of players in their primes in a few years.