Ever wondered which Super Bowl teams were the oldest or youngest? I went and calculated the AV-adjusted age of every team to appear in the Super Bowl. (AV stands for Pro-Football-Reference’s Approximate Value system, which assigns an approximate value to each player in each season; you can read more about it here.) You can probably guess who the oldest team was, but the youngest might be a bit of a surprise. Baltimore and San Francisco both come in roughly in the middle of the pack, with the Ravens slightly older than the 49ers. This also jives with Football Outsiders’ snap-adjusted ages article.
Bill Barnwell wrote a good article yesterday summarizing the success of Ozzie Newsome, the Baltimore Ravens general manager. That made me curious to see what percentage (based on AV, not total players, naturally) of the players on each Super Bowl team had never before played for another team. Great general managers do more than build their teams through the draft (and Barnwell specifically praised Newsome for that, including the trade for Anquan Boldin), but the question of what percentage of the team is “homegrown” is still an interesting one.
For the Ravens, 73% of their players (as measured by AV) have never played for another team, with Boldin, Cary Williams, Jacoby Jones, Bryant McKinnie, Matt Birk, Bernard Pollard, Corey Graham, and Vontae Leach being some notable exceptions. On the other side, 75% of the 49ers have only worn the red and gold, although Justin Smith, Jonathan Goodwin, Randy Moss, Donte Whitner, Carlos Rogers, Mario Manningham (at least, in the regular season) were key contributors who are not home-grown 49ers.
When it comes to AV-adjusted age or measuring how ‘home-grown’ each team is, neither team really stands out from the pack. The ’78 and ’79 Steelers featured 22 starters that were all home-grown, although making placekicker Roy Gerela the lone outlier (and since AV does not include kickers, both Pittsburgh teams were at 100%).
In addition to the AV-adjusted ages and “home-grownness” of each Super Bowl participant, the table below includes where each team (since 1970) ranked in points for, points allowed, yards, and yards allowed, and whether or not the team won the game. The table is fully sortable and searchable, and the rows for San Francisco and Baltimore will remain highlighted after sorting.
Year | Tm | Age | Home | PF | PA | Yds | YdsA | W/L |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2012 | SFO | 27.7 | 75 | 11 | 2 | 11 | 3 | L |
2012 | BAL | 28.4 | 73 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 17 | W |
2011 | NYG | 27.6 | 77 | 9 | 25 | 8 | 27 | W |
2011 | NWE | 28.5 | 62 | 3 | 15 | 2 | 31 | L |
2010 | GNB | 27.6 | 84 | 10 | 2 | 9 | 5 | W |
2010 | PIT | 28.9 | 77 | 12 | 1 | 14 | 2 | L |
2009 | IND | 27.8 | 93 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 18 | L |
2009 | NOR | 28.1 | 57 | 1 | 20 | 1 | 25 | W |
2008 | PIT | 28.7 | 78 | 20 | 1 | 22 | 1 | W |
2008 | ARI | 28.2 | 67 | 3 | 28 | 4 | 19 | L |
2007 | NYG | 27.9 | 69 | 14 | 17 | 16 | 7 | W |
2007 | NWE | 28.8 | 65 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | L |
2006 | IND | 28 | 95 | 2 | 23 | 3 | 21 | W |
2006 | CHI | 27.7 | 68 | 2 | 3 | 15 | 5 | L |
2005 | PIT | 27.9 | 80 | 9 | 3 | 15 | 4 | W |
2005 | SEA | 28.2 | 59 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 16 | L |
2004 | NWE | 28.2 | 66 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 9 | W |
2004 | PHI | 27.9 | 66 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 10 | L |
2003 | NWE | 28.7 | 66 | 12 | 1 | 17 | 7 | W |
2003 | CAR | 27.7 | 60 | 15 | 10 | 16 | 8 | L |
2002 | TAM | 28.9 | 63 | 18 | 1 | 24 | 1 | W |
2002 | OAK | 30.7 | 43 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 11 | L |
2001 | STL | 28.5 | 58 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 3 | L |
2001 | NWE | 28.5 | 54 | 6 | 6 | 19 | 24 | W |
2000 | NYG | 28.1 | 71 | 15 | 5 | 13 | 5 | L |
2000 | BAL | 28.4 | 53 | 14 | 1 | 16 | 2 | W |
1999 | TEN | 27.8 | 78 | 7 | 15 | 13 | 17 | L |
1999 | STL | 27 | 69 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 | W |
1998 | DEN | 30.1 | 54 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 11 | W |
1998 | ATL | 29.3 | 48 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 8 | L |
1997 | GNB | 28.3 | 69 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 7 | L |
1997 | DEN | 29.6 | 50 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 5 | W |
1996 | NWE | 26.7 | 69 | 2 | 14 | 7 | 19 | L |
1996 | GNB | 28.2 | 62 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | W |
1995 | DAL | 28.8 | 83 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 9 | W |
1995 | PIT | 27.8 | 71 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 3 | L |
1994 | SFO | 29.2 | 66 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 8 | W |
1994 | SDG | 27.7 | 57 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 14 | L |
1993 | BUF | 29.1 | 84 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 27 | L |
1993 | DAL | 27.2 | 83 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 10 | W |
1992 | BUF | 29.1 | 88 | 3 | 14 | 2 | 12 | L |
1992 | DAL | 27 | 71 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | W |
1991 | BUF | 28.8 | 82 | 2 | 19 | 1 | 27 | L |
1991 | WAS | 29.3 | 63 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | W |
1990 | BUF | 27.8 | 84 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 8 | L |
1990 | NYG | 27.9 | 83 | 15 | 1 | 17 | 2 | W |
1989 | SFO | 28.2 | 90 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | W |
1989 | DEN | 27.3 | 88 | 8 | 1 | 15 | 3 | L |
1988 | CIN | 27.2 | 95 | 1 | 16 | 1 | 15 | L |
1988 | SFO | 27.6 | 94 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 3 | W |
1987 | WAS | 27.2 | 85 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 18 | W |
1987 | DEN | 27.3 | 85 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 9 | L |
1986 | DEN | 28.1 | 99 | 6 | 15 | 15 | 9 | L |
1986 | NYG | 27.5 | 92 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 2 | W |
1985 | NWE | 28.1 | 96 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 7 | L |
1985 | CHI | 27.2 | 88 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 1 | W |
1984 | MIA | 27.5 | 91 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 19 | L |
1984 | SFO | 28.2 | 79 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | W |
1983 | WAS | 27.9 | 75 | 1 | 11 | 3 | 12 | L |
1983 | RAI | 28.6 | 70 | 3 | 13 | 7 | 4 | W |
1982 | MIA | 27.3 | 91 | 10 | 2 | 19 | 1 | L |
1982 | WAS | 27.2 | 77 | 12 | 1 | 7 | 4 | W |
1981 | CIN | 27.3 | 97 | 3 | 12 | 2 | 12 | L |
1981 | SFO | 26.5 | 75 | 7 | 2 | 13 | 2 | W |
1980 | PHI | 28.3 | 77 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 2 | L |
1980 | OAK | 28.4 | 57 | 7 | 10 | 16 | 11 | W |
1979 | PIT | 28.8 | 100 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 | W |
1979 | RAM | 27.9 | 88 | 15 | 11 | 13 | 7 | L |
1978 | PIT | 28.3 | 100 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 3 | W |
1978 | DAL | 28.3 | 97 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | L |
1977 | DAL | 27.9 | 95 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 1 | W |
1977 | DEN | 27.5 | 81 | 10 | 3 | 17 | 9 | L |
1976 | OAK | 28.5 | 81 | 4 | 12 | 2 | 18 | W |
1976 | MIN | 29.5 | 68 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 6 | L |
1975 | DAL | 28.2 | 96 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 5 | L |
1975 | PIT | 27.2 | 95 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 4 | W |
1974 | PIT | 26.6 | 95 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 1 | W |
1974 | MIN | 28.8 | 68 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 10 | L |
1973 | MIA | 27.7 | 76 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 3 | W |
1973 | MIN | 29.6 | 60 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 12 | L |
1972 | MIA | 27.4 | 71 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | W |
1972 | WAS | 29.8 | 50 | 7 | 3 | 11 | 4 | L |
1971 | DAL | 29 | 84 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 3 | W |
1971 | MIA | 26.4 | 73 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | L |
1970 | DAL | 28 | 86 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 4 | L |
1970 | BAL | 27.8 | 81 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | W |
1969 | KAN | 27.7 | 90 | W | ||||
1969 | MIN | 28 | 68 | L | ||||
1968 | NYJ | 27.4 | 86 | W | ||||
1968 | BAL | 29 | 73 | L | ||||
1967 | GNB | 29.2 | 81 | W | ||||
1967 | OAK | 26.9 | 54 | L | ||||
1966 | KAN | 27.1 | 86 | L | ||||
1966 | GNB | 29.2 | 76 | W |