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 | 27.1 | 75 | 11 | 2 | 11 | 3 | |
| 2012 | BAL | 27.8 | 73 | 10 | 12 | 16 | 17 | |
| 2011 | NYG | 26.9 | 77 | 9 | 25 | 8 | 27 | W |
| 2011 | NWE | 27.8 | 62 | 3 | 15 | 2 | 31 | L |
| 2010 | GNB | 27.2 | 84 | 10 | 2 | 9 | 5 | W |
| 2010 | PIT | 28.3 | 77 | 12 | 1 | 14 | 2 | L |
| 2009 | IND | 27.1 | 93 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 18 | L |
| 2009 | NOR | 27.4 | 57 | 1 | 20 | 1 | 25 | W |
| 2008 | PIT | 28 | 78 | 20 | 1 | 22 | 1 | W |
| 2008 | ARI | 27.7 | 67 | 3 | 28 | 4 | 19 | L |
| 2007 | NYG | 27.3 | 69 | 14 | 17 | 16 | 7 | W |
| 2007 | NWE | 28.2 | 65 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | L |
| 2006 | IND | 27.4 | 95 | 2 | 23 | 3 | 21 | W |
| 2006 | CHI | 27.3 | 68 | 2 | 3 | 15 | 5 | L |
| 2005 | PIT | 27.3 | 80 | 9 | 3 | 15 | 4 | W |
| 2005 | SEA | 27.7 | 59 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 16 | L |
| 2004 | NWE | 27.9 | 66 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 9 | W |
| 2004 | PHI | 27.4 | 66 | 8 | 2 | 9 | 10 | L |
| 2003 | NWE | 28.1 | 66 | 12 | 1 | 17 | 7 | W |
| 2003 | CAR | 27 | 60 | 15 | 10 | 16 | 8 | L |
| 2002 | TAM | 28.4 | 63 | 18 | 1 | 24 | 1 | W |
| 2002 | OAK | 30.1 | 43 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 11 | L |
| 2001 | STL | 27.9 | 58 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 3 | L |
| 2001 | NWE | 27.8 | 54 | 6 | 6 | 19 | 24 | W |
| 2000 | NYG | 27.6 | 71 | 15 | 5 | 13 | 5 | L |
| 2000 | BAL | 27.9 | 53 | 14 | 1 | 16 | 2 | W |
| 1999 | TEN | 27.3 | 78 | 7 | 15 | 13 | 17 | L |
| 1999 | STL | 26.5 | 69 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 | W |
| 1998 | DEN | 29.5 | 54 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 11 | W |
| 1998 | ATL | 28.8 | 48 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 8 | L |
| 1997 | GNB | 27.7 | 69 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 7 | L |
| 1997 | DEN | 29.1 | 50 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 5 | W |
| 1996 | NWE | 26.1 | 69 | 2 | 14 | 7 | 19 | L |
| 1996 | GNB | 27.7 | 62 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | W |
| 1995 | DAL | 28.4 | 83 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 9 | W |
| 1995 | PIT | 27.4 | 71 | 5 | 9 | 6 | 3 | L |
| 1994 | SFO | 28.6 | 66 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 8 | W |
| 1994 | SDG | 27.1 | 57 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 14 | L |
| 1993 | BUF | 28.5 | 84 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 27 | L |
| 1993 | DAL | 26.6 | 83 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 10 | W |
| 1992 | BUF | 28.4 | 88 | 3 | 14 | 2 | 12 | L |
| 1992 | DAL | 26.4 | 71 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | W |
| 1991 | BUF | 28.2 | 82 | 2 | 19 | 1 | 27 | L |
| 1991 | WAS | 28.6 | 63 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | W |
| 1990 | BUF | 27.1 | 84 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 8 | L |
| 1990 | NYG | 27.3 | 83 | 15 | 1 | 17 | 2 | W |
| 1989 | SFO | 27.5 | 90 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | W |
| 1989 | DEN | 26.8 | 88 | 8 | 1 | 15 | 3 | L |
| 1988 | CIN | 26.6 | 95 | 1 | 16 | 1 | 15 | L |
| 1988 | SFO | 27 | 94 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 3 | W |
| 1987 | WAS | 26.7 | 85 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 18 | W |
| 1987 | DEN | 26.6 | 85 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 9 | L |
| 1986 | DEN | 27.4 | 99 | 6 | 15 | 15 | 9 | L |
| 1986 | NYG | 27 | 92 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 2 | W |
| 1985 | NWE | 27.5 | 96 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 7 | L |
| 1985 | CHI | 26.7 | 88 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 1 | W |
| 1984 | MIA | 26.9 | 91 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 19 | L |
| 1984 | SFO | 27.6 | 79 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | W |
| 1983 | WAS | 27.4 | 75 | 1 | 11 | 3 | 12 | L |
| 1983 | RAI | 27.9 | 70 | 3 | 13 | 7 | 4 | W |
| 1982 | MIA | 26.8 | 91 | 10 | 2 | 19 | 1 | L |
| 1982 | WAS | 26.7 | 77 | 12 | 1 | 7 | 4 | W |
| 1981 | CIN | 26.6 | 97 | 3 | 12 | 2 | 12 | L |
| 1981 | SFO | 25.9 | 75 | 7 | 2 | 13 | 2 | W |
| 1980 | PHI | 27.7 | 77 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 2 | L |
| 1980 | OAK | 27.9 | 57 | 7 | 10 | 16 | 11 | W |
| 1979 | PIT | 28.3 | 100 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 | W |
| 1979 | RAM | 27.2 | 88 | 15 | 11 | 13 | 7 | L |
| 1978 | PIT | 27.8 | 100 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 3 | W |
| 1978 | DAL | 27.5 | 97 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | L |
| 1977 | DAL | 27.2 | 95 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 1 | W |
| 1977 | DEN | 26.9 | 81 | 10 | 3 | 17 | 9 | L |
| 1976 | OAK | 28.1 | 81 | 4 | 12 | 2 | 18 | W |
| 1976 | MIN | 29 | 68 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 6 | L |
| 1975 | DAL | 27.6 | 96 | 8 | 9 | 3 | 5 | L |
| 1975 | PIT | 26.7 | 95 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 4 | W |
| 1974 | PIT | 26 | 95 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 1 | W |
| 1974 | MIN | 28.2 | 68 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 10 | L |
| 1973 | MIA | 27.2 | 76 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 3 | W |
| 1973 | MIN | 28.9 | 60 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 12 | L |
| 1972 | MIA | 26.8 | 71 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | W |
| 1972 | WAS | 29.2 | 50 | 7 | 3 | 11 | 4 | L |
| 1971 | DAL | 28.4 | 84 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 3 | W |
| 1971 | MIA | 25.9 | 73 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | L |
| 1970 | DAL | 27.5 | 86 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 4 | L |
| 1970 | BAL | 27.3 | 81 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | W |
| 1969 | KAN | 27.3 | 90 | W | ||||
| 1969 | MIN | 27.5 | 68 | L | ||||
| 1968 | NYJ | 26.4 | 86 | W | ||||
| 1968 | BAL | 28.4 | 73 | L | ||||
| 1967 | GNB | 28.8 | 81 | W | ||||
| 1967 | OAK | 26.5 | 54 | L | ||||
| 1966 | KAN | 26.7 | 86 | L | ||||
| 1966 | GNB | 28.7 | 76 | W |
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
The narrative of the back-to-back Broncos was that they were a team of veteran castoffs from other teams. This is supported by these numbers.
In case anyone is interested: A regression of “Home” on “Year” gives a coefficient of -0.331 with a p-value of 0.0014 and R^2 of 0,106. Free agency, folks.
I guess I don’t remember that as the narrative. I think of them as based around players like Elway, TD, Sharpe, Nalen, Atwater, and Rod Smith, all of whom were homegrown players. But yeah, players like Tony Jones, Harry Swayne, McCaffrey, and Romanowski were vets brought in from other teams. And, of course, their most important player was Mark Schlereth, and he started out in Washington.
Never mind. Just checked the Americas Game episode, and the story is something like “Nobody wanted these guys, but Shanahan made ‘em work together”. This way the narrative (which may be in hindsight) can include low-round draftpicks (Nalen, TD, Sharpe, Rod Smith).
I’ve only known of the NFL since 2006, so everything i know of football before that is second hand.
If you sort the chart by home-grownness, of the 40 most home-grown teams, 37 of them came before free agency (I forget exactly when free agency started, but I think about 1994. The 93 Bills and 95 Cowboys are in that list of 40 teams, but the cores of those teams were built before free agency.) The only 3 recent teams to have a high HOME rating were the two Indianapolis teams and the 2010 Packers.
For the 2007/2011 Giants, is it fair to assume Manning is included as a “home grown” player, since you said never played for another team, and not drafted by that team, as some people would put?
That is correct.
There are many reasons not to calculate the average of the four ranks, but I will note that if you do that, the ’11 Giants are the worst SB team by far, with the ’12 Ravens and ’01 Patriots as the next worst. Ironically, of course, the Giants and Pats both won; the next two worse teams are the ’08 Cardinals and ’07 Giants, followed by the ’99 Titans. None of them performed too badly in the SB, either.
I think even those without a calculator can figure out which team would have the best average of the ranks.
Dumb question, but what does AV stand for?
Not a dumb question, as I sometimes forget that not everyone is a long-time reader.
AV stands for PFR’s Approximate Value system: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/blog/?page_id=518
I’ll edit the post to make that clear. Thanks.
Thanks for the clarification. Great content and love the statistical detail. Look forward to being a long-time reader.
Much appreciated. We’re a pretty friendly group here.
I was going to guess the 1970 Colts as the oldest team, but they are mid-pack. The ’68 Colts were much older.
Wasn’t free agency much more restricted in the era in which the Steelers played? I seem to recall that at least in Lombardi’s time, the team had full and permanent rights to a player for as long as they wanted them and that the more liberal free agency didn’t happen until sometime in the 1980s or 1990s? Is there perhaps a good demarcation for “modern free agency” to compare “homegrownness” in apples-to-apples manner?
Yes, Arjun. As Richie mentioned, free agency began in 1993, with Reggie White signing with the Packers that year. Trades were much more common during the earlier eras, however.
Ah yes, I missed that comment by Richie. I think that a big reason that (top) teams might have fewer homegrown players is being unable to afford all the talent they bring in through the draft. Even if trades were more common back then, they were still going to be trades of convenience (filling needs by dealing players they didn’t consider integral) rather than, say, no longer being able to afford Joe Greene.
Yes, absolutely. We won’t see any teams like the late ’70s Steelers again.
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