Youth was served last season when the Green Bay Packers, the youngest team in the National Football League, leaped to 13-3 and a berth in the NFC Championship Game.
Now the Packers will be looking to take their kiddie corps a step further with a 53-man roster that's even younger than it was in 2007 and the same exact age as it was in 2006.
"I hope it's the last year we're talking about how young we are," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Wednesday. "That's three years in a row."
Based on opening-day rosters, the Packers ranked as the NFL's youngest team a year ago with an average age of 25.74 years. They also were the youngest in '06 with a 25.57 average.
Although the NFL hasn't completed its statistical analysis of '08 rosters, it's quite possible that Green Bay and its 25.57 average will be No. 1 for the third year in a row. The last time the Packers had a younger opening-day roster dates to coach Forrest Gregg's anti-veteran kick in 1986 (25.3).
"We're not young for young's sake," Green Bay general manager Ted Thompson said. "We have a fair number of guys that are juniors and sophomores and this year's freshman class, and it kind of skews it a little bit."
Twelve months ago, Thompson broached the possibility of becoming a more veteran team by drafting fewer players in 2008. Then, when April rolled around, he was back at it again, trading down four times (he went up once) and turning eight selections into nine players plus an extra sixth-round choice in 2009.
That gave the Packers a league-high 43 choices during Thompson's four drafts. Elsewhere in the NFC North Division since 2005, Chicago has drafted 34 players, Detroit has selected 30 and Minnesota has taken 26.
Based on current 53-man rosters, Thompson has hit on about the same percentage of picks as his division brethren. The Packers have 26 of those 43 picks on their present 53-man roster, a 60.5% rate that is only slightly higher than Chicago's (58.8%, 20 of 34), Minnesota's (57.7%, 15 of 26) and Detroit's (56.7%, 17 of 30).
It's the sheer number of picks accumulated by Thompson that has helped make Green Bay the youngest club in the NFC North four straight years.
After the Packers, the Bears average 26.47 years, the Vikings average 26.70 and the Lions average 27.36, making them the division's oldest team for the sixth time in eight years.
Just 10 of the current 53 players were acquired before Thompson took over in January 2005. McCarthy, who inherited 66 players from Mike Sherman in January 2006, is coaching 17 players (13 starters) who played for Sherman.
"It had to change, and it's taken us long to get the team to look like the way it needs to look, frankly," McCarthy said. "The thing I keep going back to, our players are young. You think about how much football these guys have played and they're in their second and third seasons . . . they're going to get better."
In all, the Packers have just 12 players on their 53-man roster who weren't on their active roster or injured-reserve list in '07. Eight of the 12 are draft choices.
Since the football renaissance in Green Bay began in 1992, the smallest number of newcomers on an opening-day roster has been 12. In addition to this year, there were 12 in 1997 and 2001. McCarthy coached 23 newcomers in 2006, 14 more in '07.
"I didn't think we had that many," said Thompson, who had only 10 before free agents Derrick Frost and Brett Goode were signed Monday. "I think it's a hard team to make. If you have a good club, then incumbents are inherently pretty good players so the bar is higher. Continuity is a good thing, too."
Besides the eight draft choices, the newcomers also include running back Kregg Lumpkin and linebacker Brandon Chillar. Lumpkin was the only one of 15 undrafted rookies to make it; long snapper J.J. Jansen would have made two before he injured his knee.
None of the 12 is starting. In fact, the Packers have just two new starters: Aaron Rodgers for Brett Favre at quarterback and Johnny Jolly for Corey Williams at defensive tackle.
McCarthy had 10 new starters in 2006, five in '07. From 1994-'07, the only other year in which merely two starting jobs changed hands was 2004.
"That's a good stat," Thompson said. "I think our core behind our starters is better, so some of these guys have had to fight off some challenges. That's all good."
For the fourth straight year, the Packers led the NFC North in the number of rookies and first-year players on the roster. They had 10, giving them a total of 51 since 2005. Chicago was a distant second with 32, followed by Detroit and Minnesota with 28.
Thompson insisted that he didn't necessarily believe the NFL has to be a young man's game.
"You can't have everybody 22 years old," he said. "Some people will mention the two corners but I think our two corners are two of our better players. I'm not concerned about their age. And I don't know if you'd qualify (tackles Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher) as old yet."
Both Thompson and McCarthy spoke highly of the team's depth, although McCarthy acknowledged the quarterback position might be a problem.
"The inexperience at quarterback will be talked about until next year," he said. "We have to develop two young quarterbacks. But I like the mix of the other groups, I really do."
McCarthy called the depth at linebackers "the best it's been since I've been here." And he spoke highly of the cornerback position, where Charles Woodson and Al Harris are backed by four players averaging 24 years of age.
The starting offense has an average age of 25.12 and the starting defense averages 26.12.
Green Bay has merely six players 30 years or older, a far cry from Sherman's teams in 2001 and '02 that had 13 and 12 players, respectively.