Aaron Rodgers<\/a> dropping back in the pocket to a steady six-time Pro Bowl pick like Smith patrolling the secondary, the young man’s league still has some space for gray hair. But sticking around takes more than just determination and talent.<\/p>\n\u201cI feel great, actually. I don\u2019t feel like a 37-year-old. Not sure what they’re supposed to feel like, but I feel a little younger,\u201d San Francisco 49ers left tackle Trent Williams said at the beginning of training camp. \u201cAs we get older, things start to change. I think you’ve got to pay a little bit more attention to what you put in your body, how you treat your body. Moreso than just being a football player, it\u2019s just a natural maturation of a human being. When you get older you can\u2019t do the same things you did when you were 22.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to an Associated Press review of the 90-man rosters across the league last week, there are 30 players currently with an NFL club who were born in the 1980s. That\u2019s barely 1%. Not only has Generation X been long gone from the game, once Tom Brady retired in 2023, but Millennials are already in the minority.<\/p>\n
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Rodgers, of course, is the oldest active player at 41, followed by New York Jets kicker Nick Folk (40) and Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco (40). The sturdy 30 includes six long snappers, two punters and two kickers, plus nine quarterbacks \u2014 the positions that usually produce the longest-lasting players.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to evolve every single year,” Kansas City Chiefs tight Travis Kelce said.<\/p>\n
Smith is the lone defensive back. Kelce is the only offensive skill-position player who’s not a quarterback. Williams and Arizona Cardinals left tackle Kelvin Beachum, now a backup, are the offensive linemen. Demario Davis of the New Orleans Saints and Nick Bellore of the Washington Commanders, who plays almost exclusively on special teams, are the linebackers. Then there\u2019s a well-decorated group of five defensive linemen: Calais Campbell (Arizona Cardinals), Cameron Heyward (Pittsburgh Steelers), John Jenkins (Baltimore Ravens), Cameron Jordan (New Orleans Saints) and Von Miller (Washington Commanders).<\/p>\n
\u201cI still feel great. I feel like I can go out there and dominate,\u201d said Campbell, who returned this year to his original team, the Cardinals. \u201cI wish I had a magic formula. I think I\u2019ve just been blessed. God\u2019s given me a lot of blessings to play this game I love.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Grinding it out<\/p>\n
The list has been trimmed, naturally, from last season. Nine players \u2014 tight end Marcedes Lewis, kickers Matt Prater, Justin Tucker and Greg Zuerlein, long snappers Jake McQuaide and Matt Overton, safety Kareem Jackson, defensive end Jerry Hughes and defensive tackle Linval Joseph \u2014 who logged time on the field in 2024 have not signed with a team this year.<\/p>\n
Their peers still grinding through summer practices fully realize they’ll be permanently on the sideline sooner than later.<\/p>\n
\u201cI start a lot earlier doing my training. Just listen to my body when I need to take a rest,” Heyward said. \u201cBut it\u2019s more just trying to get stronger as soon as possible after the season. Less time to recover, but recovering through the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Mastering the art of recovery, forever a moving target, is a primary focus. Moving around on Mondays after games can be a chore, but figuring out how to maximize those summer strength and conditioning sessions for a mid-30s player is also a challenge.<\/p>\n
Smith, a soft-spoken leader who’d much rather have a deep locker-room conversation about life in professional football than give the defense a rah-rah pregame speech, fields more questions from young players about recovery than any other topic.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes you just grind it out and you don\u2019t feel good, and that\u2019s how it is,” said Smith, who also mixes in pickup basketball with his offseason work in his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee.<\/p>\n
Pride and perspective are part of the NFL roadmap for longevity, too. Heyward\u2019s oldest son, 9-year-old Callen, has spent a few nights with him in his dorm room.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThere\u2019s a hunger there that I know I\u2019m in a rare group that gets to see year 15, but it\u2019s something I constantly think about,\u201d Heyward said. \u201cThere\u2019s things I want to check off before I hang them up, and I haven\u2019t reached those goals yet.\u201c<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP Pro Football Writer Josh Dubow and AP Sports Writers David Brandt, Will Graves, Brett Martel, Noah Trister and David Skretta contributed.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NFL<\/a><\/p>\nDave Campbell, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EAGAN, Minn. (AP) \u2014 Harrison Smith, just like anyone approaching middle age, has learned to accept the realities…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[1754,1745,1742,49,29482,32687,32689,48,1724,32692,32696,32686,32698,32697,1757,32695,1727,32690,32691,32693,24814,32694,24813,1726,1734,1723,514,32688,24810,949,948,82,12486,12659,27236,2481,1758],"class_list":["post-46958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-arizona-cardinals","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-ca","tag-calais-campbell","tag-cameron-heyward","tag-cameron-jordan","tag-canada","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-demario-davis","tag-greg-zuerlein","tag-harrison-smith","tag-jake-mcquaide","tag-jerry-hughes","tag-joe-flacco","tag-justin-tucker","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-kareem-jackson","tag-kelvin-beachum","tag-linval-joseph","tag-marcedes-lewis","tag-matt-overton","tag-matt-prater","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-new-orleans-saints","tag-new-york-jets","tag-nfl","tag-nick-bellore","tag-nick-folk","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-sports","tag-tom-brady","tag-travis-kelce","tag-trent-williams","tag-von-miller","tag-washington-commanders"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}