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The NFL is a young man's league. The average age of retirement for a player is 27 years old. The league is unforgiving, and the slightest miscalculation can end a player's season or career in the blink of an eye.
Despite the high-risk nature of American football, some players play well into their late thirties and have missed precious few games in the process. No player embodied this more than Tom Brady, who retired at the end of the 2022 NFL season at the ripe old footballing age of 45. So now that Tom Brady has released the league from his ancient clutches, who is the oldest player in the league?
At the grand age of 40, Andy Lee is the oldest active NFL player. Lee is a punter for the Arizona Cardinals and has played for the Cards since 2017. He was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2004 Draft as the 188th overall pick in the sixth round. He was a member of the 49ers for ten years, earning six All-Pro nods with the franchise. He also added six Pro Bowl selections for good measure, and he was widely seen as one of the best punters of his generation during his heyday.
Lee left the San Francisco 49ers in 2015 when he was traded to Cleveland Browns for a seventh-round pick in the 2017 Draft. This occurred after the 49ers drafted punter Bradley Pinion. Lee's trade marked the end of an impressive first decade in the NFL with the team that selected to take a chance on him when others didn't. He played for the Browns for a season before he was again traded to the Carolina Panthers in a deal for a 2017 seventh-round pick in exchange for a 2018 fourth-round pick and punter Kasey Redfern. The Panthers released him on September 2, 2017.
Following his release from the Panthers, Lee signed a two-year contract with the Arizona Cardinals on September 4, 2017. He has since remained on the Cardinals, proving he can still show off his stuff at forty.
Ranking the oldest NFL players heading into the 2023 season
Here is a list of the top five oldest players in the league heading into the 2023 NFL season:
