Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield Show AFC Is a Young Man’s Game

Hardly ever has a single weekend of soccer offered as correct a snapshot of the NFL‘s evolving nature because the upcoming Divisional Spherical playoffs.

Within the NFC, three of the best quarterbacks in NFL historical past—Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers—lead their respective groups into the second week of the postseason with a mixed age of 122 years.

Against this, all 4 beginning quarterbacks remaining within the AFC playoffs—Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens, Josh Allen of the Buffalo Payments and Baker Mayfield of the Cleveland Browns—are all but to show 26.

To place the age distinction into perspective, at 26 years and three months of age, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff is older than his 4 AFC colleagues, whereas being concurrently 11 years Rodgers’ junior—the two-time MVP turned 37 last month, a relative upstart in comparison with Brady and Brees, who’re 43 and 42 respectively.

The sensation of generational change is difficult to disregard and it means the Divisional Round of the 2020 NFL playoffs will go down in historical past earlier than a ball has even been kicked in anger.

In response to NFL Analysis, this yr marks the primary time in NFL historical past that each one 4 beginning quarterbacks in a single convention are but to show 26 earlier than they take the sector within the Divisional Spherical.

At 25 years and 278 days, Mayfield would be the senior determine within the quartet when he leads the Browns out in opposition to the Chiefs in Kansas Metropolis, whereas Mahomes might be 25 years and 122 days.

At 24 years and 9 days on Saturday, Jackson would be the youngest of the 4 when the Ravens take on the Bills in Buffalo, whereas Allen might be 24 years and 240 days.

Final season, Mahomes grew to become the second-youngest quarterback to win a Tremendous Bowl after main the Chiefs to a 31-20 win over the San Francisco 49ers in Tremendous Bowl LIV. At 24 years and 138 days of age, Mahomes was additionally the fifth-youngest quarterback in Tremendous Bowl historical past.

Having succeeded Mahomes because the common season MVP in 2019, Jackson might surpass the Chiefs gunslinger because the second-youngest quarterback to ever elevate the Vince Lombardi Trophy if the Ravens win Super Bowl LV this season.

Not even Jackson, nevertheless, has a shot at breaking Ben Roethlisberger’s file of being the youngest ever quarterback to win the Tremendous Bowl.

The Steelers veteran was simply 23 years and 320 days when he led Pittsburgh to a 21-10 win over the Seattle Seahawks in Tremendous Bowl XL in his second season within the league.

Together with Philip Rivers of the Indianapolis Colts, Cam Newton of the New England Patriots, Ryan Tannehill of the Tennessee Titans and Derek Carr of the Las Vegas Raiders, Roethlisberger is one among simply 5 AFC beginning quarterbacks to have been entered the NFL previous to 2017.

The Chiefs drafted Mahomes in the identical yr, whereas Mayfield, Allen and Jackson turned skilled 12 months later.

Like Mahomes, Deshaun Watson additionally entered the league in 2017 when he was drafted by the Houston Texans, whereas the New York Jets’ Sam Darnold joined Mayfield, Allen and Jackson as one of many 5 quarterbacks chosen within the first spherical of the 2018 NFL Draft.

The Denver Broncos drafted Drew Lock in 2019, whereas final yr the AFC noticed the arrival of three new beginning quarterbacks with Joe Burrow chosen by the Cincinnati Bengals, Tua Tagovailoa going to the Miami Dolphins and Justin Herbert drafted by the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Jacksonville Jaguars, in the meantime, are broadly anticipated to draft Clemson star quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the primary general choose on this yr’s draft.

With the 38-year-old Roethlisberger and the 39-year-old Rivers within the winter of their careers, the AFC might have an ever younger look subsequent season.

Respectively the primary, seventh and thirty second general choose of the 2018 NFL Draft, Mayfield, Allen and Jackson will even change into solely the second trio of NFL quarterbacks chosen within the first-round of a draft to begin within the Divisional Spherical in the identical postseason.

The one different time that has occurred was in 2008, when Eli Manning, Rivers and Roethlisberger—the primary, fourth and eleventh general choose of the 2004 NFL Draft—all began for his or her respective groups within the Divisional Spherical.

“I believe it is nice for the sport, this inflow of recent guys on the place,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid stated this week. “It is nice for viewers, followers, cities. It offers these completely different cities a chance to compete.”

If the NFC is the area of veterans, the AFC is certainly a younger males’s world.