Raven's GM Eric DeCosta echoes Brad Holmes' draftee age concerns

TL;DR

Ravens GM Eric DeCosta shares concerns about drafting older players, echoing Lions GM Brad Holmes. He notes a significant increase in players aged 24 and older in the draft, which may impact their long-term potential and injury risks.

Key points

Eric DeCosta echoes concerns about older draft prospects
18% of draft board players are over 24 years old
Increased injuries and reduced upside are major concerns
COVID and NIL are influencing player age trends

Mentioned in this story

Baltimore RavensDetroit LionsEric DeCostaBrad Holmes

Brad Holmes recently spoke on the concerns of drafting older players in the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft. His concerns included accumulation of injuries, wear-and-tear, and the age at the start of the second contract. Holmes is not the only NFL GM to feel this way.

Ravens general manager, Eric DeCosta, in his pre-draft press conference, echoed many of the same sentiments regarding age.

"There is a new, a changing dynamic that we've seen with the draft. Players are older. I think the average age of the players is not necessarily older, but I think what we're seeing now, there are more older players in the draft.

So, we're seeing more 24- and 25-year-old players, and that's something that's because of COVID initially, and now because of NIL, guys are staying in, because they're getting paid to stay in. That's problematic in some ways for us because these guys are coming in older. They probably have less upside. They're probably not three-contract players, in some cases, they're two-contract players.

And in some cases, they have more injuries, because they've been playing college football longer, so they've taken on more injuries. And so, we're trying to get a handle on that, I think in some ways. It's tough for us to kind of assess what that means. It's kind of something that we've really seen over the last three years.

This will be the third year, so '24, '25 and '26. We've seen, actually, probably players – we might have had 4% of our players on the draft board, 24 and a half or older prior to 2024. Now that number's up to 18%. So, we've seen about a 14% increase in older players on the draft board, and that's something that we don't really understand fully and what that means.

I don't think it's a good thing, certainly, but historically, we've tried to draft younger players when we can. That's been something that we feel strongly [about], but now we've got 18% of the draft board that's over 24 years old. So, that's going to change the way that maybe we target players." - Eric DeCosta

Here is an excerpt from my Brad Holmes Pre-Draft Press Conference Analysis on medical reasons why age is important:

Q&A

What are the concerns about drafting older players in the NFL Draft?

Concerns include increased injury risks, reduced long-term potential, and the likelihood of players being two-contract rather than three-contract players.

How has the average age of NFL draft prospects changed recently?

The percentage of players aged 24 and older on draft boards has increased from 4% to 18% over the past three years.

What factors are contributing to older players entering the NFL Draft?

Factors include the impact of COVID-19 and NIL agreements, which have encouraged players to remain in college longer.