The youngest team to begin the 2024 NFL season is the Green Bay Packers (25 years, 7 months, 25 days), while the Buffalo Bills occupy the other side of the spectrum (27 years, 5 months, 29 days). Generally speaking, the more youth you have, the more likely you are to be able to control costs: NFL draftees come into the rookie wage scale.
Let’s examine the youngest players in the NFL this season, and then take a look at the youngest players in league history.
Youngest NFL Players in 2024
Using their age when they were drafted, here are the youngest active players in the NFL.
Braelon Allen, RB, New York Jets | 20 Years, 3 Months
Funnily enough, the New York Jets have the NFL’s youngest player (Allen) and oldest player (Aaron Rodgers). Not only is Allen the youngest player currently in the NFL, he is the third-youngest player to be drafted into the league since 2000, according to ESPN Stats and Info.
Allen reclassified to the 2021 recruiting class, which allowed him to play college football earlier than his peers. As a true freshman at Wisconsin, Allen started games at just 17 years old, although you’d never know his age watching him play. That year, he amassed 1,268 yards and 12 touchdowns on 186 carries, averaging almost seven yards per attempt.
In 2022, he ran for 1,242 yards and 11 touchdowns on 230 carries. While his 2023 campaign was less prolific, he still put up solid numbers, totaling 984 rushing yards and 12 TDs on 181 carries.
Allen declared for the 2024 NFL Draft after his true junior season, and after just three years with the Badgers, he was already ninth all-time on Wisconsin’s career rushing yardage list among former Badger greats like Jonathan Taylor, Montee Ball, Melvin Gordon, and Ron Dayne. The Jets selected Allen with the No. 134 pick in the fourth round.
In Week 2 vs. the Tennessee Titans, Allen became the youngest back ever to score two touchdowns (one receiving, one rushing) in a game.
Audric Estimé, RB, Denver Broncos | 20 Years Old, 7 Months
Like Allen, Estimé played as a true freshman while at Notre Dame. However, he was way less involved, backing up Kyren Williams and rushing just seven times for 60 yards.
Williams made the leap to the NFL in 2022, leaving Estimé as the lead back in his stead. Estimé racked up 920 yards and 11 touchdowns on 156 carries while sharing touches with Chris Tyree. He also caught nine passes for 135 yards and a score.
Estimé kept the starting role into 2023, and the sustained faith of his coaching staff led to career-high numbers in a ground-breaking third-year campaign. The Notre Dame star rushed for 1,341 yards and 18 scores on 231 carries — averaging 6.4 yards per tote — and also caught 17 passes for 142 yards.
The Denver Broncos liked what they saw, selecting Estimé with the No. 147 pick in the fifth round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
So far in 2024, he has two carries for 14 yards and a fumble.
Malik Nabers, WR, New York Giants | 20 Years, 7 Months
Nabers was a four-star recruit in the 2021 class with a documented 4.44 40-yard dash and a 38″ vertical. That kind of natural athleticism is even more impressive when it comes ahead of a college training program, and Nabers delivered on the numbers with his play.
Nabers immediately left his mark as a freshman at LSU, recording 28 catches for 417 yards and four touchdowns as a true freshman. He played in 11 games and ended up starting for over half the season.
He emerged as the definitive WR1 for the Tigers in 2022. His 1,017 yards marked the 10th time in school history a WR eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark, and his battle with Alabama CB Kool-Aid McKinstry was one of the best individual matchups of the season.
In 2023, fueled by the Heisman-caliber rise of QB Jayden Daniels, Nabers dominated in Baton Rouge. He caught 89 passes for 1,569 yards and 14 touchdowns, placing as a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award. He broke LSU’s all-time career receiving yardage record, and his single-season figure placed third in program history behind Ja’Marr Chase and Josh Reed.
Nabers was widely regarded as one of the best wide receiver prospects in recent memory, and the New York Giants drafted him with the No. 6 overall pick.
He’s notched 15 catches, 193 yards, and one touchdown thus far in the 2024 season.
Jonathon Brooks, RB, Carolina Panthers | 20 years, 9 Months
Bijan Robinson left big shoes to fill at Texas, and yet, Brooks filled them with ease. After spending his first two seasons as a rotational back behind Robinson and Roschon Johnson, Brooks stepped into the starting lineup and dominated in 2023.
In 11 games, Brooks accumulated 1,139 yards and 10 touchdowns on 187 carries, averaging over six yards per attempt. He also caught 25 passes from Quinn Ewers, racking up 286 yards and an additional score through the air.
A torn ACL suffered in November ended Brooks’ season prematurely, and some expected him to return to school. However, the former four-star recruit instead declared for the 2024 NFL Draft. Despite his torn ACL, the Carolina Panthers made him the first running back selected in the draft, taking him with the No. 46 pick in the second round.
Youngest NFL Players of All Time
Using their age when they were drafted, here are the youngest players in NFL history.
Amobi Okoye, DT, Houston Texans | 19 Years, 10 Months
Typically, the youngest players drafted are those who leave college early, but that wasn’t the case for Louisville’s Amobi Okoye.
Having emigrated from Nigeria at 12 years old, there was no linear schooling path for Okoye. He immediately tested into the ninth grade and began his American schooling from there. That allowed him to attend college at just 15 years old.
Okoye completed a full four years at Louisville, earning first-team All-Big East honors in his senior season. When he declared for the 2007 NFL Draft, he was still a teenager.
The Houston Texans made Okoye the youngest player selected in the history of the NFL Draft, taking him No. 10 overall. He remains one of only two teenagers ever chosen in the draft.
Okoye’s NFL career started hot, as he was named Defensive Rookie of the Month in Sept. 2007. He finished his rookie campaign with 5.5 sacks, but that would prove to be his high-water mark.
Okoye played four seasons with the Texans before signing with the Chicago Bears in 2011. He appeared in 25 games for the Bears over two seasons before missing the 2013 campaign while dealing with recurring seizures. Okoye signed with the Dallas Cowboys in 2015 but did not appear in a game.
Tremaine Edmunds, LB, Buffalo Bills | 19 Years, 11 Months
The second teenager ever taken in the NFL Draft was Tremaine Edmunds. Selected at No. 16 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft, Edmunds joined the Buffalo Bills days before his 20th birthday.
A two-year starter at Virginia Tech, Edmunds racked up 33 tackles for loss in his collegiate career and was named first-team All-ACC in 2017. His brother and college teammate, Terrell Edmunds, was also selected in the first round (No. 28) of the 2017 NFL Draft.
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Edmunds became an immediate starter in Buffalo, eventually teaming with fellow 2017 draftee Matt Milano to give the Bills one of the best linebacker duos in the NFL. Edmunds made the Pro Bowl in 2019 and 2020, but his most complete season was in 2022 when he displayed outstanding coverage ability in the passing game.
That performance came in Edmunds’ contract year, setting him up for a payday on the open market. The Bears subsequently gave him a four-year, $72 million contract, making him the third-highest-paid linebacker in the league.
Elmer Angsman, HB, Chicago Cardinals | 20 Years, 1 Month
Okoye and Edmunds are familiar names, but Elmer Angsman probably isn’t. He was barely 20 years old when the Chicago Cardinals selected him with the No. 16 pick in the 1946 NFL Draft.
After averaging 7.1 yards per carry in his final season at Notre Dame, Angsman joined a Cardinals team set up for success. In the 1947 NFL Championship Game, Angsman posted two 70-yard touchdown runs against the Philadelphia Eagles, the second of which effectively ended the game.
Angsman eclipsed 600 rushing yards in each of the next two seasons and was named a second-team All-Pro in 1949. His production fell off rapidly beginning in 1950, and he retired after the 1952 campaign. Angsman later became a color commentator for college and pro football.
Danielle Hunter, DE, Minnesota Vikings | 20 Years, 6 Months
After three years at LSU, Danielle Hunter declared for the 2015 NFL Draft. Hunter was a solid prospect but far from elite. The Minnesota Vikings grabbed him in the third round at pick No. 88.
Hunter has far exceeded expectations throughout his career, earning four Pro Bowl selections and finishing fifth in Defensive Player of the Year voting in 2019.
After spending the entirety of his 20s with the Vikings, Hunter signed a two-year deal with the Houston Texans. He now joins C.J. Stroud and the upstart Texans as they pursue the championship that has evaded Hunter throughout his eight professional seasons.
He shined in the Week 2 Sunday Night Football contest vs. the Chicago Bears, sacking Caleb Williams 1.5 times and limiting the Bears offense to 13 points. Paired with Will Anderson, the Texans’ front four is a formidable group.