We all know that the Detroit Lions defense had to battle through the adversity of injuries in 2024. If you needed any visual evidence of just how devastated the Lions’ roster was by injuries, this chart from Sports Info Solutions visualizes it pretty well.

Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has done as well as possible navigating through those injuries, finding players that fit his scheme, and coaching them up in short periods of time to get playable performances out of them.

But that’s not the only unique challenge that faced Glenn this year. ESPN’s Bill Barnwell calculated each team’s “snap-weighted age,”—meaning the average age of players who were actually out there on the field. And according to Barnwell, the Lions sported the youngest defense in football, with an average age of just 25.8 years old.

Final snap-weighted age data for the 2024 regular season

Five oldest teams: Vikings, Dolphins, Falcons, Browns, 49ers

Five youngest teams: Packers, Giants, Raiders, Cardinals, Chargers pic.twitter.com/5azJUwKbPT

— Bill Barnwell (@billbarnwell) January 8, 2025

Certainly, injuries exacerbated Detroit’s move toward younger players. The injury to Marcus Davenport (28 years old) forced Detroit to play players like Josh Paschal (25) and Levi Onwuzurike (26) more than originally planned. However, some of this simply reflects the core of Detroit’s very young defense, including some of their superstars. Alim McNeill is just 24, Kerby Joseph is 24, Brian Branch is 23, Terrion Arnold is 21, Jack Campbell is 24, and Aidan Hutchinson is 24.

Having a strong, young foundation on defense not only bodes well for the future, but it showcases just how good of a talent developer and teacher Glenn is. He’s taken several of these guys, developed them over the years, and produced a top-10 defense in most metrics. It’s why coach Dan Campbell believes Glenn is finally ready for a head coaching job.

“He’s as good a coach as you’re going to find, he’s an even better human being,” Campbell said this week. “Look, if nobody wants him, I’ll take him again. I can tell you that right now. The thought of going through another cycle and he’s not somebody’s head coach is ridiculous. I mean this guy is as good as they come, and he can do it all. He understands how to manage a game, he understands offense, defense, special teams, he knows how to communicate, he understands discipline of players and he’s motivating. He’s inspiring.”

You may notice, too, that the Lions have one of the oldest offenses, ranking third with an average age of 28.1. Much of that is reflected at offensive line (Kevin Zeitler, Graham Glasgow, and Taylor Decker are all 31 or over) and quarterback (Jared Goff is 30). But some of Detroit’s best players on offense are also really young, including Amon-Ra St. Brown (25), Jameson Williams (23), Jahmyr Gibbs (22), Sam LaPorta (23) and Penei Sewell (24). So if Detroit can start replacing their aging offensive line with younger talent, the Lions will be in plenty of good shape in the future and beyond.