EAST RUTHERFORD -- The Giants are old, in football terms. They are the second-oldest team in the NFL when judged strictly by average age.

Only the Oakland Raiders are older. And these days, any comparison to the Raiders is an unfavorable one.

This age thing is not necessarily a positive sign when you're coming off a 7-9 season, installing a new offense while trying to restock the roster with talent. The Giants have 21 new players and may have as many as 11 new Week 1 starters compared to last year. They're old because only four of those 11 are players that were drafted by the team.

The Giants rejuvenated their roster this offseason with free agents. When you do that, the result is exactly what we're seeing. The Giants are old, just like the Raiders.

My pal Jimmy Kempski at Philly.com broke it down team by team based on the 53-man rosters, as of Saturday night. The Giants average age is 26.75. The Rams are the youngest at 25.09.

Doesn't seem like much, right? Kempski explain why it is. It's spread out over 53 players.

Kempski wrote:

As for where specifically the Giants are old, below is the position-by-position breakdown. The slideshow above shows the 10 players on the roster that are 30 years of age and older at the start of the season.

OFFENSE Position Quarterback Running Backs Tight Ends Wide Receivers Offensive Linemen Age 28.5 26 26.6 24.1 26.7

DEFENSE Position Defensive Ends Defensive Tackles Linebackers Cornerbacks Safeties Specialists Age 25.8 27.2 26.7 27.4 27.5 32

The one position where the Giants have youth is wide receiver. That is because they are carrying two rookies (Odell Beckham Jr. and Corey Washington) and third-year player Rueben Randle is still 23 years old.

The defense isn't quite as green. Only three of the 15 or so players in the defensive rotation (Johnathan Hankins, Devon Kennard and Damontre Moore) are under 25 years old.

It's a point the Giants were cognizant of when putting together their final roster over the weekend. It played into the selection of rookie defensive end Kerry Wynn over the veteran Israel Idonije.

"At this point in time, the idea of developing the young player was first and foremost on your minds as we put the roster together," coach Tom Coughlin said in a team statement released Saturday.

Of course, there is a lot more work left to do than adding one rookie defensive end at the bottom of the roster. And it's not something that can be done immediately. It will take time for the Giants to get younger because, as of now, they have an old roster.