“You need guys that are battle-hardened. Guys that obviously can still produce; you’ve got to have that first. But you need experience, you need wisdom.” - Broncos linebacker Paris Lenon (51) Credit: Getty Images

Jersey City, N.J. — The Seattle Seahawks slant young when it comes to building a football team, much the same way that the Green Bay Packers have in their nine seasons under general manager Ted Thompson.

As for the Denver Broncos, the other team in Super Bowl XLVIII...let's just say they fall at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Due in no small part to the fact Peyton Manning will be 38 in March, general manager John Elway signed 10 players in the last 10 months that are now 30 years of age.

It's as if George Allen's "Over the Hill Gang" of Washington Redskins from Super Bowl VII has been resurrected in the Rockies.

At many positions, the Broncos' backups are older than the starters. They've helped Denver overcome the loss of five starters and its nickel back due to injury.

When coach John Fox told reporters Wednesday, "A year from now, I'll have a completely different team," he wasn't kidding.

The annual 20% turnover rate that is common throughout the National Football League easily could be twice that for the Broncos in 2014.

"There's no doubt," an executive in personnel for another AFC team said last week. "Most of them are on one-year contracts. They'll just do the same thing next year. Your pro scouting department needs to do its job and come up with the next group and the next group."

Consider the center position, which is deemed even more critical in Denver because of Manning.

J.D. Walton, a pedestrian three-year starter, was coming off October 2012 ankle surgery. Elway filled in last season with Dan Koppen, 34, a one-time standout in New England.

In the off-season, Fox moved Manny Ramirez, 30, from right guard to center. He couldn't win a starting job playing for horrible teams in Detroit from 2007-'10.

Because Walton wasn't ready for the start of training camp, Elway re-signed Koppen for a near-minimum salary on July 2. When Koppen blew out his knee early in camp, Elway immediately signed Steve Vallos, 30, who had been not playing since Jacksonville let his contract lapse in March.

Two days after the Vallos signing, the Broncos coaxed Kansas City's Ryan Lilja out of retirement with a $100,000 signing bonus. Lilja is 32.

Ramirez remained healthy and started all 18 games. Active for all but one game, Vallos played just nine snaps. Lilja was released Aug. 31.

Vallos, with merely nine starts in six seasons for five different teams, isn't a great player. Still, would Vallos or Lilja have been of benefit to the Packers? Green Bay's offense fell apart during the two games that guard T.J. Lang was forced to move inside when Evan Dietrich-Smith was injured, and Thompson didn't have a backup center.

"Some younger guys, you don't want to stick in there and say, 'Your job is left tackle. You're going to protect Peyton's blind side,'" said Dave Magazu, Denver's offensive line coach. "They don't know if a football's blown up or stuffed yet."

The Broncos might have had a catastrophe on their hands when Ryan Clady, their franchise left tackle, suffered a season-ending foot injury in Week 2.

Magazu, however, had the luxury of plugging in longtime backup Chris Clark, 28, and the offense continued on with its record-breaking season.

So what if Clark were to go down? Three days after the Clady injury, Elway added a cheap security blanket in swing tackle Winston Justice, 29, who has 46 starts.

"Having veteran guys that have been around the game and seen it from different teams' perspective can be an advantage," Vallos said. "I've never been a full-time starter but I know the role."

A player such as Vallos probably would never even be considered by the Packers. Vallos understands that, but only to a point.

"Thing Green Bay has, you know it's not like a one-year thing," the Wake Forest product said. "It's a building process. Green Bay's a great organization.

"But I also feel the landscape of athletics has changed. Whether it's college or the NFL, coaches are getting fired after one year."

The Broncos aren't the only team operating year to year. New England has done it for years.

Green Bay, with a general manager entering his 10th year and a coach (Mike McCarthy) his ninth, has relied strictly on the draft and college free agency. The Packers slipped to 8-8-1 this season partially because the newcomers on defense weren't good enough.

Either way an organization assembles a team, there are no guarantees.

At season's end, the Packers' 53-man roster had one player (Ryan Pickett) with 10 or more years of experience and four that had reached 30. Their average age was 25.62 years.

The roster that the Broncos will send against Seattle contains seven players with 10 or more years of experience, 14 that have hit 30 and an average age of 27.25.

Green Bay has fielded the youngest opening-day roster in the NFC North all nine seasons under Thompson. Several times, his 53 players ranked as the youngest in the NFL.

The Broncos weren't the old team in 2012, a 13-3 season that ended with the crushing overtime defeat at home against Baltimore, that they assuredly are now.

"We had to clean up the locker room," Elway said. "That is really the life blood of what the organization is all about. We were going to find young and old guys that fit together."

Middle linebacker Stewart Bradley, 30, was signed in March; he was ahead in the battle to replace departed veteran Keith Brooking. When Bradley suffered a season-ending thumb injury Aug. 17, Elway added Paris Lenon, 36, to a minimum-wage deal. He hadn't been playing for five months.

Lenon, a Packer from 2001-'05, will start his ninth game Sunday.

"You need guys that are battle-hardened," Lenon said. "Guys that obviously can still produce; you've got to have that first. But you need experience, you need wisdom."

Cornerback Tramon Williams, in so many words, delivered that message to management one day after the Packers' playoff loss to San Francisco.

Also in March, Elway guaranteed a two-year, $12 million contract to attract wide receiver Wes Welker, 32.

A month later, the Broncos gave pass rusher Shaun Phillips $1 million for one year after San Diego decided to move on. Phillips, a fit for Dom Capers' scheme in Green Bay, has 12 sacks. The Packers loved him before the 2004 draft.

In late May, Elway paid cornerback Quentin Jammer $1.1 million for one year. A starter for the Chargers from 2003-'12, the 34-year-old Jammer was tried at safety, returned outside and played 242 snaps.

Denver's second-string secondary also includes Michael Huff, the longtime starter in Oakland who was cut by Baltimore in October and signed by Elway Nov. 19 for minimum wage, and cornerback Marquice Cole, 30, who was added two weeks ago.

Cole hasn't seen the field but Huff, 30, played 40 snaps in December and 30 more in two playoff games.

Have Jammer or Huff been malcontents given their change in status?

"They could be," Broncos secondary coach Cory Undlin said. "They're not. Obviously, they don't want to be backups. But to be able to have (two) guys like that as backup players...for coaches, it's unbelievable."

Neither Undlin nor his assistant, Sam Garnes, consider this to have been a waste of teaching time if, as expected, Jammer and Huff aren't re-signed. Besides, as veterans, they're ready to play each week with minimal practice reps.

"We want to have a team that's deep with guys that can be counted on to play," Garnes said. "Not just someone to fill a spot.

"A lot of teams will get rid of older guys to save money. We're not here to save money. We're here to win."

Huff said the Packers contacted his agent at the start of free agency in March but nothing came of it. When told the Packers had no interceptions by a safety, Undlin said softly, "A safety didn't have an interception? Wow. Wow."

Defensive end Jeremy Mincey, 30, was beaming Tuesday. After registering 20 sacks during a seven-year career spent solely in Jacksonville, he admitted to being "humbled" Dec. 13 by his release.

Four days later, Elway scooped up Mincey for one year at $1.3 million. Tossed into the fray immediately, he has demonstrated valuable pass-rush ability in 90 snaps.

"Age and wisdom," Mincey said. "You can have all the talent in the world, but you need guys who know their role. Older guys know their role. Younger guys are learning their role."

The most tangible negative has been slippage on special teams, which ranked 29th in The Dallas Morning News rankings and tied for last in turnover differential at minus-4.

Some old guys might be willing to cover kicks, but by and large that's a young man's game.

Retorted Garnes: "We made the Super Bowl so it can't hurt us too much."

Just as Thompson has done it with youth for years, Elway has done it with experience in 2013.

Blending the two extremes, as a rule, would be the smart way to go.

Send email to bmcginn@journalsentinel.com