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Free Agent Signings Continue Welcome Youth Movement In Dallas

While the Dallas Cowboys were active in the first week of free agency, they made a concerted effort to sign younger veterans as they continue the process of reshaping their roster.

After the first week of free agency, it appears the Dallas Cowboys are continuing a very exciting trend: a transformation towards being one of the younger teams in the NFL.

More: PFF Grades Cowboys Free Agent Moves

The process started last year, as the team jettisoned some of the older members of the franchise right before training camp started, with the release of veteran offensive linemen Leonard Davis, Marc Colombo and Andre Gurode.

This year, they are straight up replacing the mileage-worn vehicles of past contests with low-tread players that have a lot of game left in their tanks:

2011 2012
POS Player Age Player Age
DB Terence Newman 33 Brandon Carr 25
LB Keith Brooking
36 Dan Connor 26
FS Abram Elam 30 Brodney Pool 27
FB Tony Fiammetta 25 Lawrence Vickers 28
OG Derrick Dockery 31 Mackenzy Bernadeau 26
QB Jon Kitna 39 Kyle Orton 29
OG Kyle Kosier
33 Nate Livings 30
Average 32.4 Average 27.3

Hat Tip to One.Cool.Customer of BTB for the original age comparisons that I tweaked just a bit.

Averaging a five-year youth movement per player is a huge number. Most importantly, none of the roster moves seem to be in a backwards direction.Many think the guard signings are lateral at best, but I'm not so sure.

Add 4-6 draft picks between the age of 21 and 23 and the front office finally seems to be setting up the Cowboys up for the long haul instead of planning for a 2-3 year window of contention.

For more coverage of the Dallas Cowboys and their free agency activities, check out Blogging The Boys.

Photographs by jamesbrandon, jdtornow, phlezk, flygraphix, mcdlttx, tomasland, and literalbarrage used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.