Out With The Old, In With The New: Offseason Illustrates New Era of the NFL

Think back to five years ago. Who would have thought you'd see names like LaDainian Tomlinson and Brian Westbrook released from their respective teams?

Tomlinson and Westbrook were two of the biggest names in football, and they were guys that any coach would have loved to have on their team.

But, the time has come where each player turned 30, the average age a player's production starts to decrease.

Along with Tomlinson and Westbrook, Terrell Owens, Thomas Jones, Darren Sharper, Torry Holt, Jason Taylor, Joey Porter, and Keith Bulluck are big name veterans released or expected to let walk into the free agency pool this offseason.

For some of you, it may come as a shock as to why they were even let go in the first place. But for true football fans, you know exactly why teams are making these moves.

It's the beginning of a new decade, at that means a new era of NFL stars.

I became a true football fan at the age of 10. I was in sixth grade, and I instantly became a huge football fan after watching the Carolina Panthers' 2003 magical season that took them to the Super Bowl.

At that time, the stars of the NFL were LaDainian Tomlinson, Peyton Manning, Dante Hall, Trent Green, Jamal Lewis, Simeon Rice, Ahman Green, Torry Holt, Jamie Sharper, and Tony Parrish.

The only player on that list that is still a franchise player is Peyton Manning. Although, some of those players have gone down in production due to age and have retired.

But, this offseason we are really starting to see the transition of stars of the 2000 to the 2010 decade. 

Players like Chris Johnson, Sidney Rice, Miles Austin, Elvis Dumervil, Aaron Rodgers, Maurice Jones-Drew, DeAngelo Williams, Andre Johnson, and Patrick Willis have all taken a turn the past few seasons, and have established themselves as the stars of the NFL.

I'm very excited about this offseason, as many players we never thought we'd see in another uniform are about to be in one.