The NFL isn't traditionally a league where players continue their careers into their 40s. The grind and physicality of football have caused some players to even retire closer to 30. Outside of kickers though, there's one position that's increasingly an older player's game: Quarterback.
Tom Brady and Drew Brees are two Hall of Fame-level passers who have played into their 40s in past years, prior to their respective retirements. In the 2025 season though, there are a pair of 40-something-year-olds still launching passes, two of the most successful players of their generation — the Pittsburgh Steelers' Aaron Rodgers and the Cincinnati Bengals' Joe Flacco.
Rodgers and Flacco have taken very different paths to the 2025 campaign, with Rodgers signing a likely end-of-career deal with Pittsburgh, still with one of the league's best arms. Flacco, meanwhile, has become a journeyman in recent years, and a midseason trade recently sent him to Cincinnati as a replacement for the injured Joe Burrow.
📲 Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp
How old are Rodgers and Flacco? Where do they fall among the oldest players in the league this season? Here's what to know about the two elder quarterbacks as they go head-to-head in Week 7.
MORE: NFL Week 7 picks, predictions
How old is Aaron Rodgers?
Aaron Rodgers is 41 years old. He's in his 21st NFL season, an 18-year member of the Green Bay Packers and a two-year member of the New York Jets.
Rodgers's upcoming birthday is on Dec. 2, 2025, meaning he'll play the later-half of the 2025 season as one of the few quarterbacks to ever play at age 42.
MORE: How Joe Burrow's toe injury compares to others in NFL
How old is Joe Flacco?
Joe Flacco is 40 years old. He is now on the sixth different team of his NFL career, having spent 11 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, three seasons with the New York Jets, two seasons with the Cleveland Browns (with two separate stints), one season with the Denver Broncos, one season with the Indianapolis Colts, and now the 2025 season with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Flacco hasn't started more than eight games in a season since 2018, his last year in Baltimore. Still, he's bounced around various teams as a fill-in starter, the same role the Bengals are utilizing him in after Burrow's injury.
Flacco will turn 41 years old on Jan. 16, 2026.
MORE: How Bengals are the latest stop in Joe Flacco's AFC North career
Who is the oldest player in NFL?
Aaron Rodgers is the oldest player in the NFL for the 2025 season, set to turn 42 years old in December.
Kickers Matt Prater, on the Buffalo Bills, and Nick Folk, on the New York Jets, aren't too far behind Rodgers though. Prater is 41 years old as of August, while Folk will turn 41 in November.
Rodgers has been in the league since 2005, when he was 22 years old. Now over 40, he's the eldest player in the NFL, still going strong for Pittsburgh.
MORE: NFL's highest-paid players for 2025
Oldest players in NFL 2025
Rodgers, Prater, Folk and Flacco are the four oldest players in the league this season. The oldest defensive player is the Arizona Cardinals' Calais Campbell.
Here's a full look at the 15 oldest active NFL players in 2025:
| Player | Age (birthday) | Position | Team |
| Aaron Rodgers | 41 (Dec. 2, 1983) | QB | Steelers |
| Matt Prater | 41 (Aug. 10, 1984) | K | Bills |
| Nick Folk | 40 (Nov. 5, 1984) | K | Jets |
| Joe Flacco | 40 (Jan. 16, 1985) | QB | Bengals |
| J.J. Jansen | 39 (Jan. 20, 1986) | LS | Panthers |
| Jon Weeks | 39 (Feb. 17, 1986) | LS | 49ers |
| Thomas Morstead | 39 (Mar. 8, 1986) | P | 49ers |
| Morgan Cox | 39 (Apr. 26, 1986) | LS | Titans |
| Josh Johnson | 39 (May 15, 1986) | QB | Commanders |
| Calais Campbell | 39 (Sept. 1, 1986) | DE | Cardinals |
| Graham Gano | 38 (Apr. 9, 1987) | K | Giants |
| Andrew DePaola | 38 (Jul. 28, 1987) | LS | Vikings |
| Andy Dalton | 37 (Oct. 29, 1987) | QB | Panthers |
| Matthew Stafford | 37 (Feb. 7, 1988) | QB | Rams |
| Case Keenum | 37 (Feb. 17, 1988) | QB | Bears |