I think it would make the game more realistic if players weren't all the same age for each year bracket. THen you'd have a choice in the draft if a rookie was 23 compared to another that was 20. Would make for more strategic planning.

+1

you will rarely see a 20 year old rookie due to the draft eligibility rules

To be eligible for the draft, players must have been out of high school for at least three years and must have used up their college eligibility before the start of the next college football season. Underclassmen and players who have graduated before using all their college eligibility may request the league’s approval to enter the draft early.

Players are draft-eligible only in the year after the end of their college eligibility.
taken from: http://operations.nfl.com/the-players/the-nfl-draft/the-rules-of-the-draft/

so to be eligible at 20 a player would either:
A. have to graduate a 4 year college by age 20 or
B. have started college at 17 and played every year to use up their college eligibility by age 20(since most college leagues only allow 3 years of eligibility)

i believe that's why JDB uses 22 as the age for the draft (they are generated at 21 in week 16 then amazingly all have the same birthday and turn 22 at then end of season sim)

A'Shawn Robinson drafted less than a month ago was 21. it happens, but i'm just using that as an example. there are guys that are like 25 that get drafted. we need a variety, not all the same

Actually all players are essentially the same age because I felt like that was a detail that you shouldn't be worried about. Retirement is heavily based on the age of the player, and it would be a bummer if you traded up to grab that stud RB only to discover that he's 5 years older than all the other rookies and essentially will only be useful for half of what his career would have been otherwise. Sure, it could potentially add to the strategy, but I'm also trying to make sure that the 'gotchas' are as transparent as possible.

Now ... one thought would be to add this to an 'advanced' league feature set that would have pieces in it that require you to work a little harder to pull info out. I'm not sure what else would be added to a feature set like this, but this would be something I'd consider.

Wouldn't you be able to see a players age while scouting? This would make the player think twice about trading up for a guy if they new he was older than most other rookies. Do all players retire at the same age? I haven't been playing long enough to see my guys retire, lol. It was just a suggestion, it's not a feature that will make or break anything. I think it's really cool that you as a game designer even allow us to give our two cents :)

an advanced league sounds fun......

and for retirement once they get old enough(not sure of the age) there is a chance every end of year sim that their "retire probability" % will go up 10% (not sure what the chance is) and then whatever the retire probability % says is their chance of retiring that year

for example 30% means when the AI sims it there is a 3/10 chance that your player will retire ad end of season sim(and you get stuck with dead cap for any bonus money you have on that player)

Advanced league?
Maybe we could also have a numpty/newbies league for us guys who are still a bit useless!