The Largest NFL Team: Tallest and Heaviest Teams in the League

_{(Featured Image Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images)}

Football is a contact sport and, let’s face it, size matters in contact sports. Have you ever wondered how your team measures up to other NFL teams? Do they impact game odds?  We scoured the data to find the largest NFL teams, by height and weight.

If you’re a Saints’ fan you might be excited to see your team is the largest in the NFL. Meanwhile, 49ers and Buccaneers’ fans might feel a bit outsized as the smallest teams in the league.

You can see the average weight and height of every NFL team, along with stats by position and conference below. First, let’s look at some sizable highlights of the data.

Key Findings

• Average height of NFL player: 6’2’’
• Average weight of NFL player: 246 lbs
• The largest team in the NFL is the New Orleans Saints- they are the tallest and heaviest team in the league.
• The smallest teams in the NFL are the 49ers and Buccaneers.
• The Cowboys’ KaVontae Turpin is the lightest NFL player at 153 lbs.
• The heaviest NFL player is the Browns’ Dawand Jones at 374.
• At 6’11’’, the Colts’ Jack Wilson is the tallest current player.
• Devin Singletary (Giants), Jaleel McLaughlin (Broncos), Rondale Moore (Vikings), Greg Dortch (Cardinals),  and Blake Grupe (Saints) are all 5’7’’, making them the shortest players in the NFL.

The Largest NFL Teams

1. New Orleans Saints 
2. Green Bay Packers
3. Cincinnati Bengals 
4. Dallas Cowboys
5. Pittsburgh Steelers

There you have it, the New Orleans Saints are the largest NFL team. The Saints weigh in at 252.44lbs and tower over at 74.84 inches (just under 6’3’’). Who dat indeed. They are followed closely by the Green Bay Packers and the Cincinnati Bengals. The Packers are a solid team in both categories. The Bengals rank 3rd primarily for their high weight.

Who doesn’t measure up? The San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers tie for smallest teams in the league. The 49ers have the shortest average height, while the Buccaneers are the lightest.

Average NFL Weight By Team

The difference in weight between the heaviest and lightest teams is 13.7 lbs. While 13 lbs of, say,  groceries may be insignificant, you’re going to feel 13 lbs colliding with you at full force.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the lightest team at 238.73 lbs. On the other end of the scale, the Saints weigh on average 252.44 lbs. Interestingly, the Buccaneers’ have Desmond Watson on their practice team, which was not included in the data. Watson weighs 464 lbs.

The Cowboys’ KaVontae Turpin is the lightest NFL player at 153 lbs. On the other end, the Browns’ Dawand Jones is the heaviest player currently on an NFL roster at 374lbs. To put that in perspective, Jones weighs more than double Turpin’s weight.

Average NFL Height By Team

The tallest NFL team, the New Orleans Saints, is 74.84 inches and the shortest team, the 49ers,  is 73.57 inches. Rounded, these differences amount to only about an inch difference in the smallest and largest teams. On an individual level, the differences can be more significant. 

While the Colts’ Jack Wilson is currently injured, at 6’11’’ he is the tallest current player. That is 1 foot and 4 inches taller than the shortest player. 

Who is the shortest NFL player currently playing? Devin Singletary (Giants), Jaleel McLaughlin (Broncos), Rondale Moore (Vikings), Greg Dortch (Cardinals),  and Blake Grupe (Saints) are all 5’7’’, making them the shortest players in the NFL.

Average NFL Height And Weight By Position

Unsurprisingly, height and weight averages differ by position. The lightest weight position is the kicker. NFL offensive linemen weigh on average 313 lbs. Tackles weigh 319, making them the heaviest players in the NFL.

Average NFL Height And Weight By Conference

At a conference level, size and weight disparities by team level out. The AFC East is only about 3lbs heavier than the AFC South. Similarly, the conferences are all within an inch of each other in height.

More Than Size- From The Saints to the Buccaneers and 49ers

The New Orleans Saints stand out as the largest NFL team, both in height and weight, which Saints fans might view as a point of pride. They are closely followed by other robust teams like the Green Bay Packers and Cincinnati Bengals, demonstrating how size can be a significant factor in gridiron battles. On the flip side, the San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers tie as the league’s smallest teams, suggesting that their gameplay might rely more on agility and speed rather than sheer size.

However, size is just one of the many factors contributing to team dynamics and success in the NFL. Don’t believe me? The 49ers’ victory over the Saints on September 14th is one of many examples of a smaller team being victorious over the larger team.

If you’re interested in applying your newfound knowledge of team and player size to your bets, check out this bet365 Bonus Code.

Methodology

This one was pretty simple. We used the publicly posted rosters of each NFL team, which lists height, weight, position, and other pertinent information for current players. We excluded the practice teams, but did include injured players and other players who might be returning shortly for the big games.

From there, we merely averaged the totals to find the average height and weight of each team.  The same process was repeated to find height and weight by position. The conference totals come from a straight average. For the ranking of largest teams, height and weight were equally ranked for all teams separately. Then the combined totals were averaged and ranked to find the largest teams. The higher the combined weight and height, the larger the team.

You can find the full dataset here.