Pro Sports

ATLANTA — The question seemed to stump John Abraham.

What's that? The Kansas City Chiefs are the youngest team in the NFL?

Abraham just shook his head as he stood at his locker, looking around at all the new kids in the Atlanta Falcons locker room.

"If they're the youngest, we're damn near close," Abraham said. "We've got a lot of young guys, too."

Abraham, the defensive end in his ninth year, is one of the few veterans who was spared as the Falcons' new leaders, general manager Thomas Dimitroff and coach Mike Smith, overhauled the roster in the offseason.

The Falcons replaced the veterans with an 11-member draft class, topped by two first-round picks, quarterback Matt Ryan and offensive tackle Sam Baker. Ryan, Baker and linebacker Curtis Lofton, a second-round pick, are starters.

Cornerback Chevis Jackson plays in five-defensive back sets, and Harry Douglas is the third receiver, so Smith considers five rookies to be starters.

Yet the Falcons (1-1) have more experienced players than the 0-2 Chiefs. Kansas City has 15 rookies and 32 players with no more than three years of experience.

According to the NFL's survey of opening day rosters, the Chiefs' average age was 25.57, matching Green Bay for the youngest in the league. Atlanta's average age was 26.55.

The Chiefs are expected to start three rookies, including left tackle Branden Albert, who will line up against Abraham, the three-time Pro Bowl pick who already has four sacks.

The Chiefs also plan to start two rookie cornerbacks, second-round pick Brandon Flowers and fifth-round choice Brandon Carr, who will replace injured veteran Patrick Surtain.

Flowers, from Virginia Tech, will be a familiar matchup for Ryan, the former Boston College star.

"I played against Brandon Flowers in college a lot," Ryan said. "He got the best of me in college a couple of times. I've got a lot of respect for those guys. They're talented and they're going through the same process I'm going through now, but I think they've doing a good job, looking at them on tape."

Albert will try to protect second-year quarterback Tyler Thigpen, who is expected to make his first start.

Thigpen played behind Damon Huard in last week's 23-8 loss to Oakland. The 24-year-old Thigpen was 14-for-33 for 151 yards in the Chiefs' 11th straight regular-season defeat.

Thigpen had thrown only six passes in his career before last week.

Abraham says he'd normally get excited about lining up against a rookie tackle while chasing a quarterback making his first start. In this case, he says the veteran on the Kansas City sideline who matters the most is Edwards.

"(Albert) is young, so automatically you get kind of happy when you hear stuff like that," Abraham said. "But Herm is not a spring chicken. He probably will have some help with the tight end. I know he's not going to let me have just one on one."

The Chiefs gave up 300 yards rushing in the loss to the Raiders. The Falcons opened their season with new starting running back Michael Turner setting a team record with 220 yards rushing in a 34-21 win over the Lions.

Ryan is 22-for-46 for 319 yards. He threw a 62-yard touchdown pass to Michael Jenkins on his first pass against Detroit, but hasn't thrown another scoring pass.

Instead, the Falcons have relied on Turner and Jerious Norwood, who already have combined for 373 yards rushing and three touchdowns.

Atlanta safety Lawyer Milloy is expected to start following his DUI arrest early Monday near Atlanta.