Do star rankings matter? They can and they do, it just depends on the context. If the goal is to win a national championship in college football, then yeah, they matter. If the goal is to win a Super Bowl in the NFL, maybe not so much. Still, it can be a wild trip down memory lane to go back through all the star rankings for the 22 individuals who, on Feb. 7, will start at the very top level of football in Super Bowl LV.
That’s what we’ve done here. The Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a mixed bag when it comes to star ratings over the years, from the former No. 1 overall recruit to unranked players.
For example: four players from the Chiefs were blue-chip prospects (meaning four- or five-star) coming out of high school. The two five-stars were wide receivers Sammy Watkins and defensive tackle Chris Jones. But, mostly, the Chiefs’ starting lineup is comprised of former two-star or three-star players. In fact, one of the team’s best players, receiver Tyreek Hill, was a track star coming out of high school and thus unranked. Hill didn’t earn blue-chip status until he was a four-star junior college recruit that signed with Oklahoma State.
The Buccaneers have more of a blue-chip feel to them with half of the team’s starting 22 ranking as four- or five-star prospects. This is especially notable in the skill spots — running back Ronald Jones, wide receiver Chris Godwin and TE Rob Gronkowski were four-stars — and on defense.
Of course, this list is incomplete. “Backups” like Chiefs wide receiver Mecole Hardman or Bucs running back Leonard Fournette, both of whom played massive roles in their team’s success, were five-star recruits with Fournette being the No. 1 prospect in the country. Conversely, Tom Brady’s time as a recruit came well before the star system was implemented.
With that in mind, here’s a look at the Chiefs’ offense based on the team’s depth chart (all are high school rankings courtesy of 247Sports Composite):
QB Patrick Mahomes
3
No. 398
No. 22 Pro-style QB
RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire
3
No. 378
No. 5 APB
FB Anthony Sherman
3
No. 1,028
No. 48 ILB
WR Tyreek Hill
N/A
Unranked
Unranked
WR Sammy Watkins
5
No. 20
No. 4 WR
TE Travis Kelce
2
No. 1,583
No. 85 TE
LT Eric Fisher*
2
No. 1,944
No. 159 OT
LG Nick Allegretti
3
No. 843
No. 11 C
C Austin Reiter
2
No. 2,182
No. 167 OT
RG Andrew Wylie
2
No. 2,011
No. 193 OT
RT Mike Remmers
N/A
Unranked
Unranked
Fisher is not expected to play in the game due to an Achilles injury.*
Now let’s take a look at the Chiefs’ defense:
DE Tanoh Kpassagnon
N/A
Unranked
Unranked
DT Chris Jones
5
No. 18
No. 2 SDE
DT Derrick Nnadi
4
No. 97
No. 7 DT
DE Frank Clark
3
No. 692
No. 42 ATH
LB Anthony Hitchens
3
No. 1,559
No. 116 OLB
LB Damien Wilson
3
No. 154
No. 7 ILB
CB Charvarius Ward
N/A
Unranked
Unranked
CB Bashaud Breeland
3
No. 452
No. 35 S
CB Rashad Fenton
3
No. 948
No. 86 CB
S Daniel Sorensen
3
No. 549
No. 50 S
S Tyrann Mathieu
4
No. 218
No. 55 CB
Let’s switch over the the Buccaneers and check out their offense based on the team’s official depth chart:
QB Tom Brady
N/A
Unranked
Unranked
RB Ronald Jones II
4
No. 40
No. 4 RB
WR Chris Godwin
4
No. 168
No. 26 RB
WR Mike Evans
3
No. 733
No. 83 WR
TE Rob Gronkowski
4
No. 101
No. 4 TE
TE Cameron BrateN/AUnrankedUnranked
LT Donovan Smith
4
No. 164
No. 16 OT
LG Ali Marpet
N/A
Unranked
Unranked
C Ryan Jensen
N/A
Unranked
Unranked
RG Aaron Stinnie
N/A
Unranked
Unranked
RT Tristan Wirfs
4
No. 331
No. 33 OT
And here’s the defense, which has some big former blue-chip players anchoring both the defensive front and back end.
Player
Stars
Overall rank
Position rank
DE Ndamukong Suh
4
No. 48
No. 6 DT
NT Rakeem Nunez-Roches
3
No. 1,276
No. 90 DT
DE William Gholston
5
No. 18
No. 4 DE
OLB Jason Pierre-Paul
2
No. 2,159
No. 124 DE
ILB Devin White
4
No. 135
No. 5 RB
ILB Lavonte David
N/A
Unranked
Unranked
OLB Shaquil Barrett
N/A
Unranked
Unranked
CB Carlton Davis
4
No. 340
No. 32 CB
CB Jamel Dean
4
No. 325
No. 29 CB
S Antoine Winfield Jr.
3
No. 1,415
No. 128 CB
S Jordan Whitehead
4
No. 105
No. 13 CB
What’s the takeaway? At this stage, there isn’t much of one. A look at the Chiefs roster says that stars don’t matter. A look at the Bucs roster says it matters to a degree. The truth is somewhere in the middle.
Recruits of the two- or three-star variety vastly outnumber the four- and five-star recruits, annually. For reference, 247Sports typically awards somewhere between 30 and 35 players five-star status every cycle. Another 300 or so prospects earn four-star recognition. Meanwhile, there are literally thousands of high school and junior college football players. The odds of a two-star or three-star (or unranked) player starting in the Super Bowl are better simply because there are significantly more of them on record. Development through the years plays a major factor at the highest level and most careers aren’t linear.
But there is a lesson on the page for young football players everywhere: no matter how many stars are next to your name, if you have talent and work ethic, coaches will find you. And you can start on a Super Bowl-bound team.
Published: 2021-01-29 14:02:27
Tags: #Super #Bowl #rosters #Chiefs #Buccaneers #starters #rated #high #school #recruits
