Almost a quarter of 2017 NFL Draft picks weren't ranked as recruits
With another NFL draft in the books, and thanks to the internet, it's time to look back to see how the star ratings worked when it came to players moving on from college to pro.
An even 10 players were taken in this year's draft who were given a five-star rating coming into college, which is roughly how many there are in each recruiting class. However, it was the amount of players who did not receive a rating that stood out.
| 5-star | 4-star | 3-star | 2-star | 1-star | NR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | 5 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Round 2 | 3 | 14 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
| Round 3 | 1 | 13 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 11 |
| Round 4 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| Round 5 | 0 | 13 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
| Round 6 | 0 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 12 |
| Round 7 | 0 | 14 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 7 |
A whopping 58 players who did not receive any star rankings were selected by teams from Thursday through Saturday, which worked out to just under a quarter of all draft picks. When adding in players who had received two- and one-star ratings, that percentage grows to 28.
Not surprisingly though, was the fact that former four- and three-star players made up the majority of the draft picks, as 98 were picked.
As these numbers show, it doesn't matter what type of star rating a player is given in order to be drafted, unless it's a two- or one-star classification.