Super Bowl LVII: Recruiting Breakdown For the Chiefs and Eagles
The recruiting landscape can be a fascinating thing to evaluate. For the most part, people tend to fixate and obsess over star ratings and just to quick conclusions as soon as a commitment is made. There is a fascination over the Blue-Chip Ratio and the importance to fill your roster with as many top rated recruits as possible.
Adding high level talent is a must, there is no question. After looking over the recruiting rankings for both the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles following their Super Bowl LVII match up, there seem to be a lot of things to consider when talking about recruiting.
There is no better case study than the two teams who were on the precipice of achievement on the highest level. What makes a great roster? Let’s dive into the two Super Bowl rosters to see.
RECRUITING RANKINGS
Here are the key players, including starters, from both the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles during their battle in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday. Their recruiting rankings are each of the player’s rankings on the 247Sports Composite. Players who were selected to the Pro Bowl this season were designated with the * symbol before their name.
For more context and overall understanding, it was also important to see the particular states that each player came from. That can help to frame the level of importance to impact certain regions potentially moving forward.
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
*QB Patrick Mahomes - Three-star- No. 398 overall - No. 22 QB - No. 50 in Texas
RB Isaih Pacheco - Three-star - No. 665 overall - No. 30 RB - No. 17 in New Jersey
RB Jerick McKinnon - Three-star - No. 1,489 overall - No. 111 RB - No. 110 in Georgia
*TE Travis Kelce - Two-star - No. 1,583 overall - No. 85 TE - No. 81 in Ohio
WR JuJu Smith-Schuster - Five-star - No. 21 overall - No. 3 ATH - No. 3 in California
WR Skyy Moore - Three-star - No. 2,348 overall - No. 217 CB - No. 44 in Pennsylvania
WR Mecole Hardman - Five-star - No. 12 overall - No. 1 ATH - No. 2 in Georgia
WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling - Three-star - No. 1,545 overall - No. 218 WR - No. 217 in Florida
WR Kadarius Toney - Three-star - No. 421 overall - No. 25 ATH - No. 20 in Alabama
WR Justin Watson - Unranked - Pennsylvania
*OT Orlando Brown Jr. - Three-star - No. 453 overall - No. 36 OT - No. 36 in Georgia
*OG Joe Thuney - Two-star - No. 1,498 overall - No. 129 OT - No. 85 in Ohio
*OC Creed Humphrey - Four-star - No. 294 overall - No. 3 OC - No. 5 in Oklahoma
OG Trey Smith - Five-star - No. 14 overall - No. 4 OT - No. 1 in Tennessee
OT Andrew Wylie - Two-star - No. 193 OT - No. 55 in Michigan
DE Mike Danna - Three-star - No. 2,005 overall - No. 95 DE - No. 46 in Michigan
DE George Karlaftis - Four-star - No. 59 overall - No. 4 DE - No. 1 in Indiana
DT Derrick Nnadi - Four-star - No. 97 overall - No. 7 DT - No. 5 in Virginia
DT Khalen Saunders - Unranked - Missouri
*DT Chris Jones - Five-star - No. 18 overall - No. 2 DE - No. 1 in Mississippi
DE Frank Clark - Three-star - No. 692 overall - No. 42 ATH - No. 42 in Ohio
DE Carlos Dunlap - Five-star - No. 14 overall - No. 2 DE - No. 1 in South Carolina
LB Nick Bolton - Three-star - No. 1,114 overall - No. 39 LB - No. 156 in Texas
LB Willie Gay Jr. - Four-star - No. 70 overall - No. 3 LB - No. 2 in Mississippi
LB Leo Chenal - Three-star - No. 639 overall - No. 35 ATH - No. 2 in Wisconsin
CB L’Jarius Sneed - Three-star - No. 1,968 overall - No. 141 safety - No. 82 in Louisiana
CB Joshua Williams - Unranked - South Carolina
CB Trent McDuffie - Four-star - No. 126 overall - No. 12 cornerback - No. 19 in California
CB Jaylen Watson - Unranked - Georgia
S Juan Thornhill - Three-star - No. 676 overall - No. 53 ATH - No. 22 in Virginia
S Justin Reid - Three-star - No. 366 overall - No. 21 safety - No. 15 in Louisiana
S Bryan Cook - Unranked - Ohio
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
*QB Jalen Hurts - Four-star - No. 192 overall - No. 4 QB - No. 29 in Texas
*RB Miles Sanders - Five-star - No. 21 overall - No. 1 RB - No. 1 in Pennsylvania
RB Kenneth Gainwell - Three-star - No. 1,614 overall - No. 124 ATH - No. 29 in Mississippi
*WR A.J. Brown - Four-star - No. 36 overall - No. 4 WR - No. 3 in Mississippi
WR DeVonta Smith - Four-star - No. 62 overall - No. 9 WR - No. 2 in Louisiana
WR Quez Watkins - Two-star - No. 2,253 overall - No. 315 WR - No. 78 in Alabama
TE Dallas Goedert - Unranked - South Dakota
OT Jordan Mailata - Unranked - Australia
*OG Landon Dickerson - Four-star - No. 31 overall - No. 4 OT - No. 2 in North Carolina
*OC Jason Kelce - Unranked - Ohio
OG Isaac Seumalo - Five-star - No. 28 overall - No. 1 OG - No. 1 in Oregon
*OT Lane Johnson - Unranked - Texas
DE Brandon Graham - Five-star - No. 16 overall - No. 3 LB - No. 1 in Michigan
DT Fletcher Cox - Four-star - No. 157 overall - No. 11 DT - No. 3 in Mississippi
DT Javon Hargrave - Unranked - North Carolina
DT Jordan Davis - Three-star - No. 424 overall - No. 29 DT - No. 15 in North Carolina
DT Milton Williams - Two-star - No. 2,651 overall - No. 127 DE - No. 380 in Texas
DE Josh Sweat - Five-star - No. 8 overall - No. 1 DE - No. 1 in Virginia
*LB Haason Reddick - Unranked - New Jersey
LB T.J. Edwards - Two-ranked - No. 2,195 overall - No. 180 ATH - No. 65 in Illinois
LB Kyzir White - Unranked - Pennsylvania
CB James Bradberry - Two-star - No. 2,350 overall - No. 156 ATH - No. 73 in Alabama
*CB Darius Slay - Three-star - No. 1,446 overall - No. 161 WR - No. 100 in Georgia
CB Avonte Maddox - Three-star - No. 1,073 overall - No. 88 ATH - No. 20 in Michigan
S Marcus Epps - Unranked - California
S Chauncey Gardner-Johnson - Four-star - No. 42 overall - No. 4 CB - No. 4 in Florida
There were 58 total players who were key contributors for the two teams, here's a look at the star breakdown:
9 - Five-stars
11 - Four-stars
18 - Three-stars
7 - Two-stars
13 - No ranking
Here's a star breakdown of the Pro Bowl players.
2 - Five-stars
4 - Four-stars
3 - Three-stars
2 - Two-stars
3 - No ranking
REGIONS MOST REPRESENTED
There is a lot of talk about which areas need to be priorities for programs on a year to year basis. This can apply to Notre Dame, who have seen a bit of a shift in emphasis since Marcus Freeman came to the staff.
Here is the breakdown of the states that each one of these players played their high school ball in. It brings an interesting blend of states, some you would expect and others that you would not.
Texas: 5
Georgia: 5
Ohio: 5
Mississippi: 5
Pennsylvania: 4
Michigan: 4
California: 3
Alabama: 3
New Jersey: 3
Virginia: 3
Louisiana: 3
Florida: 2
South Carolina: 2
North Carolina: 2
Indiana: 1
Tennessee: 1
Missouri: 1
Oregon: 1
Oklahoma: 1
Illinois: 1
Wisconsin: 1
South Dakota: 1
Australia: 1
One piece of data that should be no surprise is that there is a heavy influence of the Southeastern part of the country among the two teams. From the states of Georgia (5), Mississippi (5), Alabama (3), Louisiana (3), Florida (2), South Carolina (2), North Carolina (2) and Tennessee (1), there were a total of 23 players of the 58 total from that region.
If you wanted to include Virginia (3) into that conversation then the number becomes even more impressive. When you think of elite talent, you think of the SEC. It makes complete sense that “backyard” is a base for so much overall talent.
Interestingly when you break down the Southeastern states represented, there are four states that have more players than Florida. The Sunshine State is usually right near the top of the list when you think of the premier developers of football talent along with Texas and California. In this case study, Georgia and Mississippi stood tall as the king of the conversation.
Of the two players coming from Florida, one is Eagles starting safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson who had a tremendous season after being traded from the New Orleans Saints. The other was Chiefs wide receiver Marquez Valdez-Scantling, who is a solid football player but nothing to ride home about.
For a state with a reputation like Florida does, you would expect a bit more of an impressive list.
Pertinent to Notre Dame, the Midwest did not have a large volume of players on the list. The state of Ohio (5) was very well represented on the list but aside from the Buckeye State, it had very underwhelming results. Michigan (4), Indiana (1), Wisconsin (1) and Illinois (1) finished with just seven total on the list, which may be telling for how much talent comes out of the region in comparison to others.
Indiana finished with the same number of players on the list as the Country of Australia with a grand total of one a piece. Funny enough, that lone Indiana was Chief defensive end George Karlaftis who played his college ball at Purdue.
CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN
Let’s take it one step further. There is a constant question over which conferences put out the most talent. Of course there is an assumption that the SEC leads the pack and everyone falls behind.
Let’s see how the list shook out from a conference perspective.
SEC: 15
G5: 13
Big Ten: 7
ACC: 5
FCS: 5
Big 12: 5
PAC 12: 5
Division II: 1
International: 1
As you can deduct from the heavy inclusion of the Southeast, there is also more than likely a prominent fixture of SEC talent littered amongst this group. You would be correct. They made up 26 percent of the group, the highest percentage of any group.
Surprisingly, Group of Five conference members had 13 players on the list. Of course there needs to be some context with that number since we are talking about multiple conferences making up one group.
Still, that is a fascinating number. It’s even more interesting when you consider that those Group of Five conference teams do not usually attract the highest level of recruits. Instead, those programs are built much more off of development.
After that, the remaining players were pretty spread out amongst the major conferences. It was slightly surprising that the Big Ten was tied with both the Big 12 and PAC 12 with five a piece just based on the perception of the conferences. It appears that the talent may be more evenly dispersed than what the marratives would suggest.
STARS OF THE STARS
The first position everyone wants to talk about is always quarterback, for obvious reasons. It isn’t just the most important position in football but arguably the most important position in all of sports.
On one side, you have Chiefs starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes who looks like he is on pace to end up as arguably the best signal caller of all time when all is said and done. For the Eagles, you have a rising star in Jalen Hurts who had an argument as the top quarterback on the field on Sunday.
Both players are extremely different, possessing very unique skill sets and resumes so far in their careers. What they have in common is both players come from the state of Texas. Everyone knows how successful Texas has been putting out high level talent and the two signal callers are a big indicator of that.
Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton was also a star on Sunday, returning a Hurts’ fumble for a touchdown and making several nice plays in space. He is also originally from Texas.
The Eagles boast one of the more talented wide receiver duos in the NFL in AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith, both of which eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards this season. Both wide receivers are another example of the Southeastern talent represented on the list, hailing from Mississippi and Louisiana respectively.
The best player on the Chiefs defense is defensive lineman Chris Jones who recorded 15 sacks this season. Whether it is working against the run or the pass, Jones is a stellar performer who makes an impact routinely on a weekly basis. Like Brown, Jones also comes from the state of Mississippi.
One of the biggest story lines during Super Bowl week was the matchup of Travis and Jason Kelce, brothers who are arguably the best in the league
HOW MUCH DO STARS REALLY MATTER?
The star argument is a fascinating one. Obviously the higher a rating, the more talented a recruit is - in theory. As we have found out, however, recruiting rankings can be very subjective.
There are as many misses as there are hits.
When you look at the Super Bowl participants, there are several points that fight back tremendously against how important the stars really matter. Of the 58 players who were key contributors for both squads, 38 players were ranked as three-stars or less by the composite ranking.
For the math majors out there, that means that only 34 percent of those players were rated as either a four or five-star player coming out of high school. With nearly two-thirds of the lineups made up of three-star or below, that seriously fights back against the Blue-Chip ratio.
Even more interesting, there were more unranked players (13) than both five-star (9) and four-star players (11) of the group. In fact, the majority of the roster was made up of unranked players and three-stars (18), good enough for 50 percent of the rosters between those two groups.
Between the two teams, they also combined to have 14 pro bowl representatives this year. Of those 14 players, the majority were four-star recruits with four total players. Next there was a tie between unranked and former three-star recruits at three a piece. Then the final four players were broken up evenly between former five-star and two-star recruits.
There is always context to these types of case studies. Yes, there are naturally going to be a smaller number of five-star players to pull from compared to the rest. That number can be skewed.
When you look at the next players on both sides of this match up, however, you come away and see that the majority were undervalued recruits who had to take the long road of development. You would assume that the five-star would rule when it comes to elite talent but it just isn’t the case.
What can’t be lost in this article is that identifying and acquiring elite talent is essential. It is just very apparent that not all elite players take the same path. Some develop very early and are ready for the college game from day one, some need to take that long road to get to their upside and others are somewhere in between.
The ultimate answer is yes, stars are overrated. Are they completely insignificant? Of course not. At the end of the day, there will always be the “no doubters” that have equally as high a ceiling as they do have a floor. We must also consider that when we are talking about recruiting, nothing is a certainty.
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