This is such a misleading stat. First off, rivals didn't even rate recruits by stars until 2002, so a player like Tom Brady wouldn't even have had a star ranking. Secondly there are only 30 or so 5 star players a year. So for the 14 years you are talking about a grand total of approximately 420 players. Given that the past three years of 5 star players are still not eligible to have been drafted yet, and this year's just signed, that subtracts 120 from the total. So that leaves only 300 approximately who could even be in the NFL, and that is assuming all of them lived up to their billing, had no injuries, given no retirements, no off field problems, etc. There are 32 teams so if they were evenly distributed and every single 5 star made it to the NFL there would still be less than 10 possible per team if every single one made it and was a star.
Common sense and a little logic tells you there likely was going to only be 1 or 2 per team at most. We know many 5 stars don't pan out for various reasons like Summers. We know some got injured like Marcus and had to quit football We know some had legal issues like Aaron Hernandez. We know many have likely retired by now. The fact there wasn't one starting shouldn't be a surprise at all.
Here is a stat they gave on Mike and Mike this morning that will indicated how important getting 5 star players can be. Since ESPN rated players in 2006, 22% of the draft eligible 5 star players were selected in the first round of the draft. That's a pretty high rate of success. That doesn't count players like Marcus who were still drafted, just the ones drafted in the first round. Stars aren't everything, but if you have a lot of highly rated players you are likely to be successful.
