Analysis
10/12/20
1 min min read
Breaking Down the NFL First-Round Picks By Their High School Rankings
The NBA and NFL are unique in the fact that they rank high school athletes in terms of “star” rankings (5 star, 4 star, 3 star, 2 star or unranked prospects). When looking at whether these prospects are able to continue their prep success and get drafted in the first round of their respective drafts, the two leagues separate.
In 2019, there were more 5-star basketball players taken in the first round of the draft then those that were taken in any NFL Draft between 2015-20 (11 5-star players were taken out of 27 eligible picks in the first round of the NBA draft). Only eight prospects in the 2019 NBA Draft were below a 4-star ranking. The NFL has had more than that in each of the last six years. Here is a breakdown of the high school rankings for first-round NFL picks over the last six years:
Overall, in the last seven years of the NFL draft, there were 52 five-star prospects drafted (23.32%), 80 four-star prospects (35.87%), 72 three-star prospects (32.28%), 11 two-star prospects (4.93%) and 8 unranked prospects (3.58%). Here are the totals year-by-year:
2015:
9 five-star prospects
6 four-star prospects
16 three-star prospects
1 two-star prospect
unranked prospects
2016:
5 five-star prospects
17 four-star prospects
4 three-star prospects
3 two-star prospect
2 unranked prospects
2017:
10 five-star prospects
12 four-star prospects
6 three-star prospects
2 two-star prospect
2 unranked prospects
2018:
7 five-star prospects
11 four-star prospects
10 three-star prospects
1 two-star prospect
3 unranked prospects
2019:
8 five-star prospects
9 four-star prospects
12 three-star prospects
2 two-star prospect
1 unranked prospects
2020:
6 five-star prospects
15 four-star prospects
10 three-star prospects
1 two-star prospect
No unranked prospects
2021:
7 five-star prospect
10 four-star prospect
14 three-star prospect
1 two-star prospect
No 1-star or unranked
