Not that rankings are everything, but it seems like lately we're relying on a lot more of those "NR" guys than in years past.
Well yes, but 3 of the players weren't ranked because they were in Germany. Giffey and Tolksdorf would have likely been somewhere in the top 100. Wolf probably wouldn't have been.
Olander was a reclass (like Drummond) and was ranked fairly highly before he did so (top 100 at least). That's four of the current players.
Napier, Boatright, Calhoun and Daniels were all highly ranked.
Nolan is ranked by some and not by others and Evans is a fifth year, so not normal.