[CrusaderPi]

The stars show how long the player has been with the team. To quote Uni watch (a great blog, also seen on ESPN Page 2)

That's because team captains this year will be wearing a special captain's patch on the upper-right chest area (as you can sort of see here). The patches will be color-coordinated to match each jersey, and the gold star underneath the "C" marks the number of years that the player has been a captain under the league's new captaincy initiative.

How big a change is this? This big: To Uni Watch's knowledge, only three NFL teams in the past 50 years have worn captains' designations -- the 1994 Patriots, the 1992 Chargers, and the 1983 Cowboys. And Uni Watch wishes it had stayed that way. For starters, real estate on NFL jerseys is already in short supply, what with the disappearing sleeves, the massive NFL Equipment logo, the increasing use of chest wordmarks, and so on. Adding another element to the mix is gonna make for some seriously crowded jerseys -- especially for teams that already wear other jersey patches.