Alright, did some research too. Out of the 40 players you mentioned, 12 were MORE than the 22 years old the you set as the mark to be too late to go pro when Valorant was launched.
Ange1, fns, boaster, victor, crws, stellar, scream, dubstep, borkum, benkai, laz, reita
Out of this 12, Ange1, FNS and scream were actually tier 1, so that's 9 players who didn't succeed left.
Out of those 9, 6, crws, dubstep, borkum, benkai, laz and reita are asian. What does being a tier 1 Asian CS player really mean. Game and scene it's just not the same. Also many of the are IGL which is a role you usually shine later on your career
So that leaves Food, boaster and stellar. Victor was tier 2, boaster and stellar weren't really a thing but again, both shine in valorant because of their IGL skills which is a role acquired at a later age.