Google is an "elite" company, almost every engineer there would be one of the best hires any other company could ever make. Generous compensation is one aspect to accomplish that hiring goal (amongst other things)
I'm going to say that's a huge stretch.
With insane variances between the teams offcourse.
It's harder to see who will be amongst the best engineers early on in someone's career. Each person develops their abilities at different speeds & times in their lives.