Happy NFL Draft Eve Illini fans. The Brown twins, Chase and Sydney, will be featured on NFL Network’s NFL 360 later tonight. Both Chase Brown and Sydney Brown are poised to be picked, most likely, somewhere in rounds two to four.
With the first round on Thursday night, and the second and third rounds on Friday night, the Brown brothers are indeed “day two guys.”
NFL Network’s draftnik Daniel Jeremiah gave a NFL Draft stock report on both of the London, Ontario natives.
“Chase Brown, the running back, he is a quick stepper,” Jeremiah said of the back who spent most of the season as the nation’s leading rusher.
“He can run through contact. He has a nice little stiff-arm. He just runs really hard. The production obviously was there. Again, super productive player.
“Good player. Pass pro is a little bit of an issue there. He got crushed by some linebackers in that, so that’s his area to improve.”
Both Browns skipped the Reliaquest Bowl, and one has to wonder what might have happened, had they suited up for the Illini, one last time, in Tampa
Illinois would have almost certainly beaten Mississippi State on January 2, had Chase Brown played. As for Sydney Brown, well the defense, especially the pass defense, still did their job well without him.
Jeremiah sized up where Chase might go:
“It’s a really deep running back group, so I think probably third round would probably be the high watermark, but I would say is probably a wider range, third to fifth round, somewhere in there is where he would end up going.”
Rounds 4-7 aren’t until Saturday, so we may need to wait until the draft’s final day to see Chase Brown selected, but if this were 10-15 years ago that would not be the case.
The NFL just doesn’t rate running backs like they used to, in old school times. All the “it’s a passing league” cliches are all true.
Later on the media conference call, Jeremiah also assessed the draft stock price of Sydney Brown.
“to me obviously the ball production is there at 5’10”, 213 pounds; had six picks,” he said.
“He has great range. You’ll see him undercut routes. He is explosive. I think he is going to test really, really well. He is
outstanding on special teams.
“He had a forced fumble on a punt in one of the games that I watched. The only tape that he struggled with was against LaPorta, the Iowa tight end.
“He struggled a little bit in coverage on that one, but had a really good Senior Bowl week.
“He is going to go day 2. I think you’ll see him go in the second round or middle second round to early third round is I think when you’ll see him.”
With that in mind, let’s flash back to what we wrote after the Browns played their final game for Illinois. Here is what we wrote back on Nov 26, from the press box at Ryan Field in Evanston:
In utterly annihilating their in-state rivals, the Northwestern Wildcats, on rivalry Saturday in the Land of Lincoln Hat game, the Illini won 41-3 despite not a lot of contributions from their top gun, Chase Brown.
The man who has led the entire nation in rushing, wire to wire, was dinged with a knock in this one.
That’s how it goes sometimes- for these blue and orange brethren of the gridiron.
The shutdown defense, a dominant unit that can score all on its own takes over in certain games, and your superstar running back takes a back seat for that affair.
Chase Brown, a favorite for the Doak Walker Award (nation’s best running back), was held to just 61 yards and 13 carries. That’s an average of only 3.2 per carry. However, he did make a big play (43 yards) in the passing game.
Interestingly enough, Payton also had exactly 61 yards rushing in Super Bowl XX.
The Illini got it done, in a stadium that was about 60% empty, but about 80% clad in Illini colors, thanks to their D picking off Northwestern QB Cole Freeman four times
The orange crush D also forced five turnovers and scored two touchdowns off those turnovers. The twin brother of Chase Brown, Illini defensive back Sydney Brown, had both a fumble return for a touchdown and an interception returned for a touchdown.
Or as the kids like it call these days, a “scoop and a score” and a “pick-six.”
“Honestly, I was just trying to catch Spoon with the amount of picks he had today, so it’s a little DB in-house rivalry,” said Brown of his two picks.
“There’s just so much that I wanted to accomplish here,” said Sydney Brown of his fifth season.
“I’m just glad that the younger guys coming in, this is all they know. All they know is 8-4, and it’s only gonna get better from here.”
On the 8-4 regular-season finish, Sydney Brown said:
“It’s not what we wanted. It’s not how we wanted to finish, but it’s just a step in the right direction. Me being who I am and where I expect them to be, I think we could have easily been a team with 10 wins, in my opinion, but it’s a step in the right direction.
“Coach B is leading this team right. Coach Walt is leading the defense, too, so it’s a step in the right direction.”
NFL Draft Stock Profiles
Devon Witherspoon Chase & Sydney Brown Jartavius Martin Peter Skoronski C.J. Stroud Jaxon Smith-Njigba
Paul M. Banks is the Owner/Manager of The Sports Bank and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly contributed to WGN News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast. Follow him and the website on Twitter and Instagram.
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