Bradenton twins Chase and Sydney Brown expect to be picked in 2023 NFL Draft this week

They were key members of the most successful period in Saint Stephen’s football program history.

They’ve spent the past three college football seasons teaming together at Illinois.

One is a running back. The other is a safety.

But opposing players might be seeing double.

That’s because Chase and Sydney Brown are identical twins. And they’re projected to be the sixth set of twins in NFL history selected in the same draft over the past 40 years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Khalil and Carlos Davis are the most recent twins chosen in the same NFL draft, going to the Bucs and Steelers, respectively, in 2020.

Chase Brown started his college career at Western Michigan, before transferring Illinois to join Sydney. This past season, he finished as the No. 2 rusher in college football after racking up 1,643 rushing yards.

He was a Doak Walker Award finalist, an award going to college football’s top running back, and was a second-team All-Big Ten selection.

Sydney Brown had six interceptions, which tied for the most of any player in the country. He was a first-team All-Big Ten member and it’s believed they’re the first twins to snag All-Big Ten honors in the same season, ESPN reported.

The two are from London, Ontario. They played football in Canada before the summer between their sophomore and junior high school seasons led to a relocation to Bradenton, Florida.

But their future football career could have ended before it really got started without that move.

ESPN reported Chase and Sydney’s mother, Raechel, became ill after giving birth to their sister Mya that led to a limited ability to work, and subsequently several moves, including a time where they lived in a homeless shelter.

“There were some financial issues at home that kind of led us to that opportunity,” Sydney Brown told the Toronto Sun.

The Toronto Sun reported Raechel raised Chase and Sydney alone. Sending them in Florida to attend Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School and work toward their college football dream was difficult as Raechel had to return to Canada after enrolling them at the Bradenton private school.

“It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done,” Raechel told Sports Illustrated. “It was totally unnatural, leaving your kids in another country with people you don’t know. I cried the whole way back.”

Along with quarterback Fred Billy, they were integral members of the Falcons winning back-to-back Sunshine State Athletic Conference championships under former coach Tod Creneti.

And it led them to college football, where their stock has risen to the point they’re expected to hear their names during this week’s NFL Draft.

Of the multiple mock drafts, ESPN’s draft gurus Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay did an alternating three round mock on April 18, where Sydney Brown was projected to land with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the No. 82 pick.

“I loved the Bucs’ Antoine Winfield Jr. pick on Day 2 in 2020, and I’m looking at a similar player here late on Day 2 three years thereafter to line up next to him,” McShay wrote about Brown. “With really good instincts and quicks, Brown is a ball magnet who can make plays against the run and the pass.”

Chase Brown is listed as No. 140th in Kiper’s prospect rankings. Chase is considered a fifth or sixth round selection in most mock drafts.

The 2023 NFL Draft begins Thursday in Kansas City with the first round starting at 8 p.m. The second and third rounds are scheduled for Friday starting at 7 p.m. The remaining four rounds begin Saturday at 12 p.m.

The Brown twins aren’t the only ones with a local connection expecting to hear their names called this weekend. Kiper ranks Georgia outside linebacker Nolan Smith as the 12th best player in this year’s draft. Smith played his last two high school seasons at IMG Academy.