'Rising stock': London, Ont. twins Chase and Sydney Brown impress scouts at NFL draft combine

Chase and Sydney Brown turned heads at the NFL scouting combine.

“They knocked it out of the park,” said Dave Naylor, TSN’s football reporter who was covering the event in Indianapolis.

Chase Brown had the top scores among running backs in the vertical jump (40.00”) and broad jump (10’7”) and ran the fifth fastest 40-yard dash (4.43 seconds).

“My bursts, my speed, my versatility, that's what's going to separate me from other guys in this room,” said Chase, the University of Illinois running back from the podium at the combine. “Just being able to show that here at the combine and training camp will be important.”

His twin brother Sydney scored in the top four among safeties in all the major categories.

“I need to push for what I want,” said Sydney from the podium. “If I want to go get something I've got to work for it.”

Naylor said their real coming out party was in January at the Senior Bowl All-Star Game.

They go through a week of full-contact practice and both brothers excelled. It gave them a lot of momentum coming into the combine.

Sydney Brown speaks to a reporter at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. (Source: TSN)

“Guys who have good reputations as players, that have proven themselves on the field and are believed to have the physical attributes and measurements to play in the National Football League go down and kind of lay down exactly what you'd expect them to lay or maybe slightly better,” said Naylor.

He added, “All you can say for sure is it didn't hurt their draft stock at all this weekend.”

Naylor spoke with a number of scouts over the weekend and has been fielding a number of questions from football fans about where the Brown twins will go in the upcoming NFL draft.

He trusts the projections from well-respected analyst Daniel Jeremiah of the NFL Network.

“He has Sydney Brown as a second-to-third round pick, and Chase Brown as a third-to-fifth round pick,” explained Naylor.

He added, “Those projections are reflecting the value that teams put on safeties, and the value that they put on running backs. Sydney getting to play in those one on one situations at the Senior Bowl that kind of drove his stock up. I don't see anything from this weekend that would drastically change that. Again, Chase, I think may have helped his stock as well.”

NFL brass were impressed by their maturity, how well both of them carry themselves in interviews and their drive to improve every day.

“Both brothers’ present so well,” said Naylor.

Chase Brown speaks to the media at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. (Source: TSN)

He added, “Talking to the media, that's not what determines your draft position, but you can see how they carry themselves. I talked to an NFL scout yesterday, who had done the Chase Brown interview for his team, and came away thoroughly impressed with how articulate, how mature, how focused Chase was, and I think you get the very similar thing from Sydney.”

Sydney describes the lengths he’d go to in order to play at the next level, and impress his future employer.

“Whatever team makes the investment in me I'm going to be willing to do whatever they need,” said Sydney. “If that's on special teams, if that’s playing slot corner, I’ll play the boundary, the free, if they wanted me to play corner I’ll do whatever.”

Their story is becoming well known around the NFL. From humbling beginnings with a struggling single mom in London, to high school in Florida, university, and now possibly now the NFL.

“We worked hard because of how many times we were overlooked,” said Chase. “It’s just that underdog mentality really pushed us.”

Pushing each other has led them to this place. That will continue at their pro-day this Friday at the University of Illinois, and into the NFL in April.