London football fans have two more teams to cheer for this season in the NFL.
That’s because London-born Sydney and Chase Brown were both selected over the weekend in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Sydney Brown was selected 66th overall by the Philadelphia Eagles on Friday night during the early part of the third round.
Chase Brown was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals 163rd overall on Saturday.
With both being selected, Sydney and Chase become just the sixth pair of twins to ever be selected in the same NFL draft.
The mirror identical twins grew up playing football in the city on club teams and at South London Collegiate Institute before transferring to a high school in Florida when they were 16 years old.
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The two eventually attended the University of Illinois, where they helped lead the Fighting Illini to an eight-win season in 2022.
Dave Martin, their old coach in London, says that he could tell they were special from the time he started coaching them at age seven.
“I can remember times where they were both running down the field and you thought here comes a big tackle, but they were hurdling kids five feet in the air,” Martin says.
Sydney plays on the defensive side of the ball as a safety, while his brother Chase is a running back. However, Martin says they didn’t start out that way.
“Sydney was the more outgoing one and wanted to be a running back … and then Chase was the kind of kid you could put him wherever you needed him. So we put him at defensive end and he created havoc,” Martin says.
Eventually, when the two entered high school, they flipped roles to their eventual positions, though Martin says they could play anywhere on the field with their athleticism.
“They have the ability to jump, run and take off and just do special things,” Martin says.
“I’m sure either one of them could play any position they want on a football field. … Those kids are workers and whatever they want to do, they could do.”
While each had a great final season, the twins continued to improve their draft stock over the past couple of months. Sydney had an impressive showing at the Senior Bowl, and Chase finished first in multiple combine tests.
“They have set the bar for the rest of football in this area,” Martin says. “Coming from London is a pretty impressive thing.”
Other Canadians to watch for in the draft include Matthew Bergeron of Victoriaville, Que., and Sidy Sow, who attended Eastern Michigan.