The Ravens drafted Marquise Brown in the first round, then went back to the well in the third with Miles Boykin. San Francisco did a similar double-dip, drafting Deebo Samuel atop the second and Jalen Hurd a round later. Teams selecting a pair of wideouts in the first three rounds doesn't happen every year -- but almost.
Over the last 20 years, there have been 19 instances of teams drafting a pair of wideouts in the first three rounds -- so, almost once a year. You'd like to think at least one of those guys usually turns into a good pro, but in fact the odds are against it. In eight of the past 17 instances, neither one turned out very well. (And I'm even giving the benefit of the doubt to Corey Davis and Will Fuller.)
Table shows rookie numbers for those previous 16 pairs of wideouts. Players who went on to have good NFL careers are in bold. I count just two instances where both guys turned out really well -- the Broncos in 2010, and the Bills in 2013 (sadly for Buffalo, both players had to go elsewhere to really step up). We can argue Allen Robinson and Marqise Lee; maybe they should be included, but I left Lee unbolded.
| TEAM DRAFTING 2 WRS IN FIRST THREE ROUNDS, 2000-2019 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Year | Rd | Pk | Player | No | Yds | TD |
| Ravens | 2019 | 1 | 25 | Marquise Brown | ? | ? | ? |
| Ravens | 2019 | 3 | 93 | Miles Boykin | ? | ? | ? |
| 49ers | 2019 | 2 | 36 | Deebo Samuel | ? | ? | ? |
| 49ers | 2019 | 3 | 67 | Jalen Hurd | ? | ? | ? |
| Titans | 2017 | 1 | 5 | Corey Davis | 34 | 375 | 0 |
| Titans | 2017 | 3 | 72 | Taywan Taylor | 16 | 231 | 1 |
| Texans | 2016 | 1 | 21 | Will Fuller | 47 | 635 | 3 |
| Texans | 2016 | 3 | 85 | Braxton Miller | 15 | 99 | 1 |
| Eagles | 2014 | 2 | 42 | Jordan Matthews | 67 | 872 | 8 |
| Eagles | 2014 | 3 | 86 | Josh Huff | 8 | 98 | 1 |
| Jaguars | 2014 | 2 | 39 | Marqise Lee | 37 | 422 | 1 |
| Jaguars | 2014 | 2 | 61 | Allen Robinson | 48 | 548 | 2 |
| Bills | 2013 | 2 | 41 | Robert Woods | 40 | 587 | 3 |
| Bills | 2013 | 3 | 78 | Marquise Goodwin | 17 | 283 | 3 |
| Rams | 2013 | 1 | 8 | Tavon Austin | 40 | 418 | 6 |
| Rams | 2013 | 3 | 92 | Stedman Bailey | 17 | 226 | 1 |
| Broncos | 2010 | 1 | 22 | Demaryius Thomas | 22 | 283 | 2 |
| Broncos | 2010 | 3 | 87 | Eric Decker | 6 | 106 | 1 |
| Browns | 2009 | 2 | 36 | Brian Robiskie | 7 | 106 | 0 |
| Browns | 2009 | 2 | 50 | Mohamed Massaquoi | 34 | 624 | 3 |
| Giants | 2009 | 1 | 29 | Hakeem Nicks | 47 | 790 | 6 |
| Giants | 2009 | 3 | 85 | Ramses Barden | 1 | 16 | 0 |
| Bengals | 2008 | 2 | 46 | Jerome Simpson | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Bengals | 2008 | 3 | 97 | Andre Caldwell | 11 | 78 | 0 |
| Washington | 2008 | 2 | 34 | Devin Thomas | 15 | 120 | 1 |
| Washington | 2008 | 2 | 51 | Malcolm Kelly | 3 | 18 | 0 |
| Steelers | 2006 | 1 | 25 | Santonio Holmes | 49 | 824 | 3 |
| Steelers | 2006 | 3 | 95 | Willie Reid | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Titans | 2005 | 3 | 68 | Courtney Roby | 21 | 289 | 1 |
| Titans | 2005 | 3 | 96 | Brandon Jones | 23 | 299 | 2 |
| 49ers | 2004 | 1 | 31 | Rashaun Woods | 7 | 160 | 1 |
| 49ers | 2004 | 3 | 77 | Derrick Hamilton | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cardinals | 2003 | 1 | 17 | Bryant Johnson | 35 | 438 | 1 |
| Cardinals | 2003 | 2 | 54 | Anquan Boldin | 101 | 1377 | 8 |
| Bengals | 2000 | 1 | 4 | Peter Warrick | 51 | 592 | 7 |
| Bengals | 2000 | 3 | 66 | Ron Dugans | 14 | 125 | 1 |
| Browns | 2000 | 2 | 32 | Dennis Northcutt | 39 | 422 | 0 |
| Browns | 2000 | 3 | 79 | JaJuan Dawson | 9 | 97 | 1 |
The 49ers themselves have one of the worst duos: Rashaun Woods and Derrick Hamilton back in 2004. At least two of the better pairs are from the past decade, a positive sign for Brown-Boykin and Samuel-Hurd.
Studying these guys the past few weeks, I like both wideouts the Ravens selected. Very different players: Brown is tiny, a DeSean Jackson clone, while Boykin is huge, but is also pretty fast. With the 49ers, I'm intrigued by Samuel, a possession receiver who's dangerous with the ball in his hands and scored 4 TDs on returns in college. Hurd's a lot bigger and not a conventional wide receiver; might translate better as a tight end or H-back in their offense.
Anyway, odds seem to be against both players working out in either case, but at least the most recent history isn't terrible.
--Andy Richardson