Question
Jared Goff and Aaron Rodgers both played at Cal; now they’ll start against each other in a playoff game. Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield both played at Texas Tech (before Mayfield transferred to Oklahoma); they’ll similarly now start against each other. And all four of these guys are former first-round picks. When was the last time this happened (two first-round quarterbacks from the same school starting against each other in a playoff game)? The quarterbacks in question were both selected in the top 5 overall, six years apart.
Answer
Carson Palmer and Mark Sanchez, who were the starters when the Bengals and Jets met in a playoff game in January 2010. They played their college ball at Southern Cal. Twenty years earlier, the Browns beat Buffalo to advance to their last AFC Championship game, with Bernie Kosar and Jim Kelly starting at quarterback. They both came from the University of Miami. (Kosar slightly different in that he entered the league through the supplemental draft.)