The Houston Texans did an interesting thing in the draft last weekend. They drafted Jayden Higgins out of Iowa State in the second round, and his teammate Jaylin Noel in the third. It's exceedingly rare for one team to double-dip like that.
I found a few examples of teams selecting a pair of wide receivers from the same school in the same draft, but I decided to limit the pairs to players selected in the first three rounds. Wide receivers selected in the later rounds, expectations are low anyway; it's not like your average sixth-rounder is expected to be a fantasy star.
Since 2000, I found only one other example of a team drafting a pair of wide receivers from the same school in the first three rounds. The Rams about a decade ago (2013) drafted two out of West Virginia: Tavon Austin in the first and Stedman Bailey in the third. Needless to say, the Texans will be hoping Higgins and Noel work out better than that.
Expanding the results somewhat, I looked for all drafts where multiple wide receivers from the same school were selected in the first three rounds (not by the same team). That happens a decent amount of the time, including three times just last year, and once more this year (Jack Bech and Savion Williams out of Texas Christian, selected by Las Vegas and Green Bay, respectively). How have those teammate duos turned out?
I think the numbers are reasonably encouraging.
It's happened 28 other times this century that teammates from the same college were drafted in the first three rounds. Of those previous 28 groupings, nine times (so, about 1 in 3) both wide receivers had at least one top-25 season (PPR) at some point in their careers. That includes LSU's Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas turning the trick last year.
Of the other 19 duos (or trios in a couple of instances), more than half (10) had at least one of the wide receivers finish in the top 25 at some point in their careers. And two of the exceptions (Texas' Xavier Worthy and Adonai Mitchell, and Washington's Rome Odunze, Ja'Lynn Polk and Jalen McMillan) just completed their rookie seasons. Reasonable to think a couple of those guys will join the club eventually.
Statistically, a very good chance at least one of Houston's picks works out, and decent chance both do.
The 28 teammate pairings from the past 25 years are shown below, with stats and PPR ranking from their best career season. Guys with at least one top-25 season are in bold.
| WIDE RECEIVER TEAMMATES IN ROUNDS 1-3, 2000-PRESENT | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draft | Rd | Player | College | Rec | Yds | TD | Rk |
| 2000 | 1 | Travis Taylor, Balt. | Florida | 61 | 869 | 6 | 25 |
| 2000 | 3 | Darrell Jackson, Sea. | Florida | 87 | 1199 | 7 | 13 |
| 2000 | 3 | Ron Dugans, Cin. | Florida State | 47 | 421 | 0 | 78 |
| 2000 | 3 | Laveranues Coles, Was. | Florida State | 82 | 1204 | 6 | 12 |
| 2000 | 1 | Peter Warrick, Cin. | Florida State | 79 | 819 | 8 | 16 |
| 2001 | 1 | Santana Moss, Was. | Miami | 84 | 1483 | 9 | 6 |
| 2001 | 1 | Reggie Wayne, Ind. | Miami | 104 | 1510 | 10 | 2 |
| 2002 | 2 | Reche Caldwell, N.E. | Florida | 61 | 760 | 4 | 34 |
| 2002 | 2 | Jabar Gaffney, Was. | Florida | 68 | 947 | 5 | 26 |
| 2004 | 1 | Michael Clayton, T.B. | Louisiana State | 80 | 1193 | 7 | 14 |
| 2004 | 2 | Devery Henderson, N.O. | Louisiana State | 32 | 745 | 6 | 41 |
| 2005 | 1 | Mark Clayton, Balt. | Oklahoma | 67 | 939 | 5 | 25 |
| 2005 | 3 | Brandon Jones, Ten. | Oklahoma | 41 | 449 | 1 | 69 |
| 2005 | 2 | Mark Bradley, 2TM | Oklahoma | 30 | 380 | 3 | 74 |
| 2007 | 1 | Craig Davis, S.D. | Louisiana State | 21 | 259 | 1 | 106 |
| 2007 | 1 | Dwayne Bowe, K.C. | Louisiana State | 72 | 1162 | 15 | 4 |
| 2007 | 1 | Anthony Gonzalez, Ind. | Ohio State | 57 | 664 | 4 | 42 |
| 2007 | 1 | Ted Ginn, Mia. | Ohio State | 56 | 790 | 4 | 33 |
| 2007 | 2 | Dwayne Jarrett, Car. | Southern Cal | 17 | 196 | 1 | 108 |
| 2007 | 2 | Steve Smith (USC), NYG | Southern Cal | 107 | 1220 | 7 | 8 |
| 2009 | 3 | Brandon Tate, N.E. | North Carolina | 24 | 432 | 5 | 71 |
| 2009 | 1 | Hakeem Nicks, NYG | North Carolina | 79 | 1052 | 11 | 8 |
| 2009 | 3 | Derrick Williams, Det. | Penn State | 6 | 52 | 0 | 139 |
| 2009 | 3 | Deon Butler, Sea. | Penn State | 36 | 385 | 4 | 74 |
| 2011 | 2 | Titus Young, Det. | Boise State | 48 | 607 | 6 | 45 |
| 2011 | 3 | Austin Pettis, St.L. | Boise State | 38 | 399 | 4 | 70 |
| 2012 | 2 | Josh Gordon, Cle. | Baylor | 87 | 1646 | 9 | 3 |
| 2012 | 1 | Kendall Wright, Ten. | Baylor | 94 | 1079 | 2 | 20 |
| 2013 | 1 | Cordarrelle Patterson, Min. | Tennessee | 45 | 469 | 9 | 38 |
| 2013 | 2 | Justin Hunter, Ten. | Tennessee | 28 | 498 | 3 | 80 |
| 2013 | 3 | Stedman Bailey, St.L. | West Virginia | 30 | 435 | 2 | 87 |
| 2013 | 1 | Tavon Austin, St.L. | West Virginia | 52 | 473 | 10 | 27 |
| 2014 | 1 | Odell Beckham, NYG | Louisiana State | 101 | 1367 | 10 | 4 |
| 2014 | 2 | Jarvis Landry, Mia. | Louisiana State | 112 | 987 | 9 | 4 |
| 2016 | 3 | Braxton Miller, Hou. | Ohio State | 19 | 162 | 1 | 119 |
| 2016 | 2 | Michael Thomas, N.O. | Ohio State | 149 | 1725 | 9 | 1 |
| 2019 | 2 | DK Metcalf, Sea. | Mississippi | 83 | 1303 | 10 | 7 |
| 2019 | 2 | A.J. Brown, Phil. | Mississippi | 106 | 1456 | 7 | 5 |
| 2019 | 2 | Parris Campbell, Ind. | Ohio State | 63 | 623 | 3 | 48 |
| 2019 | 3 | Terry McLaurin, Was. | Ohio State | 82 | 1096 | 13 | 7 |
| 2020 | 1 | Henry Ruggs, L.V. | Alabama | 24 | 469 | 2 | 86 |
| 2020 | 1 | Jerry Jeudy, Cle. | Alabama | 90 | 1229 | 4 | 13 |
| 2021 | 1 | DeVonta Smith, Phil. | Alabama | 95 | 1196 | 7 | 9 |
| 2021 | 1 | Jaylen Waddle, Mia. | Alabama | 75 | 1356 | 8 | 8 |
| 2021 | 2 | Terrace Marshall, Car. | Louisiana State | 28 | 490 | 1 | 88 |
| 2021 | 1 | Ja'Marr Chase, Cin. | Louisiana State | 127 | 1708 | 17 | 1 |
| 2022 | 1 | Jameson Williams, Det. | Alabama | 58 | 1001 | 8 | 22 |
| 2022 | 2 | John Metchie, Hou. | Alabama | 24 | 254 | 1 | 112 |
| 2022 | 1 | Chris Olave, N.O. | Ohio State | 87 | 1123 | 5 | 16 |
| 2022 | 1 | Garrett Wilson, NYJ | Ohio State | 101 | 1104 | 7 | 9 |
| 2023 | 3 | Jalin Hyatt, NYG | Tennessee | 23 | 373 | 0 | 101 |
| 2023 | 3 | Cedric Tillman, Cle. | Tennessee | 29 | 339 | 3 | 90 |
| 2024 | 1 | Brian Thomas, Jac. | Louisiana State | 87 | 1282 | 10 | 4 |
| 2024 | 1 | Malik Nabers, NYG | Louisiana State | 109 | 1204 | 7 | 6 |
| 2024 | 2 | Adonai Mitchell, Ind. | Texas | 23 | 312 | 0 | 110 |
| 2024 | 1 | Xavier Worthy, K.C. | Texas | 59 | 638 | 9 | 33 |
| 2024 | 3 | Jalen McMillan, T.B. | Washington | 37 | 461 | 8 | 55 |
| 2024 | 2 | Ja'Lynn Polk, N.E. | Washington | 12 | 87 | 2 | 129 |
| 2024 | 1 | Rome Odunze, Chi. | Washington | 54 | 734 | 3 | 49 |
--Andy Richardson