Illinois Football: Cincinnati Bengals select Chase Brown in the 2023 NFL Draft

The final projected 2023 NFL Draft pick is off the board for the Illinois football program.

It has been a great draft thus far for the Illini. It started with a bang, as cornerback Devon Witherspoon went higher than expected with pick No. 5 in the first round to the Seattle Seahawks.

Following Witherspoon was another slew of Illinois players. Quan Martin ended up going to the Washington Commanders at pick No. 16 in the second round. He should be a nice versatile piece in the secondary. We only had to wait until pick No. 3 in the third round to see safety Sydney Brown be picked by the Philadelphia Eagles. A Super Bowl-level defense is adding a monster safety to their secondary.

Those were three out of the four Illinois players projected to be selected in the 2023 NFL Draft. The fourth and final projected player is now off the board. With pick No. 163, the Cincinnati Bengals selected running back Chase Brown.

The Cincinnati Bengals are getting one of the most underrated players in the 2023 NFL Draft in Chase Brown

Honestly, if this was 2005, I believe Brown goes in the top two rounds of the draft. This kid is one of the most talented running backs to ever come through the Illinois program, and he should be great for the Bengals.

Brown’s journey didn’t start with the Illini, though. Coming out of St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Florida, Brown was only a three-star recruit who was ranked as the No. 1332 player in the class of 2018. He actually had some solid recruiting attention, but Brown would end up picking Western Michigan as his landing spot.

In his lone season with the Broncos, Brown would have 71 carries for 352 yards and 10 receptions for 75 yards. After that campaign, he decided to depart the Western Michigan program and transfer to Illinois to play with his brother, Sydney Brown.

The rest is history for the talented running back. Brown redshirted in 2019 and then busted onto the scene the following year. Brown would have back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons to finish his career at Illinois.

Brown’s senior year was his best, though. He would have 328 carries for 1,643 yards and 10 touchdowns. He was also more of a pass-catching running back, as Brown would finish with 27 receptions for 240 yards and three scores.

I can’t wait to see Brown play on Sundays. He is someone who can run and catch the ball well. The fact he slid down is crazy to anyone who watched him play at Illinois. Nevertheless, the future is bright for Brown.