Arkansas wideouts Jarius Wright and Greg Childs figured their long run together as teammates was finally up. After playing together since elementary school, they would go their separate ways at the pro level. (Assuming they both made the NFL.)
And then the Vikings drafted them back-to-back in the fourth round of the draft.
“We talked about this one day, what if we end up going to the same NFL team? It would be crazy,” Childs told the Vikings media. “We’ve been together through elementary school, middle school, junior high, high school, same college team, and now we are moving on in life and we still are going to the same team together.”
Wright is more of a slot receiver in the mold of Percy Harvin. Childs was once a highly touted prospect who could have been a potential first-round pick before tearing his patella tendon and slogging through a rough senior year. He's a big-bodied prospect whom the Vikings were looking for to help in the red zone.
The two played together at Warren High in Arkansas in a town of 6,000 people. The odds on two friends making it this far together is, well, infinitesimal.
“It’s the want to do something," Wright said via ArkasasSports360.com. "Not to downplay my town, but it’s a small town. You want to see what else is out there in the world."
Childs and Wright will have that chance to see the world together now as members of the Vikings. Or at least they'll see a lot of Minnesota, Green Bay, Chicago and Detroit.