In a piece on SportsonEarth.com, Mike Tanier looks at the best all-time "double dips" in the first round of the NFL draft.

When a team hits on two first-round picks in the same year, it can be a franchise-altering turn of events. The New England Patriots have had multiple first-round selections twice in Bill Belichick's tenure, with the combination of defensive tackle Vince Wilfork and tight end Benjamin Watson in 2004, and the duo of defensive end Chandler Jones and linebacker Dont'a Hightower in 2012.

But it was a different Patriots "double dip" that registered on Tanier's top 10 list -- the 1977 duo of cornerback Raymond Clayborn and receiver Stanley Morgan.

"Morgan and Clayborn helped the Patriots shake the perennial doormat status they held from the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s and were veteran leaders on the 1985 AFC Championship team," Tanier writes in ranking them sixth. "Not bad for a pair of converted running backs."

Clayborn's candidacy for the Patriots Hall of Fame was a hot topic last week when the nomination committee met to narrow down this year's finalists, so Tanier's timing is impeccable with a fun read that also includes another Patriots twist.

The No. 8 all-time double dip -- the 49ers' tandem of linebacker Patrick Willis and left tackle Joe Staley -- came as a result of the Patriots trading their late first-rounder to San Francisco.