well it is possible that you don't have an article for EVERY id in the table, so i'd recommend using the mysql random function in your second query.
PHP Code:
<?
mysql_connect('sql', 'database', 'password') or die ("Problem connecting to the database");
$result = mysql_query("select id,picon,blurb from features order by id desc limit 1";
if($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)){
$nfnumber = $row['id'];
// display latest article here
$result2 = mysql_query("select id,picon,blurb from features
where id != ".$nfnumber." order by rand() limit 1");
if($row2 = mysql_fetch_array($result2)){
// display random article here
}
}
mysql_close();
?>