The NFL is scheduled to hold it’s 2011 Supplemental Draft on August 17th. But everyone is wondering if former Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor will be “eligible” to participate….BTW: “Yes, Pryor should part of it”
An event that most NFL fans don’t know – and usually don’t care about — takes center stage on Augiust 17th. The increased speed of this season’s training camp session has made the league’s entire training period go haywire. But the “League that Never Sleeps” still must hold their annual “Supplemental Draft”. This is the other draft for players leaving school for “special” reasons (Academics, Family Obligations, etc) – nothing like it’s megawatt cousin, the bigger NFL Draft that occurs every April.
The supplemental draft used to be conducted on a conference call but now it is performed via e-mail. All 32 teams will be involved in the three-step, weighted process. Teams with six wins or less in 2010 participate in the first lottery for the top six picks, followed by a second group of non-playoff teams and a third group of the 12 playoff teams from last season. If a team elects to use a supplemental draft pick on one of the eligible prospects, that team will give up its pick in the same round in next April’s draft (2012).
We will have to see if any of this year’s four eligible players will garner a pick. But usually the players in this “special “draft” go unselected and an undrafted free agent or Arena Football/UFL/CFL career awaits them. Since the draft’s inception in 1977, forty players have been selected with nine never playing in a regular-season game. Future Hall of Famer receiver Cris Carter is the high water mark selected by the Philadelphia Eagles (4th RD pick in 1987) after Ohio State told him to take a walk for dealings with agents.
Other notable former NFL Supplemental Draft selections from it’s heyday in the late-80s and early-90s were QB Bernie Kosar (1st Rd – Cleveland Browns), LB Brian Bosworth (1st Rd – Seattle Seahawks), QB Steve Walsh (1st Rd – Dallas Cowboys), QB Timm Rosenbach (1st Rd – Phoenix Cardinals), RB Bobby Humphrey (1st Rd – Denver Broncos), WR Rob Moore (1st Rd – New York Jets) and Dave Brown (1st Rd – New York Giants). Recently, solid current NFL player Kansas City Chiefs OT Jared Gaither (Baltimore 5th Rd, 2007) was selected in the supplemental draft.
Last year, former BYU RB Harvey Unga (Bears, 7th Rd) and former Illinois DT Josh Price-Brent (Cowboys, 7th Rd) were selected. The 2008 “non-buzzworth” event wasn’t even held due to a lack of interest . But the 2011 NFL Supplemental Draft does appear to have at least one prospect, even if disgraced former Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor has been conspicuously been left off the list – more on this later.
My prediction is that none of the four “eligible” players will be selected during Wednesday’s process – Maybe King on a late-round flyer.
The prospects eligible for the 2011 NFL Supplemental Draft include:
Georgia RB Caleb King
Northern Illinois Safety Tracy Wilson
Western Carolina CB Torez Jones
Lindenwood University DE Keenan Mace
Lloyd Vance is an NFL Writer for Taking It to the House and Sports Journey Network , who is also an award-winning member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA)
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