Supplemental Draft

[MJZiggy]

I don't know enough about the supplemental draft. Could someone please tell me who goes into the supplemental draft, how it works and why they don't just wait until the following week and sign people as undrafted FAs?

[Tarlam!]

O.K. This is a great question. (I know bits, but I am happy to bow to any higfher authority)....

Some kids in some schools may not, for school policy reasons, enter the draft at draft time. What those policies pertain to is a mystery, but this is the way it is.

So, when the supplemental draft occurs, it is like the real draft.

There is a #1 pick and a #last pick, but here's the whammy: Whatever round you select a kid in in the sup draft, counts as your selection in next year's real draft!

[Charles Woodson]

do you have to pick?

[packrulz]

Every year, over 200 players are picked in the NFL Draft. There have been a total of 32 players taken overall in the previous 26 supplemental drafts.
Supplemental drafts occur at varying times, but usually in the summer. There was one during the 2002 season, which was unique. There have been multiple drafts in the same year -- they had four of them in 1985.
Instead of over 400 players to choose from, usually there is only a handful. Sometimes, there are none.
Teams can opt to not make a pick if they so desire.
There's no glitz or glamour. There's no commissioner's podium (or commissioner). There's no jersey-holding, no green room, no TV coverage and no media session.
But otherwise, it's the same.

Supplemental drafts got started in 1977 when Al Hunter, a running back from Notre Dame, was declared scholastically ineligible to play college football. Essentially, Hunter had nowhere to play except for the NFL. So instead of waiting until the 1978 NFL Draft, the league chose to have an extra draft just for him.

Since then, numerous players have been available in the supplemental draft for a bevy of reasons. Ultimately, if a player was no longer eligible to play on the college level and missed the deadline for the NFL Draft, he could be picked here.

Here's how it worked: The NFL would pull names out of a hat to determine the draft order. They would then go down the list, offering each team the chance to make a selection. A team got the chance every round to make its pick. If a team made a pick, they had to forfeit a pick in the subsequent draft -- the bigger draft with the college players. Sometimes, rounds would go by where nobody made a pick. Sometimes the entire draft would go by without a player being picked.

Nowadays it still works the same way, but instead of pulling names out of a hat, the NFL uses the previous year's draft order.

[Charles Woodson]

if they dont get picked, are they considreed undrafted fa's?

[packrulz]

I think so. Remember Wahle was a 2nd round supplemental draft pick. Good one Ron Wolf!
PACKERS SELECT MIKE WAHLE, 6-FOOT-6, 306-POUND OFFENSIVE TACKLE FROM NAVY, IN SECOND ROUND OF NFL'S SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT


posted 7/9/98

The Green Bay Packers today selected offensive tackle Mike Wahle of Navy in the National Football League's supplemental draft, Executive Vice President/General Manager Ron Wolf announced.

The Packers chose the 6-foot-6, 306-pound Wahle (the name is pronounced "WALL") in the draft's second round.

No selections were made in the first round and Jamal Williams, a defensive tackle from Oklahoma State, was the first player chosen. He was taken by the San Diego Chargers earlier in the second round.

Wahle and Williams were the only players chosen in the seven rounds of the draft, which ended this afternoon.

A 21-year-old native of Lake Arrowhead, Calif., Wahle started all 11 games at left tackle on a Navy offensive unit which ranked third in the nation in rushing yardage last season. In that role, he blocked for quarterback Chris McCoy, whom he shortly will be rejoining, McCoy having been signed as a free agent by the Packers June 3.

Wahle entered the Naval Academy in 1995 and spent his freshman season on the Middes' jayvee team. He had come to Navy as a wide receiver, weighing 210 pounds, and was switched to the offensive line for the 1996 season, which found him seeing action in six games.

Earlier, at Rim of the World High School in Lake Arrowhead, Wahle lettered in football, basketball and baseball, earning first team all-league and league MVP honors in football and first team all-county recognition in basketball his senior year.

Wahle is expected to report for the opening of training camp next Thursday (July 16) with the Packers' other first-year players. He has been assigned jersey number 68, with defensive tackle Keif Bryant thus switching from 68 to 69.

Now the third former Navy athlete on the current Packers roster, joining McCoy and defensive tackle Bob Kuberski, Wahle has no further military commitments, having resigned from the Academy in spring.

In exercising the supplemental selection, the Packers forfeited their second round pick in the NFL's 1999 draft next April.

[swede]

What a great informative thread. You rats ROCK!

It certainly is an ingenious device for distributing talent after the primary draft.

I wonder how the next draft board looks after picks are made in the supplemental draft. Would a player drafted in last year's supplemental draft have his name name already posted in the corresponding slot or do they simply reduce the picks in the round and skip the team that picked the player?

[MJZiggy]

Does anyone know why a team would want to make the pick in the supplemental rather than waiting and taking them as undrafted FA's? It would seem you could save yourself the pick doing it that way...

YOU GUYS ROCK!! I can ask anything and someone will know the answer.

[Guiness]

Good posts Packrulz. BTW being a deer and all, shouldn't you be 'hunted rat' instead of Hunter?

I knew Wahle (pronounced Wall) was a sup pick, but didn't know he went that high. How did he end up in a supplemental draft anyways? He should've know his military commitment was running out...

NB I think the answer to your question was in PRs post, but I'll answer is specifically: No, you don't have to pick at all in the sup draft. You can skip rounds, or the whole draft if you like.
If a team wants a player, they decide what round they'd take him in, and if he's still there when that pick comes up, they get him.

IIRC there was sup draft last year, and a couple of 5's or 6's got spent.

[Charles Woodson]

Since they are used draft picks from the next year, do are they able to play the year they are drafted?

[packrulz]

When Wolf took Wahle, he burned the 2nd round pick the following year. But, if it is a low 2nd round pick, so much better the deal. I guess it's risky but Wahle proves you can find gems in the supplemental draft. That's what I liked about Wolf, he was always looking for gems in the supp draft, FA (Reggie), & the draft. I doubt there will be much in the supp draft this year though.

[Guiness]

Does anyone know why a team would want to make the pick in the supplemental rather than waiting and taking them as undrafted FA's? It would seem you could save yourself the pick doing it that way...

YOU GUYS ROCK!! I can ask anything and someone will know the answer.

'cause someone else might take him. If the Packers felt pressured enought to spend a 2 on Wahle, it's because they felt someone else was going to use a 3, and he was a good value at that spot. He would've never made it to Undrafted status.

[packrulz]

Since they are used draft picks from the next year, do are they able to play the year they are drafted?

I don't think Wahle started but I think he was active. If I remember right he did try to play LT but kind of sucked so they put Cliffy in there and Whale at LG they both kicked butt.

[Tarlam!]

Packrulz. BTW being a deer and all, shouldn't you be 'hunted rat' instead of Hunter?

Thanks Guin, that had me with beer outta my nostrils laughing! Great one!

[Patler]

Players taken in First Rounds of past supplemental drafts:

1981 Dave Wilson Illinois QB New Orleans
1985 Bernie Kosar Miami QB Cleveland
1987 Brian Bosworth Oklahoma LB Seattle
1989 Steve Walsh Miami QB Dallas
1989 Timm Rosenbach Wash. State QB Phoenix
1989 Bobby Humphrey Alabama RB Denver
1990 Rob Moore Syracuse WR N.Y. Jets
1992 Dave Brown Duke QB N.Y. Giants