For the first time since 2019, the NFL’s supplemental draft is back. On July 11, teams in need of young wide receiver help will have their choice … of two approved prospects.
Purdue’s Milton Wright and Jackson State’s Malachi Wideman are the only two players to be approved for the summer’s occasional bonus draft. If teams are willing to part with a 2024 NFL Draft pick, they can take a crack at two players low on name recognition but who could, with the right environment, develop into contributors on Sunday. If selected, they’d join the ranks of supplemental draft veterans that includes Cris Carter, Josh Gordon and Terrelle Pryor.
But what is the supplemental draft, and how do prospects wind up there? It’s simple, actually.
The supplemental draft is for players whose eligibility has been affected for the upcoming college season
For the most part, this means players who’ve been declared ineligible for the following fall. Cris Carter, for example, was ineligible to finish out his Ohio State career after signing with an agent and thus opted for the supplemental draft rather than sitting out the 1987 season.
In order to be considered for the supplemental draft, a player must file a petition with the league explaining his circumstances. If he’s draft eligible — i.e., three years removed from high school — the NFL can approve that petition and stage the supplemental draft. If no one is approved, the draft doesn’t happen. That’s most often the case; there have only been three supplemental drafts in the past decade.
How does the supplemental draft order work?
Instead of a locked-in, last-to-first order like the traditional draft, the supplemental draft is a little more complex. Teams are first separated into three categories:
- teams with six wins or fewer
- teams with more than six wins who did not make the playoffs
- playoff teams
There’s then a lottery within each group to determine the order of selection, with group one leading things off. So instead of picking first, the Chicago Bears could wind up anywhere from first to seventh in the pecking order. The defending champion Kansas City Chiefs could wind up anywhere from 19th to 32nd.
Why? The short answer is: Bernie Kosar. Kosar was a vaunted prospect who graduated from the University of Miami early and wanted to play for the Cleveland Browns. But there was no way he’d last to the Browns’ pick in the 1985 regular NFL Draft, especially after the Minnesota Vikings traded up to the second overall selection with their sights set on the former national champion.
So Kosar failed to declare for the spring draft, knowing his agent could engineer a deal that allowed the Buffalo Bills to trade his rights to Cleveland instead at the supplemental draft. The move allowed him to bypass Minnesota and sparked furor among team executives across the league. In order to avoid similar situations, the NFL opted for an element of randomization in its supplemental draft lineup, leaving prospects less certainty about where they’d land.
How do selections work?
The supplemental draft is a blind bidding system, where teams submit sealed bids on the players they’d like to select. These entries include the player’s name and the round they’re willing to select him in — the team who opts to select that player in the earliest round wins his rights. If two teams have the same round preference for a prospect, his landing spot is determined by the aforementioned draft order.
These picks aren’t free, however. Winning means forfeiting that round’s pick in next year’s traditional NFL Draft. Land a player at a fourth round valuation and you’re losing a fourth round pick come springtime.
Who are the most notable supplemental draft picks in NFL history?
There haven’t been too many notable names lately. The Arizona Cardinals landed starting safety Jalen Thompson in exchange for a fifth round pick in the 2019 supplemental draft. The 2018 draft brought Sam Beal and Adonis Alexander into the league — they have three starts between them.
The draft used to be a viable portal for much bigger names. Kosar, Carter, Bobby Humphrey and Brian Bosworth all entered the NFL through the supplemental draft in the 1980s. The 1990s saw notable talent like Rob Moore, Dave Brown, Mike Wahle and Jamal Williams earn summertime selections. The turn of the millennium brought guys like Gordon, Pryor, Ahmad Brooks and Jared Gaither.
Will Milton Wright or Malachi Wideman be selected?
Neither player is a can’t-miss prospect. Wright looked like a rising star in 2021 but struggled with academic issues at Purdue and was ruled ineligible for 2022. He has a decent frame and had 57 catches with seven touchdowns in 11 games for the Boilermakers in ’21, but his pre-draft testing numbers paint him as one of the least athletic wideout prospects in any of the last three drafts (RAS numbers, as always, from the extremely helpful Kent Lee Platte).
Hat tip @MathBomb pic.twitter.com/asUqDuIzxP
— Joseph Malcomb (@Footba11Joe) July 7, 2023
Wideman is less proven but maybe more intriguing. The 6-foot-5 receiver led Jackson State with 12 touchdown catches in 2021 after transferring from Tennessee. However, he only had 34 receptions on the year, leaving consistency a concern. He’s got reported 4.4-second 40 speed and looked like a true home run threat in college, albeit against a modest level of competition.
I'm very curious what Malachi Wideman's broad jump is lol pic.twitter.com/uPFCxBEpnO
— Matt Holder (@MHolder95) July 6, 2023
If either is selected, it’ll likely be for the equivalent of a 2024 Day 3 pick.
Update: Neither player was selected in the 2023 supplemental draft.
No players were selected in today’s NFL supplemental draft, per source.
That means the two players eligible, Jackson State WR Malachi Wideman and Purdue WR Milton Wright, are now free agents.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) July 11, 2023
