The 2023 NFL Draft is in the rearview mirror, but there will be another opportunity for teams to add incoming talent to their rosters before training camp kicks off.
The league will hold a supplemental draft on July 11 for the first time since 2019, and it will allow teams to select players that, for one reason or another, weren’t eligible for the main draft in April.
This is true. The dramatic return of the Supplemental Draft! The league has informed the clubs that it will be Tuesday, July 11. One player has been confirmed to clubs as eligible as of now, #purdue WR Milton Wright. https://t.co/R6bg3EhFEn
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 16, 2023
At first, one may think that the players available in the supplemental draft are inconsequential, but that isn’t necessarily the case.
In 2012, the Cleveland Browns took wide receiver Josh Gordon in that year’s supplemental draft, and in just his second season in the NFL, he exploded, going for a league-high 1,646 yards plus nine touchdowns and earning both Pro Bowl and All-Pro first-team honors.
Unfortunately, the rest of his career was marred by multiple suspensions for violating the league’s substance abuse policy.
Perhaps the most beloved player in Browns history, quarterback Bernie Kosar was a supplemental pick himself back in 1985, and he led them to back-to-back appearances in the AFC Championship Game.
Linebacker Ahmad Brooks was taken in the 2006 supplemental draft, and he had a long and productive career, mostly with the San Francisco 49ers.
The best example of a diamond in the rough that was found in the supplemental draft was wide receiver Cris Carter, who was taken there in 1987.
Carter made eight Pro Bowls and retired as one of the NFL’s all-time career leaders in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns.
This year, a notable player who will be available in the supplemental draft is Milton Wright of Purdue University.
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