NFL Supplemental draft to take place this Thursday: Rules & eligible players

Teams begin to report to training camp in a week and a half, but in the meantime, there is one more offseason activity to complete. The 2013 NFL Supplemental Draft will take place this Thursday at 10:00 a.m. PT, and Rob Rang is reporting there are six players eligible for selection: DE James Boyd, UNLV, DT Nate Holloway, UNLV, DE Toby Jackson, Central Florida, WR DeWayne Peace, Houston, WR O.J. Ross, Purdue, DB Damond Smith, South Alabama.

Eligibility

College athletes become eligible for the Supplemental Draft when they are ineligible for the regular April draft, but become eligible prior to the start of the next season. These players gain eligibility for a variety of reasons, although oftentimes it is because of some sort of disciplinary issue. Recent players to be selected include Josh Gordon last year, and Terrelle Pryor the year before. 49ers outside linebacker Ahmad Brooks was originally selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2006 Supplemental Draft. The two most famous supplemental picks were probably Chris Carter and Brian Bosworth.

Draft order

The NFL actually uses a lottery to determine order in the Supplemental Draft. PFT described it in great detail last year. Teams are weighted based on record, like the NBA lottery. The lottery is broken down into three groups. The first group consists of teams that won no more than six games the previous season. Those ten teams will be guaranteed the top ten spots, but the specific order will be determined by the lottery. The second group consists of the remaining teams except playoff teams, and the third group are the playoff teams. The groups will be divided up as follows:

Group 1: Kansas City Chiefs, Jacksonville Jaguars, Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions, Oakland Raiders, Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans

Group 2: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints, Miami Dolphins, San Diego Chargers, St. Louis Rams, Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants, Chicago Bears

Group 3: Minnesota Vikings, Cincinnati Bengals, Baltimore Ravens, Washington Redskins, Seattle Seahawks, Indianpolis Colts, Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers, Houston Texans, New England Patriots, Atlanta Falcons, Denver Broncos

Draft picks

Once the draft begins, it goes from No. 1 to No. 32 for seven rounds. Teams either make a selection, or elect to pass on the pick. If a team makes a pick in the Supplemental Draft, they lose that corresponding pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. That is one reason we see so few supplemental picks. In 36 years of Supplemental Drafts, there have been 45 total picks.

Scouting reports

There will be more scouting reports in the coming days, but for now, check out Rob Rang from CBS Sports, and Dan Kadar from Mocking the Draft.

Do you see the 49ers even considering supplemental picks?

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