Welcome to the slow part of the 2023 offseason. It’s slow, but we have news: the NFL supplemental draft has returned with a date of July 11, per The Athletic’s Dane Brugler. Yeah, this is the closest thing to an NFL side act that we’ll get, but it at least gives us something to talk about. The supplemental draft isn’t required and the NFL can decide whether to run it or not.
We haven’t seen a supplemental draft for the last three years. The last one was in 2019. Why the NFL hasn’t ran one since is anyone’s guess but considering the time period, a certain pandemic may have had a hand in the “why”.
Oftentimes the players in the supplemental draft are in it due to off-field issues (legal, academic, family, etc). That seems to be a similar situation with former Purdue wide receiver Milton Wright who is the only prospect approved so far; he was ruled academically ineligible for the 2022 season. Some of the more famous supplemental picks were Cris Carter, Brian Bosworth, and Josh Gordon.
So Milton Wright. There may be a couple other players to join him in picks. Right now if it’s just Milton Wright, that’s a wide receiver and the San Francisco 49ers have plenty of that. The draft works in a strange lottery-like system to determine order where three groups are placed into a tier-like structure. Since the 49ers made the playoffs they would be in the final tier. From there teams bid via draft picks on a player. The highest pick gets the player and the team making the bid forfeits the pick.
So if you think Milton Wright is worth throwing a 2024 draft pick out the window, then what would you give up for him. Since there’s nothing else going on in NFL-land, there’s probably going to be a ton of talk about him and what he could bring to an NFL team. Do you see anything he could offer? The position alone has me with a “No thanks”.
We should hear of other announcements in the coming weeks. Hopefully something that fills one of those few (very) small holes the 49ers roster has (man, it never stops feeling weird saying that).
As far as 49ers history is concerned, they have selected five players in the supplemental draft. In 1978, they selected running back Rod Connors. In 1985, they took another running back in Roosevelt Snipes. 1984 was a special one as that was a supplemental draft to offload all the picks after the USFL shut down. The 49ers took wide receiver Derrick Crawford, offensive tackle Joe Conwell, and running back Mark Schellen.
Yeah, not exactly a list of superstars. Don’t worry, there is one we all know, former 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks. He was selected in the supplemental draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. You know him as the guy responsible for this.
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