Supplemental Draft to be held this Thursday; Don't expect the Steelers to make a pick

[RuthlessBurgher]

NFL Supplemental Draft 2012: Quality Prospects Available, but Don't Expect the Steelers to Make a Pick

by seton hall and steelers on Jul 5, 2012 10:00 AM EDT in NFL News

The NFL Supplemental Draft will take place at 1 p.m. July 12, and this year there are six prospects eligible for the draft. Unlike last year, when there was just one marquee prospect and nothing else, this years class of Supplemental Draft prospects has two guys who could be late round draft picks.

Josh Gordon, a former Baylor WR, has great size and speed and is a decent project prospect. At 6'4" and 220 pounds, he could become a great deep threat in the NFL. He needs to improve his route running to become a good WR in the NFL. The other good prospect in this draft is Ed Wesley from TCU. The former Horned Frogs running back is only 5'9" but he is very shifty and has good moves. He could become a decent third down back in the NFL if he keeps his head on straight.

Despite these two prospects that headline this Supplemental Draft, don't expect any of the prospects to garner more then a fifth round pick at best. The other four prospects are Quaylon Ewing, Adam Harris, Adrian Haughton, Larry Lumpkin, Montez Robinson, and Houston Tuminello. None of these guys are likely to be drafted although Ewing, a 6'2" cornerback from Boise State could be a nice project for someone to pick up.

I have heard that some people believe that the Steelers could be a suiter for Josh Gordon because of Mike Wallace's holdout but don't expect the Steelers to end their streak of not selecting players in the Supplemental Draft. However, as we all know, the Steelers do not draft players out of the Supplemental Draft. Since I was born in 1993, it has happened exactly zero times. So, why would the Steelers spend a selection on a guy who was kicked off Baylor's football team for multiple drug problems? I just don't think it will happen.

Somebody that is very intriguing if he goes undrafted is Ed Wesley. Wesley had a couple good years at TCU before leaving the team for family reasons. He was expected to be the lead back for TCU next year. If he goes undrafted, the Steelers might give him a look. He is versatile and would give more competition in the backfield as the Steelers go through training camp and pre-season.

[URL]http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2012/7/5/3138123/nfl-supplemental-draft-2012-pittsburgh-steelers-josh-morgan[/URL]

[Discipline of Steel]

Yes, we can add Ed Wesley to give competition to Batch and Rainey

[RuthlessBurgher]

Ed Wesley works out for 12 teams, runs 4.7-second 40-yard dash
Posted by Michael David Smith on July 9, 2012, 3:55 PM EDT

Three days before the NFL supplemental draft, one of the eligible players conducted a Pro Day workout, and his numbers weren’t impressive.

Former Texas Christian University running back Ed Wesley measured 5-foot-8 and weighed 196 pounds, and he ran the 40-yard dash twice, once in 4.68 seconds and and once in 4.72 seconds, according to Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com. A 4.7-second 40 for a running back who weighs less than 200 pounds just isn’t the kind of size/speed combination NFL teams are looking for. It appears unlikely that Wesley will be drafted.

That doesn’t mean he won’t play in the NFL, though. Wesley’s agent, Jordan Woy, says about a dozen teams attended the workout and about another half-dozen have shown interest. If Wesley isn’t chosen in the supplemental draft, he becomes a free agent who can sign with any NFL team, and it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see some team give him a shot at training camp.

Former Baylor receiver Josh Gordon, who’s likely to be the only player selected in the supplemental draft, will run for scouts on Tuesday.

[URL]http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/09/ed-wesley-works-out-for-12-teams-runs-4-7-second-40-yard-dash/[/URL]

[RuthlessBurgher]

Supplemental prospect Gordon runs 4.52 forty at Pro Day
Posted by Evan Silva on July 10, 2012, 12:41 PM EDT

Top supplemental draft prospect Josh Gordon conducted an individual Pro Day workout at the Houston Texans’ indoor facility on Tuesday morning. Per Adam Caplan, most NFL teams in attendance sent two personnel evaluators – in most instances their college scouting director and one area scout.

The Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Browns, Buffalo Bills, and Dallas Cowboys were among the teams confirmed to have attended. Obviously, there were Texans officials on hand, too.

Caplan reports that Gordon ran a 4.52 forty-yard dash after measuring in at 6-foot-3 1/8 and 224 pounds. Gordon recorded a 36-inch vertical leap with a 10-foot, 1-inch broad jump. He did 13 reps on the bench.

While the forty time isn’t quite as good as the pre-Pro Day hype might have suggested, it’s still very fast for a human being who weighs over 220 pounds. Gordon is big, and he can run.

This year’s supplemental draft will go down on Thursday.

At least one NFL scout has described Gordon as a “rare talent as far as supplemental drafts go.” We don’t expect him to get out of the third round.

[URL]http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/10/supplemental-prospect-gordon-runs-4-52-forty-at-pro-day/[/URL]

[hawaiiansteel]

Josh Gordon's Workout Attended by Several Teams, Not the Steelers

by Neal Coolong on Jul 11, 2012

The NFL's Supplemental Draft has been in place since 1977, and not once have the Steelers used a future draft pick on a player for the current season.

That isn't to say they've never put in a pick for a player - each team puts in a bid for a player by submitting which round they'd draft the player. The system is weighted into groupings, and whichever team has the highest draft position and puts in a bid for the highest round gets the rights to that player. The pick is counted as that round's pick the following year.

The buzz last year surrounding former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor was such that it was expected a team would spend a higher pick than had been used in recent memory. Pryor went in the third round, taken by Oakland. No player has been taken higher than the third round since Houston took RB Tony Holdings with a second round pick in 2003.

Obviously that worked out well for Houston, and it's a pretty good indication of why the Steelers don't participate in the Supplemental Draft.

Former Baylor WR Josh Gordon is the target of intrigue at this year's Supplemental Draft, taking place Thursday. He measured and weighed at 6-foot-3, 225 pounds, and ran a 4.52 40-yard dash. Impressive numbers, certainly enough where even with his marijuana possession arrest after being found passed out in a Taco Bell drive-thrulane and subsequent team suspension would still merit a mid-round pick.

The Supplemental Draft route is a bit trickier, though. Teams have to worry about the salary cap. They've already allocated certain monies for the drafted players they acquired in April, and they've perhaps already spent big in free agency, or at least spent what they feel they want to spend.

Those issues paint the Supplemental Draft as something more of an impulse buy. At the time the full draft comes along, no player has declared for the Supplemental Draft, so teams proceed with taking the players who can be taken, without worrying about who they could get in July.

This says nothing of the reasons behind why the player is forced to go through the Supplemental Draft in the first place. In Morgan's case, he was booted from Baylor, and had transferred to Utah, but decided not even to bother playing there, and just make for the NFL.

You have to think those in charge of the ultimate team game may be leery of someone who gets kicked off one team, tells another he'll play for them and backs out of it. And to spend next year's pick on a player they already went through minicamp and OTAs without is a bit risky, to put it mildly.

The Steelers and six other teams - Arizona, St. Louis, Carolina, Jacksonville, Indianapolis and Tennessee - have never used a supplemental pick. Of those other six teams,three of them played in different cities than where they currently are and the other two came into the NFL in 1995.

Even with all this, it's unlikely Morgan won't end up being chosen somewhere Thursday. Coaches can't teach 6-foot-4, 225 and 4.52. NFL.reporter Adam Caplan wrote 14 teams were in attendance at his workout Tuesday, and it's certainly plausible to think they'd invest a lower-end pick on a player with outstanding physical talents.

Granted, had he run a 4.4, there would be little to suggest some team wouldn't go into the third for him. A 4.52 is pretty solid for a 225-pound receiver, but with so many offseason plans already in place, the value of a supplemental selection is far lower than that of a player in the standard draft.

Essentially, the Steelers don't dip into the Supplemental Draft because they don't have to. Every team has holes they'd like addressed whenever they can, but shame on any team that feels any player who's become available between today and the standard draft will fill an immediate hole.

Making a bold prediction, the Steelers will not use a pick on Gordon Thursday. Their streak of consecutive seasons without using one will run to 35 years, and they'll remind people they used a sixth-round pick in the standard draft on team MVP Antonio Brown.

[URL]http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2012/7/11/3151051/josh-gordons-workout-attended-by-several-teams-not-the-steelers[/URL]

[RuthlessBurgher]

being found passed out in a Taco Bell drive-thru lane

That's just awesome.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Larry Lumpkin works out
Posted by Darin Gantt on July 11, 2012, 8:45 PM EDT

Believe it or not, there are players other than former Baylor wide receiver Josh Gordon in Thursday’s Supplemental Draft.

One of them worked out today in front of a handful of teams.

Linebacker Larry Lumpkin (we want him to make a camp for his name alone) ran his 40s at 4.69 and 4.72 seconds today, according to Aaron Wilson of Scout.com.

Those aren’t great times, but a source told Wilson the running surface was soft because of recent rains.

He also did 27 reps of the 225-pound bench press and registered a 9-foot, 10-inch broad jump.

Either way, the Carson-Newman product is considered a late-round flier or more likely, a free agent pickup.

[URL]http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/11/larry-lumpkin-works-out-for/[/URL]

[RuthlessBurgher]

Report: Robert Griffin III pushing Redskins to take Josh Gordon
Posted by Michael David Smith on July 11, 2012, 4:32 PM EDT

Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III played with receiver Josh Gordon at Baylor. And Griffin would like to play with Gordon in Washington.

Griffin is pushing the Redskins brass hard to select Gordon in Thursday’s supplemental draft, according to Jason La Canfora of CBS.

If Griffin is desperate to play with Gordon again, he’s not saying so publicly. Asked by HogsHaven.com whether Gordon can succeed in the NFL, Griffin didn’t sound overly enthusiastic about Gordon’s chances.

“I mean, it’s up to him,” Griffin said. “Whether he wants to make it or not. I can’t say whether he’s going to be successful or not be successful. It’s just to him and what he wants to do to leave his legacy.”

The Redskins also seem like an unlikely team to use a pick on a wide receiver because they have already added free agent receivers Pierre Garcon and Josh Morgan this offseason. And Gordon’s off-field issues might scare off coach Mike Shanahan.

So while it’s useful to the Redskins’ personnel department to have Griffin’s input in assessing whether Gordon is worth giving up a 2013 draft pick to acquire, that doesn’t mean a Griffin-Gordon reunion is likely.

[URL]http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/11/report-robert-griffin-iii-pushing-redskins-to-take-josh-gordon/[/URL]

[RuthlessBurgher]

It’s a tough road for any of today’s Supplemental prospects
Posted by Darin Gantt on July 12, 2012, 12:37 PM EDT

In the next hour, Josh Gordon and the rest of the supplemental draft candidates will know their fate.

That’s just the beginning of their climb to an NFL job.

“It’s a catch-up game all the way,” running back Harvey Unga told Len Pasquarelli of The Sports Xchange. “No matter how good a learner you are, you have to work so hard to get caught up.”

Unga was taken by the Bears in the seventh round of the 2010 Supplemental Draft, but has yet to play in a game, showing the long odds for today’s candidates.

The rough road is partly because of all the offseason installation has happened without them, and they have such a short time to get ready for training camp.

“It’s hard because you’re kind of like the kid who starts classes a month or two [into the semester],” said Tony Hollings, a running back selected by the Texans in the second round in 2003. “You’re behind from day one.”

Hollings is the highest-drafted player since 1999, and his career was easy to forget. He started one game in 23 appearances, and never scored a touchdown. Last year’s pick, quarterback Terrelle Pryor, is clearly a long-term project for the Raiders.

But since 10 of the 41 players chosen since 1977 never played a snap in the league, it’s fair to wonder about the chances of any of the eight players eligible today.

[URL]http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/12/its-a-tough-road-for-any-of-todays-supplemental-prospects/[/URL]

[RuthlessBurgher]

Josh Gordon lands with the Browns as a second-round pick
Posted by Michael David Smith on July 12, 2012, 1:28 PM EDT

Josh Gordon is heading to Cleveland.

Gordon, the former Baylor wide receiver who left college football behind and entered the NFL supplemental draft, was selected by the Browns with a second-round pick today. That means the Browns do not have a second-round pick in next year’s draft, but they do have another young playmaker on offense.

The supplemental draft order was determined using a lottery in which the Browns got the second pick of each round, so only one other team — the Buffalo Bills — even got a shot at drafting Gordon in the second round. Every team passed on Gordon in the first round.

As a sophomore at Baylor in 2010, Gordon caught 42 passes for 714 yards and seven touchdowns, but he was suspended for the 2011 season after he failed a drug test. At a Pro Day workout this week, he measured in at 6-foot-3 and 224 pounds and ran a 4.52-second 40-yard dash.

Everyone agreed that Gordon was the best prospect in this year’s supplemental draft, although there was disagreement about just how good a prospect he is. Some saw him as worthy of a second-round pick, while others said he was overhyped and suggested that he was getting far more coverage than his college production warranted because it’s a slow time when everyone is desperate to talk about any NFL news.

As it turned out, the Browns believed the hype was real, and Gordon is the latest addition to an offense that also added first-round running back Trent Richardson and first-round quarterback Brandon Weeden. The Browns made clear with the regular draft that they were serious about bolstering their talent on offense, and they’ve done it again in the supplemental draft.

[URL]http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/12/josh-gordon-lands-with-the-browns-as-a-second-round-pick/[/URL]