The NFL's Other Draft: Inside the Supplemental Draft and How It...
The NFL’s Other Draft: Inside the Supplemental Draft and How It Works
The NFL’s Other Draft: Inside the Supplemental Draft and How It Works
The NFL Draft is one of the biggest events on the football calendar, drawing more than 50 million viewers over three days. But there’s another, far lesser-known draft that quietly serves an important purpose, the NFL Supplemental Draft.
The Supplemental Draft has been around since 1977, created as an additional avenue for draft-eligible players to enter the league. Simply put, it exists for players who weren’t eligible to be selected during the traditional April draft. Since 1993, the NFL has allowed players who faced adversity (including disciplinary issues) to petition the league for Supplemental Draft entry.
In all, 46 players have been selected in the Supplemental Draft since its inception, with the last being Jalen Thompson in 2019, when the Arizona Cardinals used a fifth-round pick on the Washington State safety. Notable names to come through the process include Pro Bowl quarterback Bernie Kosar and wide receiver Cris Carter, widely considered the best Supplemental Draft pick ever after being selected in the fourth round in 1987.
RELATED | Brendan Sorsby and the NFL Supplemental Draft: Can He Join the List of Most Notable Picks?
So how does it work?
- Unlike the main draft, teams submit blind bids indicating which round they’re willing to use on a player.
- The team with the highest bid wins the player but forfeits that corresponding pick in the following year’s NFL Draft.
- Selection order is determined by a tiered system based on the previous season’s records.
The 2026 NFL Supplemental Draft date hasn’t been confirmed, but it’s expected to take place in early or mid-July.
One name to watch is Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who took an indefinite leave to seek treatment for a gambling addiction and could potentially become the first player drafted since 2019 if he loses his collegiate eligibility appeal.
The NFL’s Other Draft: Inside the Supplemental Draft and How It Works was originally published on 1075thefan.com
