The NFL informed its teams Wednesday that it will not be holding a supplemental draft this year, according to a league memo obtained by ESPN.
It’s the fourth year out of the last five in which the league has elected not to hold a supplemental draft, which is the league’s right under the collective bargaining agreement.
Last year, when the league broke a three-year streak of not holding the supplemental draft, only two players were eligible, and neither was selected. The last player selected in the supplemental draft was Jalen Thompson by the Arizona Cardinals in the fifth round in 2019.
The supplemental draft, when it exists, is for players who for one reason or another were not eligible when the April draft was held. It runs for seven rounds, and any team making a selection forfeits its pick from the corresponding round in the following year’s April draft. (Ergo, the Cardinals surrendered their 2020 fifth-round pick by selecting Thompson in 2019.)
Bernie Kosar, Cris Carter, Terrelle Pryor and Josh Gordon are among those NFL players who entered the league via the supplemental draft.