NFL Supplemental Draft 2015: Start Time, Date, Order, Rules, Eligible Prospects

Seven players are eligible for the 2015 NFL supplemental draft, which will start Thursday at 1 p.m. ET and will feature a lottery format to determine the order.

Three different clusters comprise the lottery, with the first being the 10 teams who won six games or less last season. The second tier consists of the teams that won seven or more games but did not make the playoffs. The final group consists of the 12 playoff teams, but this part of the lottery won't receive a lot of press.

Most of the focus will be on whether a player will actually be drafted. Check out the prospects who will be available:

Player	Position	School
Isaiah Battle	OT	Clemson
Darrius Caldwell	DE	West Georgia
Eric Eiland	DE	Houston
Sean McQuillan	TE	Connecticut
Kevin Short	DB	Fort Scott Community College (Kansas)
Dalvon Stuckey	DT	West Georgia
Adrian Wilkins	WR	NC Central

If a team opts to select one of the seven players, it will lose the corresponding pick in next year's draft. There are seven rounds in the supplemental draft, just as there are in the regular one. Sacrificing a premium asset in favor of a whole lot of talent to choose from in the following NFL draft class is a bold strategy.

No one has been chosen in the supplemental draft since the Cleveland Browns took wide receiver Josh Gordon with a second-round bid in 2012. Gordon wound up leading the NFL in receiving in 2013, but off-field issues that landed him on the supplemental path in the first place have plagued him for the most part.

NFL.com's Gil Brandt posted the workout numbers from West Georgia defensive linemen Dalvon Stuckey and Darrius Caldwell, and made an ominous conclusion for their NFL hopes:

Mike Kaye of First Coast News alluded to the crooked path Houston's Eric Eiland took prior to pursuing a pro football dream:

Important as football can be in the trenches, the pass-happy modern NFL has an unprecedented premium placed on cornerbacks. That will at least garner junior college prospect Kevin Scott a bit of a longer look.

An extended feature by The Fort Scott Tribune's Scott Nuzum paints a complicated picture of the defensive back. Short recorded 10 interceptions in two seasons for Fort Scott before transferring to Kansas, battling academic issues and leaving the program on his own accord, though not for scholastic shortcomings.

Adrian Wilkins is listed at just 5'8" and 175 pounds on North Carolina Central's athletics website. The wideout will have to show he can make up for a diminutive frame with supreme quickness, speed and hands to have any chance of making it as a pro.

Wilkins seems a distant possibility to be drafted, based on the following workout numbers from First Coast News' Mike Kaye:

Former Connecticut tight end Sean McQuillan doesn't lack confidence in his chances even with charges of second-degree assault and disorderly conduct on his record, per the Hartford Courant's Desmond Conner:

"

Well, first of all, I'm going to make it, and second of all, there isn't a backup plan. I'm confident I'm going to be able to do this thing. I'm prepared for this. I'm going to show them I'm athletic, I'm versatile, I can do a bunch of different things. I'm confident and I'm ready for this next step, so I haven't thought about anything else.

"

Optimum Scouting's Eric Galko offered his predictions, which don't bode well for McQuillan or most other supplemental entries:

The consensus among supplemental draftniks is that Clemson offensive tackle Isaiah Battle is the likeliest to be picked up. Look no further than Battle's impressive pro day attendance, per ESPN.com's Mike Reiss:

Yahoo Sports' Charles Robinson has inside information to suggest Battle could be taken rather early:

Pro Football Focus' stats suggest Battle has a long way to go before proving himself as an NFL player:

Battle started 11 games for Clemson last season, but was pulled over for speeding in June and cited for simple marijuana possession, per Will Vandervort of The Clemson Insider. He was also ejected from a 2013 game for throwing a punch and was suspended thereafter.

ESPN.com's Mark Dominik reports Battle measured at 6'6 1/8" and weighed 312 pounds at his workout for scouts and ran a 5.22-second 40-yard dash. That offers an idea of the type of athleticism Battle has, which may tempt some team to take a supplemental flier.

The upside is there for Battle to be the one to break the supplemental skid that has persisted for the past coupe of years. With behavioral issues in his recent past and unsavory advanced metrics from last season, it will be interesting to see if some team believes Battle's potential reward outweighs the risk.