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Photo courtesy of M Khursheed

The price paid for former Baylor wide receiver Josh Gordon exceeded almost all expectations: The Cleveland Browns used what should be an early-second round pick to add the big, fast, inexperienced wideout. 

The draw of the supplemental draft lottery might have forced the Browns' hand, as they came in second behind Buffalo, another team rumored to have interest in Gordon. It is possible that they were also afraid of Washington, Miami or Dallas spending a second-round pick on Gordon.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Browns had Gordon in for a visit last Thursday and Friday:

Schefter also noted that the Browns were the only team to submit a second-round pick for Gordon. That means that a third-round pick would have likely landed him. But the Browns had to submit a claim based on what they thought Gordon was worth and what other teams might do. Since they were clearly high on Gordon, they probably felt that they couldn't risk losing him just to preserve the round of one of their picks.

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Photo Courtesy of Huntsville Times

After his agent revealed that 19 team had expressed interest in his client, there was some expectation that former Carson-Newman linebacker Larry Lumpkin would draw a crowd at his pro day workout Wednesday and push his way well into today's supplemental draft with a good performance. 

Neither of those things happened.

Draft expert Rob Rang of CBS Sports reports that only the New Orleans Saints and Seattle Seahawks showed for Lumpkin's pro day at his old high school, Alma Bryant, in Irvington, Alabama.

Lumpkin was projected to run in the 4.5s by some, but he was only able to muster a 40 time in the 4.7s, according to Rang. He did measure in at a respectable 6'0", 241 lbs and bench 225 pounds 27 times to show better-than-average strength, but Rang also reports that his position drills were "nothing special."

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In this compressed supplemental-draft season, one of the unintended benefits of the short calendar is that we don't have much time for rumors to change direction or spawn counter rumors.

This practice in April creates smokescreens so thick that we can't see our hands in front of our faces by the time the draft starts in Radio City Music Hall. For the supplemental draft, our most specific speculation has less than 24 hours to exist before the draft confirms or debunks the "word on the street."

That doesn't mean that we won't hear rumors. Three highly respected football insiders, Adam Caplan of the Sideline View, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports and Nolan Nawrocki of Pro Football Weekly, have taken a stab at predicting the destination of top supplemental-draft prospect Josh Gordon. Not surprisingly, their intel is pointing in the same direction.

Caplan puts the Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts, Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys in the "teams with probable interest" group atop his attempt to handicap the likelihood of each of the 32 NFL franchises drafting Gordon tomorrow. Washington falls in the second "teams with moderate interest" group because it has good depth at wide receiver.

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Photo courtesy of M Khursheed

Maybe it's just because nothing else is happening on the NFL calendar, but former Baylor wide receiver Josh Gordon has had more ink spilled about him than any similar prospect in the 2012 NFL draft. Let's take a closer look at the player who is at the center of the football media world right now.

 

Athleticism/Playing Style

Gordon has legitimate breakaway speed at 6'3", 225 pounds—hence all the hub-bub about him as of late. He accelerates to top speed quickly for a long strider. Gordon is also a fluid athlete for a large wide receiver, but he's not particularly quick.

Gordon is not soft in general, and especially tough after the catch. He hasn't been asked to make many catches in traffic over the middle, but his approach to contact after the catch indicates that he won't shrink when he hears footsteps.

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Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

If you could know the thoughts of one NFL decision-maker about wide receiver Josh Gordon as a clue to the outcome of the NFL Supplemental Draft tomorrow, a number of general managers and owners would come to mind. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Cleveland Browns general manager Tom Heckert, and Miami Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland will all be major players in the Supplemental Draft tomorrow.

The person who might have the most sway over Gordon's destination might not be a front office executive, or even a head coach. It could be his quarterback and teammate at Baylor, Robert Griffin III.

Jason La Canfora of CBS reports that Griffin has been "pushing the Redskins brass hard" to land Gordon. La Canfora added that Gordon had just gotten off of the phone with Griffin when he talked to him last night.

The Redskins have already pushed "all in" on Griffin, trading their 2013 and 2014 first-round picks, along with the their 2012 first and second-round pick for him. On first glance, it would seem that a team without a first-round pick next year would loathe to spend their second or third a year in advance.

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The NFL's draft lottery isn't as publicized as the NHL's (or NBA's), but it could change Josh Gordon's destination
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The increased attention paid to every moment in the NFL annual calendar has brought to light a procedure that few were aware of until this week: The NFL has a draft lottery.

Pro Football Talk reported that the worst team (the Colts in this case) is given 32 chances, the next-worst 31 and so on until the Super Bowl champion (the Giants) gets only one.

The process then breaks the teams into three groups: those with six or fewer wins, those with seven or more wins that didn't make the playoffs and the playoff teams. Each group is then drawn to determine the order within the group.

No playoff team can have higher than 21st in the process, so there is no chance that the Giants or Patriots somehow get to the front of the line ahead of the worst teams in 2011. There is, however, a chance that the very worst teams will be behind teams that chose after them in the draft this year.

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Photo Courtesy of Huntsville Times

The NFL headlines today are dominated by the workout of former Baylor wide receiver Josh Gordon, but under the din of speculation about who will select and in which round, an unheralded prospect from the group of eight eligible players is garnering more interest than anyone expected last week.

Former Carson-Newman linebacker Larry Lumpkin will join Gordon, former TCU running back Ed Wesley, and former Boise State defensive back Quaylon Ewing-Burton to become the fourth prospect to hold a pro day before the NFL Supplemental Draft on Thursday. Aaron Wilson of scout.com reports that the workout will take place at Lumpkin's old school, Alma Bryant High School in Irvington, Alabama.

Wilson also reports some measureables that might make Lumpkin worth a surprise pick on Thursday if he can reproduce them on Wednesday. According to Wilson, Lumpkin has run a 4.57 40, benched 225 pounds 30 times and posted a 36" vertical, all at 6'0", 240 pounds. 

To put that in perspective, Lumpkin's reported 40 time would have been the third-best among linebackers at the combine, behind only Mychal Kendricks and Zach Brown, both of whom went in the second round. It's also better than No. 9 overall pick Luke Kuechly.

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Photo Courtesy of ESPN

Josh Gordon's 40 time, vertical and broad jump numbers have made their way around the "footballosphere," with little affect on his draft stock. That's good, because his draft stock was already thought to be in the second round of the supplemental draft. Now, another number and one of the only good connotations of the word "negative" are solidifying his place in the top half of the supplemental draft.

Tony Pauline of TFYDraftInsider.com reports that Gordon passed an unannounced urine test and also had a wonderlic score equal to the level teams want out of a quarterback prospect.

These facts are crucial, because Gordon has now left two programs, with precious little detail on the nature of the divorces. If he can pass a surprise drug test and show well on the wonderlic, it speaks to the likelihood of his staying on the ball while he was away from football.

Rob Rang from CBS Sports also checked in, with details from a league source who said Gordon looked a little stiff in his routes, but displayed great hands and ball-tracking ability. This echoes Pauline's report that Gordon's hands were "exceptional."

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Photo courtesy of Baylor.EDU

Twenty-one teams showed up for the most anticipated supplemental draft pro day in years, per Adam Caplan of the Sideline View. If those teams liked former Baylor wide receiver Josh Gordon before the workout, chances are they still like him after the workout.

Caplan was the first to report the results:

 

While 4.52 is below Gordon's highest reported 40 times, Tony Pauline of TFYDraftInsider reports that the prospect pulled a quadriceps muscle during the run. But he still finished the drills, and Caplan reports that he did not drop a pass.

His game film shows legit breakaway speed, which is rare for a 6'3", 224-pound wide receiver. His 36" vertical and 10'1" broad jump aren't quite as special, but they still round out a package of physical tools that puts Gordon in the starting-NFL-talent echelon.

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Ethan Miller/Getty Images

On Monday, former TCU running back Ed Wesley held his pro day workout, and the only information that came out painted a poor picture of him as a pro prospect. His 40 times right around 4.7 seconds made him look like a marginal prospect at 5'8", 196 pounds—a size reserved for speedier backs.

Today, CBS Sports draft expert Rob Rang reports that the rest of the story puts Wesley in much better company.

On the 40 time, a scout told Rang that the slow time was expected and that it was unfair to compare Wesley to players who had weeks to prepare for their pro days. This is a good point to keep in mind if former Baylor wide receiver Josh Gordon runs in the 4.5s at his pro day workout on Tuesday despite reports that put him in the 4.3-4.4 range.

Wesley's straight-line speed is subpar even when you give him some leeway for less preparation time. His lateral agility, on the other hand, looks good compared to the 2012 NFL draft class—and that's without giving him a bump for less preparation time.