NFL Supplemental Draft 2019: Date, Order, Rules, Eligible Prospects

NFL teams are back on the clock. Well, kind of.

On Wednesday, the 2019 NFL supplemental draft will take place, with five college players available to be selected. But this draft doesn't operate like the NFL draft, which took place in late April and featured the top eligible players coming out of college. And the supplemental draft typically isn't as busy.

Players who enter the supplemental draft normally do so because of academic ineligibility or looming suspensions. However, this provides a chance for NFL teams to acquire these players before the former college athletes become undrafted free agents.

The NFL supplemental draft is conducted via email. It operates with a bidding system, with bid priority broken into three groups, based on records from the 2018 season.

Here is this year's hierarchy:

Group 1: Teams with six or fewer wins (Cardinals, Raiders, Jets, 49ers, Buccaneers, Jaguars, Giants, Bills, Bengals, Lions, Broncos, Packers)

Group 2: Non-playoff teams with more than six wins (Dolphins, Panthers, Redskins, Falcons, Browns, Vikings, Titans, Steelers)

Group 3: The 12 playoff teams (Eagles, Colts, Seahawks, Cowboys, Ravens, Texans, Patriots, Chargers, Bears, Chiefs, Rams, Saints)

For each group, there is a lottery to determine selection order, with teams that had fewer wins having a greater chance of obtaining a higher pick. Teams bid on players by declaring what round it would draft a player in, and the team that lists the highest round wins. If teams bid the same round, the player goes to the team awarded the higher pick in the lottery.

However, if a team acquires a player, it will lose its pick for that round in next year's draft. (For example, the New York Giants lost their third-round pick in the 2019 NFL draft when they selected Sam Beal in the third round of last year's supplemental draft).

If a player receives no bid, he becomes a free agent. Two players were selected in last year's supplemental draft (Beal by the Giants and Adonis Alexander by the Washington Redskins). Before that, there hadn't been a supplemental draft pick since 2015.

Here's a look at the five players who will be eligible to be selected on Wednesday.

Preview

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The best player available among this year's group is former Washington State defensive back Jalen Thompson. He started all 39 games for the Cougars the past three seasons, but he lost his eligibility due to a violation of NCAA rules.

According to the Spokesman-Review's Theo Lawson, that stemmed from "the purchase of an over-the-counter supplement at a local nutrition store," although it wasn't a steroid.

Thompson was an All-Pac-12 honorable mention selection in 2018, as he had 66 tackles and two interceptions for Washington State. And although he's 5'10", his athleticism could lead to an NFL team using a supplemental draft pick on him.

Another interesting player in this year's supplemental draft is former West Virginia wide receiver Marcus Simms, who was linked to an alleged violation of the school's code of conduct, according to Alex Hickey of West Virginia MetroNews.

Simms had planned on entering the NCAA transfer portal, per Hickey, but he later decided to enter the NFL supplemental draft instead.

As a junior last season for the Mountaineers, he had 699 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns. His best performances came early in the season, after he had three straight games with more than 100 receiving yards in West Virginia's wins over Youngstown State, Kansas State and Texas Tech in September.

However, there could be some concern regarding Simms, as he also had a pair of DUI charges in four months in 2017, per West Virginia MetroNews' Allan Taylor.

The other three players available in this year's supplemental draft are former Syracuse linebacker Shyheim Cullen, former Northland (Minn.) tight end Devonaire Clarington and former St. Francis (Ill.) defensive back Bryant Perry.

It's less likely that these three players will be selected, but it's possible that one, or multiple, of them could be invited to an NFL team's training camp later this summer.