Could an NFL July draft affect Miami Dolphins or Hurricanes? Where things stand
Could the NFL’s supplemental draft in July give the Dolphins more opportunities to add top players or leave the Hurricanes at risk of losing players?
Unless the rules change, probably not. But there could be some intrigue in the next two months, with coronavirus creating uncertainty about the status of the college football season.
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik, now an analyst for Sirius XM Radio, raised expectations of NFL teams supplementing their rosters and college teams losing players when he tweeted this week:
“With the #Covid questions surrounding college football, I expect this year to be the largest group of players ever to apply for the NFL supplemental draft.”
But here’s the issue: The NFL’s rule is that the July supplemental draft is only “for players whose eligibility has changed since the NFL Draft. A player may not bypass the NFL Draft to be eligible for the supplemental draft.”
That means players who are eligible are those who are not able to return for their final seasons of college, typically due to academic issues or suspension.
So players who could have entered this week’s draft and opted not to — including Clemson running back Travis Etienne — cannot suddenly decide to enter the supplemental draft unless their eligibility status changes.
Also, to be eligible to enter the supplemental draft, a player must be at least three years removed from high school and entering his final year of college eligibility. So Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence would not be eligible even if his college eligibility changed.
Meanwhile, the Hurricanes are not at risk of losing any of their seniors-to-be to the supplemental draft — including quarterback D’Eriq King, defensive end Quincy Roche or defensive tackle Jon Ford — unless their eligibility should suddenly change.
Could the NFL change its rule to open the July draft to more players? Perhaps if the NCAA decides by late June that there won’t be a college football season, but that’s highly unlikely.
While some college officials — including the University of Arizona’s president — have said they do not expect college football to be played this fall, nearly all athletic directors expect the college football season to be held at some point in the 2020-21 school year, according to Stadium’s Brett McMurphy.
So the NCAA has no reason to cancel the 2020-21 college football season before the July supplemental draft.
I suppose a player who is three years removed from high school and is entering his final year of eligibility could try to become academically ineligible in order to participate in the supplemental draft, based on not wanting to wait around to see if there’s a college football season.
But that would be a highly unusual, if not unprecedented strategy. And the NFL would not be required to accept that player’s application.
Nor would the NFL be required to accept the application of a player who tried to circumvent the rules by signing with an agent anytime between the end of the draft and late June.
Asked if he’s concerned about whether his top seniors might try to enter the supplemental draft, UM coach Manny Diaz told the Miami Herald: “Because somebody [Dominik] said something now, we’re going through all this hypothetical conjecture. I mean, no. As I keep saying over and over, this pandemic forces us to deal in what is real. And the only thing we know with what’s real is where our feet are every day.
“That’s why people who want to make decisions ahead of time — while you have to anticipate problems and plan for the future — you can only make decisions on the day decisions need to be made.
“That’s why I’m thankful for the leadership we have at our university with president [Julio] Frenk, who is one of the experts in the entire planet in dealing with pandemics. But what he tells us is make the big decisions when the big decisions need to be made. And that’s the model I follow.”
Asked if he has discussed the supplemental draft with any of his players, he said: “What would we say? Maybe if an asteroid falls on the planet in September, then everybody should just play? What are we talking about?... We’ll deal with that when it becomes a reality.”
Teams who select players in the supplemental draft must relinquish their pick in the draft the following April.
Per the NFL, “Teams do not have to participate in the supplemental draft; if they choose to do so, they may bid for the player by telling the league the round in which they would like to take a specific player. If no other club bids on that player, they are awarded the player and lose a pick in the following year’s NFL Draft that corresponds with the round in which they were awarded the player.
“If multiple teams submit bids for the player, the highest bidder is awarded that player and loses the corresponding draft pick.”
The first tier consists of teams with five or fewer wins from last season. The second tier consists of teams with more than five wins but did not make the playoffs last season. The third tier consists of playoff teams from last season. Within each tier, a lottery system — which is just like the NBA Draft lottery — determines the order of the teams.
So if a team in the first tier and a team in the second tier both bid a fourth-round pick on a player in the supplemental draft, the team in the first tier is awarded the player.
Nine players have been picked in the NFL supplemental draft during the past 11 years. Last season, only five players were eligible for the supplemental draft and only one was selected: Washington State safety Jalen Thompson, by the Arizona Cardinals in the fifth round.
Former UM quarterbacks Bernie Kosar and Steve Walsh are among the most prominent supplemental draft selections in NFL history.
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 4:10 PM.
