NFL Supplemental Draft Is Over; Josh Gordon Headed To Cleveland

Lumpkin put on an impressive show in front of NFL teams during a workout at his high school in Irvington, Ala. He ran a 4.69 and a 4.72 in the 40-yard dash, benched 225 pounds 27 times, and recorded a 9’10 broad jump.

Along with some solid measurables, Lumpkin was also productive in college. Last season he was named first-team All-South Atlantic Conference after racking up 96 tackles, 10 for loss.

There were eight prospects in this year’s draft, which means seven of them are going home disappointed. Those players not selected in Thursday’s draft are Boise State DB Quaylon Ewing, Syracuse FB Adam Harris, Iowa State OT Adrian Haughton, Carson-Newman LB Larry Lumpkin, Georgia DE Montez Robinson, McMurray WR Houston Tuminello and TCU RB Ed Wesley.

They’ll have the opportunity to join a team as a free agent and hope to make the team in training camp.

In the end, we should’ve known the Browns were going to pick Gordon. Tony Grossi, a reporter who covers the Browns, sent this tweet out on Thursday:

We’re assuming that somebody was involved in selecting Gordon in the 2nd round.

The Cleveland Browns were rumored to be one of the teams seriously interested in 2012 NFL Supplemental Draft prospect Josh Gordon and, what do you know, they selected him in the 2nd round of Thursday’s draft, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com.

This means that the Browns now have the rights to Gordon, former Baylor receiver, but also give up a 2nd round pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. Gordon was projected as a 2nd to 5th round pick in the Supplemental Draft. Cleveland was the only team he visited in the lead up to the draft.

The truth about Gordon and most other prospects is something far less simple than translating a scouting report to daily life in the NFL. After all, the easily agitated nature of the NFL media world, a sleepless beast feeding on a never-ending diet of circular speculation and innuendo, tends to elevate tiny details into bigger narratives. But I digress.

So who is this Gordon cat and the other players of note up for grabs in Thursday’s supplemental draft? More importantly perhaps, which teams are likely to draft them?

Long after and far removed from the hype of the NFL Draft, the NFL Supplemental Draft takes place with very little fanfare. 2012’s edition happens Thursday, July 12.

The purpose of the NFL Supplemental Draft is to provide a second path to the NFL for draft-eligible players who became ineligible for that year’s NFL Draft, and to afford teams an opportunity to select them. Each Supplemental Draft pick comes with a stiff price, however: if a team selects a player in the Supplemental Draft, it must forfeit its assigned pick in the next year’s NFL Draft in the same round.

The NFL Supplemental Draft comes at a time in the football calendar when nothing else is going on so there’s usually a player that receives a large amount of hype because, well, there’s not much else to talk about. This year that’s Josh Gordon, who has thrown his name in the hat for Thursday’s Supplemental Draft.

Some say he could go as high as the 2nd or 3rd round. The Supplemental Draft is similar to a silent auction so we won’t know for sure where he’s going until Thursday afternoon. He did draw 21 teams to his pro day on Tuesday, which shows a lot of interest in him.

Josh Gordon was expected to be picked in the upcoming Supplemental Draft when he was announced as an entrant, but his hype has risen beyond expectations. Some teams are seemingly unconcerned about his year off from football and his year-long suspension from Baylor, so much so that he might go as high as the second round.

Supplemental Draft entries rarely have this kind of hype, but given Gordon’s physical attributes and production, it shouldn’t be too surprising that some teams have a Round 2 grade on him.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Gordon could be selected as early as the second round. At 6’3 and 225 pounds, Gordon has good size for a receiver and his tendency to run the 40 in around 4.4 seconds is something that coaches and evaluators have definitely noticed.

Dan Kadar at Mocking the Draft has this to say about Gordon:

At least three of the players participating in next week’s NFL Supplemental Draft will be holding pro days prior to the draft, according to NFL reporter Adam Caplan.

Wesley and Gordon are the two players who have the best chance of being selected in the Supplemental Draft. Wesley left TCU for family reasons in May and was productive in his three seasons with the Horned Frogs. Gordon put up impressive numbers as a sophomore, but did not play last year because of a suspension. His sophomore stats and his size at 6’4”, 225 pounds make him an attractive prospect, and he could increase his chances of being selected significantly with a great performance at his pro day.

The NFL’s Supplemental Draft doesn’t have anything on the real thing but it’s nice to have some actual football news in the middle of July. Adam Caplan reports that the Supplemental Draft is expected to take place on July 12, though that’s not confirmed yet.

We know of at least one name in the Supplemental Draft, though others have been rumored.