Can some explain what the supplemental draft is?

[TheBritishRam]

I just read an article about upcoming supplemental draft, I've never heard of it before. Why aren't these players part of the regular draft?

[Goldenfleece]

Players who apply for the supplemental draft are usually guys who were planning to play another year but for some reason won't be able to. Sometimes there are players who are now academically ineligible to play or got kicked off the team for behavior or whatever. Other times, the reasons are more benign. For example, Texas fullback Ahmard Hall had been serving with the Marines for four years, but technically he had a year of college eligibility left, so he had to submit certain paperwork before a deadline to declare for the regular draft. He didn't know about the paperwork, missed the deadline, and here he is.

Teams put in bids for players (i.e. first round, second round), and if multiple teams put in the same bid, the team who was picked earlier in this year's draft gets the player. A team with a successful bid gives up a pick in next year's draft equivalent to whatever round their bid was for. There are usually only a handful of players available, and teams are free to choose not to participate.

[RamsFanSam]

Excuse my ignorance here, but doesn't the supplemental draft also have something to do with the CFL in some way, or am I remembering this incorrectly?

[Nick]

Originally Posted by RamsFanSam

Excuse my ignorance here, but doesn't the supplemental draft also have something to do with the CFL in some way, or am I remembering this incorrectly?

Not that I know of.

[RamsFanSam]

I found the page that explains why I thought the supplemental draft was tied to the CFL. If you read the quote below, you'll understand why I thought the two were tied together.

1984 NFL Supplemental Draft of USFL and CFL Players
In an attempt to head off a bidding war in its own ranks for USFL players, the National Football League held a draft of USFL and Canadian Football League players on June 5, 1984. NFL teams chose 84 players during the three-round selection meeting, 75 of them from the USFL and just eight from the CFL. The other player, Duan Hanks, was a free agent who had last participated in the Philadelphia Stars camp before being cut. The first 27 players selected all played in the USFL. NFL clubs tabbed 20 members of the Los Angeles Express including top pick Steve Young by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The only USFL team without a player selected was the San Antonio Gunslingers. Many of the other big name USFL players were ineligible for the draft because their rights were already owned by NFL clubs. NFL teams refused to pick USFL players from the same city; odd when you consider that neither the L. A. Rams or Raiders selected a member of the Express.