Receiver Reach: Should Patriots Be Interested in NFL Supplemental Draft Prospect?
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After a three-year hiatus, the NFL supplemental draft will return on July 11. League training camps are scheduled to open about two weeks later. That includes the New England Patriots, who will report at the end of July with joint sessions scheduled with the Green Bay Packers and Tennessee Titans.
This draft is for players who were not eligible for April's draft but whose circumstances have since changed. Currently, there is one prospect but other players could be granted eligibility by the NFL in the next three weeks.
Purdue wide receiver Milton Wright is currently the lone player eligible. The four-star, high-school recruit out of Louisville was academically ineligible for the 2022 college season but had a solid season in 2021. A big target at 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, Wright finished with 57 catches for 732 yards and seven touchdowns for the Boilermakers in 2021.
In the supplemental draft, teams make bids for prospects depending on the round they would pick them in the usual draft. If the bid is accepted, that team gives up their pick in that round in the following year's draft.
Should the Patriots forfeit a pick in next year’s draft to add a player in the supplemental draft? New England needs more help at wide receiver, which many hope will come in the form of DeAndre Hopkins. Even with the arrival of targets of Mike Gesicki and JuJu Smith-Schuster, the Patriots' aerial affairs looks to be lacking.
Maybe Wright could be a helpful reinforcement.
After lacking an identity on offense in last season's 8-9 campaign, New England has the worst-odds to win the AFC East division. The Patriots are hoping quarterback Mac Jones can learn and bounce-back under new offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien. However, having more targets would definitely help Jones.
There have been stand out players who have gone through the supplemental process: wide receiver Josh Gordon, quarterback Terrelle Pryor, and current Arizona Cardinals safety Jalen Thompson.
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