First two players declare for 2019 Supplemental Draft

It’s usually pretty easy to forget about the NFL Supplemental Draft. After all, since its institution in 1977, the Minnesota Vikings have only made one Supplemental Draft selection, and there have only been 45 players taken in the process overall. Still, it’s a thing that happens in the National Football League every year, with this year’s Supplemental Draft set to take place on 10 July.

This week, the Supplemental Draft got its first couple of entries, as West Virginia wide receiver Marcus Simms and Syracuse linebacker Shyheim Cullen have made themselves eligible.

Cullen didn’t do a whole lot to generate excitement during his time at Syracuse, collecting just 43 tackes in three seasons as a member of the Orange. Syracuse had suspended him for the spring semester for academic reasons, and he then decided to declare for the Supplemental Draft instead. He might have a place in the NFL as a special teamer, but that certainly isn’t worth the Vikings using a draft pick on.

Simms might have a slightly better chance of being drafted. During his career with the Mountaineers, he caught 87 passes for 1,457 yards and eight touchdowns. He also spent significant time returning punts and kickoffs. While I say that his chances are slightly better, I still wouldn’t expect him to be selected, either.

For those that have forgotten, when a team selects a player in the Supplemental Draft, they must forfeit the same pick in the upcoming actual NFL Draft. So, if a team were to use a fifth-round Supplemental Pick to select Cullen or Simms (or anyone else that might declare in the interim), they would lose their fifth-round choice in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Oh, and that player that the Vikings took in the Supplemental Draft? That would be South Carolina wide receiver Ryan Bethea back in 1988, a fifth-round choice. He never suited up for the Vikings in a regular season game.

The Supplemental Draft is something to keep an eye on, but I’m guessing that it will come and go again this year with the same level of excitement for Vikings fans that it does pretty much every year.