Cleveland Browns: Supplemental draft worth a look?

The NFL Supplemental Draft is often quiet and uneventful, but the Cleveland Browns know sometimes it’s worth kicking the tires, so should they in 2018?

The NFL Supplemental Draft is usually highly uneventful. However, the Cleveland Browns know as well as any franchise that there can be some talent found in this seldom-hyped event.

For anyone unaware of how this draft works, the NFL allows players to enter if they missed the deadline to file for the original draft or maybe from issues that arrived afterwards — like a player being removed from his school for academic reasons.

If a team decides to draft a player here, they are forfeiting their pick the following year for whatever round they decide to take any player in. As for Cleveland, they know the rules as they have dipped their toes in this water before.

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Back in 2012, the Browns entered the party using a second-round pick on Josh Gordon. He’s had a ton of suspensions, but the team has hopes he will finally get back to the player who once led the league in receiving yards.

This wasn’t the first time they took a gamble on a player in the supplement draft either. Back in 1985, they used a first-round pick on Miami quarterback Bernie Kosar — who is still a fan favorite.

Cleveland has also had success with another team’s pick as they got a 1,000-yard receiving season from Terrelle Pryor, who was picked as a quarterback out of Ohio State by the Oakland Raiders back in 2011, but came to the Browns as a wide out.

Since the Gordon pick however, only one selection has been chosen, which was when the Rams took offensive tackle Isaiah Battle out of Clemson in 2015. That could change now though with three talented defensive backs up for grabs.

Mississippi State safety Brandon Bryant, Virginia Tech cornerback Adonis Alexander and Western Michigan corner Beal are all set to be available in the July 11 draft. Should Cleveland pay attention to these secondary prospects?

Currently the Browns have a re-made their secondary and their corners look strong with Denzel Ward, E.J. Gaines, Briean Boddy-Calhoun and Terrance Mitchell. At safety they hope Damarious Randall can secure the free safety spot and Jabrill Peppers can become a better player at strong safety. Derrick Kindred offers great depth for them as well.

Even with that depth, you can never have enough players to defend the pass. That’s why it would be wise for the Browns to pay close attention to each of these entrant’s pro days.

The most intriguing is easily Bryant. Some reports have him running the 40-yard dash in under 4.3 seconds and he went off with 11 tackles against Auburn. Beal is also intriguing as he had 10 pass defenses for the Broncos. Alexander has insane height at 6-foot-3 and has seven career picks, making him intriguing as well.

Still, safety seems to be a spot that could use a little more depth and a player to develop for the future. Bryant may not start over Randall right away, but he has the skill to help in sub packages and could develop into a stud. In the 2018 NFL Supplemental Draft, he could end up being a steal.

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Any of these players look like they could develop into future producers at the NFL level. Don’t be shocked if the Browns at least sniff around them a little.

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