2014 NFL Supplemental Draft: Are There Any Potential Giants?

Mention the supplemental draft and any fan of the New York Giants gets chills... And not in the good way, but more on that in a bit.

There has been a grand total 42 players selected thus far in the history of the supplemental draft.

Of those 42, eight have been selected to the Pro Bowl: Bernie Kosar, Cris Carter, Bobby Humpry, Rob Moore, Mike Wahle, Jamal Williams, Ahmad Brooks, and Josh Gordon.

One supplemental draft pick has been voted to the Hall of Fame, that being the recently enshrined Cris Carter.

The Giants have selected two players in the supplemental draft. The most recent being DB Tito Wooten, and the first being the infamous Dave Brown (the cause of the shudders mentioned above).

In recent history, Terrelle Pryor of Ohio State was selected by the Oakland Raiders in 2011. In 2012.the Browns selected the topic of much current football conversation, Josh Gordon of Baylor.

The Process

The Supplemental Draft is conducted quite a bit differently than the normal NFL draft we spend so much time covering. To start, the supplemental draft is for those players who are three years removed from high school, but were unable to declare for the normal draft.

Usually, those players are unable to declare because they were deemed academically ineligible or were kicked off their team. As a result, these players often come with a "Buyer Beware" disclaimer, as the Browns are currently finding out.

The draft itself is conducted like a blind auction. Each interested team submits a "bid" using their picks for the upcoming draft. So, if the Giants were to bid a 1st round pick on a prospect, and be awarded that prospect, the would be spending their first-round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.

The Prospects

This year there are four players who qualify for the 2014 Supplemental Draft. They are:

Chase Clayton, WR, New Mexico - Clayton was sidelined for the Lobos for much of 2013 by a knee injury. He has good size at 6'3", 205lbs, and is a talented kick returner, averaging just over 30 yards per return with two touchdowns in 2012. Clayton only has 6 career receptions for 50 yards, but he rushed 32 times for 209 yards

Darius Lipford, OLB, North Carolina - Lipford is another prospect who was sidelined by injury. However, when healthy he is aggressive, athletic, and rangy, able to make plays in space. He has good size at 6'2", 245 and shows the ability to play sideline to sideline. Between injury and swapping positions he didn't have much production in college (20 tackles, 6 for a loss, 2.5 sacks as a senior) but he has a reputation as a hard worker

Lakendrick Ross, DT, Virginia-Lynchburg - Ross is a MASSIVE human being, standing 6'5", and weighing in at 366 pounds. He also has a wingspan of 83.5 inches.

For such an enormous person, Ross reportedly moved very well at his Pro Day, turning in a 5.0sec 40 with a10-yard split of 1.81 seconds (which is fast for somebody 60 pounds lighter), and moved very well in positional drills. Ross sat out all of the 2013 season due to academic ineligibility.

Also, he can do this:

Traylon Shead, RB, SMU - From what I have been able to find, Shead's Pro Day was attended by the Giants. It's possible, even likely, that the Giants looked at all the Supplemental Draft prospects, but this is the one I was able to see for sure. Shead was considered one of the top running backs in the country (ranked 16th), coming out of high school. He transferred to SMU following a stint in junior college, and received rave reviews by his coaches before being sidelined by injury (I'm sensing a theme this year).

Shead is a big running back at 6'2, 240lbs, who runs hard north-south, but also possesses quick feet to pick through trash at the line of scrimmage.

So, are any of these four future Giants? We'll just have to wait and see, but at least it's something to talk about during the dog days of the offseason.