2015 NFL Supplemental Draft: St. Louis Rams Draft Isaiah Battle, Are Only Team To Make Pick
The 2015 NFL Supplemental Draft has now come and gone, as it was held on Thursday, July 9. Unfortunately, we didn’t get many fireworks from the action, as this NFL Draft is held behind closed doors.
As explained by SB Nation, the Supplemental NFL Draft usually doesn’t garnish much interest, and most teams don’t choose to use their picks. The last time someone used a Supplemental Draft pick was back in 2012, when the Cleveland Browns selected Josh Gordon. In turn, the Browns lost their second-round pick in 2013.
While the pick of Gordon is still a TBD situation due to his off-field issues, the 2015 NFL Supplemental Draft produced a surprise addition in former Clemson Tiger Isaiah Battle. CBS Sports reports that Battle chose to enter the 2015 Supplemental Draft “citing family obligations as a reason for his pursuing the NFL early. Battle also failed several drug tests at Clemson, NFLDraftScout.com learned.”
Adam Schefter of ESPN posted the following tweet on the Supplemental NFL Draft.
Former Clemson OT Isaiah Battle goes in 5th round of NFL Supplemental draft to…St. Louis Rams.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 9, 2015
The St. Louis Rams were the team to draft the player who most expected to go the highest in the 2015 NFL Supplemental Draft. The question is, what about the rest of the players who entered their names?
Well, as SB Nation also explained that not many names are usually entered into the Supplemental Draft. This year, the list was once again incredibly short.
“OT Isaiah Battle, Clemson
DE Darrius Caldwell, West Georgia
DT Dalvon Stuckey, West Georgia
DE Eric Eiland, Houston
TE Sean McQuillan, UConn
DB Kevin Short, Kansas
WR Adrian Wilkins, North Carolina Central”
Unfortunately for the rest of the players on that list, none were selected in the draft. This means that each of those remaining six players now become free agents and can work out or sign with any team that offers them a tryout.
The Supplemental Draft wound up falling on the same day it was reported that legendary Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler had passed away, so obviously it garnished little attention.
In all honesty though, this isn’t anything like the regular NFL Draft, where we see lights and cameras everywhere. Plus, with the Supplemental Draft being held behind closed doors and picks almost never being used, it’s rarely a talked about occurrence.
The 2015 NFL Supplemental Draft was a rare change from that, but Battle still has plenty of work to do in order to show that he was worth the fifth-round pick that the St. Louis Rams spent on him.
[Image via Grant Halverson/Getty Images]
