Terrelle Pryor May Not Be Eligible For NFL Supplemental Draft
By Josh Sanchez
Former Ohio State Buckeye Terrelle Pryor appeared to be heading to the NFL after forgoing his senior year of eligibility. The popular belief was that Pryor would be heading to the next level by way of the NFL Supplemental Draft. Well, not so fast, my friends.
In an email sent to FOXSports.com, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello wrote, “If there are no players eligible for a supplemental draft, there is no supplemental draft. It is for players whose circumstances have changed in an unforeseen way after the regular (college) draft. It is not a mechanism for simply bypassing the regular (draft).”
By “unforseen” ways, Aiello is referring to players being declared academically ineligible, those kicked off of their teams or those who leave the team after graduating. None of those circumstances apply to Pryor. He left on his own terms.
The NFL’s vice president of player personnel/football operations, Joel Bussert, will be the man in charge with deciding Pryor’s fate. Bussert reviews eligibility cases for the supplemental draft on a case-by-case basis.
If Bussert does not rule in favor of Pryor, the former Buckeye and Jeannette standout will have to wait until the 2012 NFL season to make the jump to the big leagues. Of course, Pryor wouldn’t have to wait to play professional football. Pryor could turn to a league like the Arena Football League or Canadian Football League.
There are plenty of options for Pryor, but they just may not be what he was hoping for.
The supplemental draft is traditionally held about ten days before NFL training camps open, however, things are different this season. With the NFL Lockout delaying the start of the season, there is no exact date set for when the supplemental draft could be held.
Pryor would join Georgia Bulldogs running back Caleb King as the two players with the highest profile in the supplemental draft. King announced that he would enter the draft after being ruled academically ineligible. Pryor can only hope that he is ruled eligible for the draft so he can take his talents to a NFL field next season.
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