Supplemental Draft Update

In an upset, Georgia CB Paul Oliver was the first pick in today's Supplemental Draft, going ahead of Maryland OT Jared Gaither, (check him out in the weight room at the 4:23 mark) who at one time was a projected top 10 pick in the 2008 NFL Draft. In the Supplemental Draft, teams can choose to take a player in a given round, sacrificing their pick for the following year. There's probably an average of about one player selected a year, off the top of my head. The draft order is based on a lottery, where the teams that had the top 10 picks in the draft are jumbled, the teams with the next 10 picks are jumbled, etc.

Oliver went late in the 4th round to San Diego, who are perennially weak at corner, largely due to top 5 pick Quentin Jammer never really panning out. Jared Gaither went late in the 5th round to Baltimore, which has to be considered a steal. At 6'9" 325 lb, he might be the biggest mammal ever to break five seconds in the 40. If he gets one start at tackle in the next two years, then he provides 3rd round type value. A lot of NFL GMs get more ink than Ozzie Newsome, but year after year no one gets more out of 2nd day picks: Adalius Thomas, Chester Taylor, Jermaine Lewis, Brandon Stokley, Edwin Mulitalo, Tony Pashos, Dawan Landry, Jason Brown, Casey Rabach, Edgerton Hartwell, their punters (Dave Zastudil and Sam Koch), even Steve McNair in a trade; that's a pretty good track record.