Is Pryor Worth The Risk For Miami Dolphins’ Supplemental Pick?

The Miami Dolphins are one team that some speculate will be interested in spending a 2012 draft pick today when the NFL Supplemental Draft get’s underway.  No, you won’t find it on ESPN or NFL Network.  The Supplemental draft has no pomp and circumstance…or circus for that matter.  It’s a silent auction style of draft.

Teams simply put in a bid for who they want.  This year the top name on the list is former Ohio State Buckeye Terrelle Pryor.

Pryor was at the heart of yet another NCAA big school scandal that ended with Ohio State kicking him off the team and Head Coach Jim Tressell stepping down from the program.  While very few question his athleticism, many question is mental ability to grasp the game at the next level.  Regardless of whether you believe he can be a legit NFL QB or not, the parallels to the Michael Vicks‘ and Vince Youngs’ are hard to miss…and no, I’m not talking about the off-field stuff.

Pryor is a sub 4.4 runner who threw 27 touchdown passes last season.  He threw 11 interceptions.  Pryor has the tools and the athletic gift to play the position but he is challenged by his attitude.  Something that his next team will have deal with.  He simply needs to mature.

In Miami, the Dolphins have reportedly looked deep into the prospects background and whether they came away with a good impression or no impression at all remains to be seen.  The Dolphins don’t talk about what they find.  Today may shed some light on how they view Pryor as an NFL QB option for the future.

First, Pryor will have to serve a five game suspension as part of a joint NFL/NCAA punishment for his actions at Ohio State.  He violated NCAA rules by selling team merchandise to a local business.    The merchandise was his own but right or wrong, it was still an NCAA violation made worse by the team covering it up.

The Supplemental draft will work like this.  The NFL will announce the start VIA Email to the teams.  Round one will start and if no places a “bid” then it goes on to round 2, and so forth until all 7 rounds are completed.  Teams submit a “bid” on a player by Emailing the league and telling them the name of the player they want along with the round.

For example, normally no players are taken in the first round or two.  So say the Dolphins believe that Pryor or someone else is worth a 3rd round pick.  They would submit that players name to the league and the round they wish to take him.  If no other team in front of them submits a bid then the Dolphins would be awarded that player.  Whatever pick they choose to use, will be forfeited from the real draft next April.  So if they spend a third today, they lose one in the NFL’s real draft.

The other five players in the NFL’s Supplemental draft are Georgia tailback Caleb King, defensive ends Mike McAdoo (North Carolina) and Keenan Mace (Lindenwood), and Western Carolina cornerback Torez Jones and Northern Illinois safety Tracy Wilson.  But none of those will be watched as closely as Terrelle Pryor.