Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
Here are the worst-graded players on the offensive side of the ball, per Pro Football Focus.
The Chargers lost to the Saints in the second preseason game of 2023, 22-17.
Along the way, they had some key contributors on offense, but there were some who did not help as much. Here are the worst-graded players on that side of the ball, per Pro Football Focus.
The Chargers have added more depth at wide receiver.
The Chargers have added more depth at wide receiver.
Who would’ve thought that would be a sentence anyone could type after last season?
On Wednesday, Los Angeles announced the signing of former Purdue WR Milton Wright, who entered the NFL Supplemental Draft earlier this month but was not selected. Wright sat out the 2022 season at Purdue due to an academic issue.
Wright was once touted as the latest in a Boilermaker lineage at wide receiver that produced Rondale Moore (Cardinals) and David Bell (Browns) in consecutive seasons. In 2021, Wright was second on the team with 732 yards and led Purdue with seven receiving touchdowns, edging Bell and tight end Payne Durham’s totals of six each.
While not a fantastic athlete, Wright has a prototypical NFL body and was produced in an NFL-style system at Purdue. He’s likely a camp body who will be fighting for a practice squad spot with the Chargers.
#Purdue WR Milton Wright (one of two WRs eligible for Tuesday's Supplemental Draft) worked out for NFL teams yesterday. Workout results (per NFL source):
6-1 3/4", 190 lbs
9 1/8, 31 3/4, 77 (Hand/Arm/Wing)
4.69/2.66/1.64 (40/20/10)
7.81 3C
4.69 SS
31" VJ
10'0" Broad— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) July 7, 2023
Purdue WR Milton Wright for tomorrow’s supplemental Draft had 8 catches 213 yards & 3 TD’s in his 2nd to last college game in 2021. pic.twitter.com/dxJFTEp9zu
— Bobby Skinner (@BobbySkinner_) July 10, 2023
After not being picked in the supplemental draft, WRs Malachi Wideman and Milton Wright pursue new opportunities. Could the Saints sign one of them?
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The NFL supplemental draft came and went without any players being selected, and now the two prospects available are weighing their options. Could either of these wide receivers interest the New Orleans Saints? Here’s what’s next for Malachi Wideman and Milton Wright.
KPRC 2 Houston’s Aaron Wilson reports that Wideman has a contract offer from the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders, while the XFL’s San Antonio Brahmas also own his rights. Wilson adds that Wideman plans to work out in front of NFL teams before training camp begins in late July (as does Wright). Wideman moves well at a listed 6-foot-5 but is rail-thin at 190 pounds. He’ll need to bulk up.
He’s a likelier candidate to land with the Saints than Wright, whose poor pro day performance likely disqualifies him in their front office. Wright weighed in at 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds but timed the 40-yard dash in just 4.69 seconds while posting below-par numbers in the jumps and agility drills. That combined for an abysmal 1.31 unofficial Relative Athletic Score. For context, the Saints usually look for a RAS higher than 8 or 9 on the 10-point scale.
New Orleans’ decision-makers haven’t been as strict with their athletic thresholds for undrafted free agents as with draft picks, but it’s tough to see them making room for Wright between that and his being dismissed from Purdue’s team for being academically ineligible. Still, you never know. They could use more depth at receiver with all three of their top options missing time in spring practices due to injuries.
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Neither Supplemental draft entrant has found a home yet.
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Both wide receivers who entered the NFL Supplemental draft, Purdue’s Milton Wright and Jackson State’s Malachi Wideman, did not get a bid from the Cleveland Browns or the 31 other teams in the NFL. They are both now free agents who can sign with any team and compete for a roster spot in training camp.
Wideman has already been scheduling workouts with NFL teams and also has already received contract offers from XFL and Canadian Football League teams (according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero).
The Browns have a full wide receiver room, so it would be a shock to see either player land on their 90-man roster as we are now just ten days out from the start of training camp.
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Purdue receiver Milton Wright and Jackson State wideout Malachi Wideman could be selected Tuesday.
The NFL supplemental draft is being held today, July 11, for the first time since 2019.
Two players have been granted eligibility.
The supplemental draft is held in the summer and is for players who have been granted special eligibility due to circumstances that affect their college eligibility for the coming year or extenuating circumstances as to why they did not enter the NFL draft earlier in the year.
If teams select a player, they are using one of their selections in the following year’s draft.
Who are the two players who have been accepted into the supplemental draft?
Wright did not play in 2022 because he was academically ineligible.
He is a 6-foot-3, 195-pound wideout. He caught 57 passes for 732 yards and seven touchdowns in 2021.
His athletic testing was below average, highlighted by a 4.69-second 40-yard dash.
Wideman began his college career at Tennessee before transferring to Jackson State. He is 6-foot-5. In 2021, he caught 34 passes for 540 yards and 12 touchdowns. He had limited playing time last season, catching three passes for 49 yards and a score. NFL Draft Scout lists his 40 time at 4.49 seconds, very good for someone of his height.
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The NFL will hold a supplemental draft on Tuesday. Two wide receivers — Malachi Wideman and Milton Wright — are eligible to be picked.
For the first time since 2019, the NFL will hold a supplemental draft this offseason.
The supplemental draft was originally “created to serve prospects who were not eligible for the annual spring draft for various reasons,” according to the league’s official website.
In order to make a pick in the supplemental pick, a team must forfeit a pick in the next draft. For example, if the Denver Broncos want to pick a player in this year’s supplemental draft, they would have to use a selection from their 2024 pool of draft picks (perhaps one of their two seventh-round picks).
There are only two players eligible for the supplemental draft his year — Jackson State wide receiver Malachi Wideman and Purdue wide receiver Milton Wright, according to NFL Network.
The most recent player selected in a supplemental draft was safety Jalen Thompson, who was selected by the Arizona Cardinals with a fifth-round pick in 2019.
The Broncos have made a pick in a supplemental draft once in their history, using a first-round pick to select running back Bobby Humphrey in 1989.
The 2023 NFL supplemental draft will be held on Tuesday, July 11.
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Wright’s chances of getting picked in the NFL Supplemental draft take a major hit.
After three years off, the NFL Supplemental draft is back on with two wide receivers in the pool of players for NFL teams to bid on. One of those wide players, however, failed to make a positive impression as former Purdue pass catcher Milton Wright flailed at his workout with the event just three days away.
The Athletic’s Dane Brugler was kind enough to pass along Wright’s numbers from his workout, and they would register as historically bad if it had happened at the NFL Scouting Combine. Here are the results from Wright’s workout.
There are a couple wide receivers available in the 2023 NFL supplemental draft — could the New York Giants select one?
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The NFL is bringing back the supplemental draft this summer. The event, which was last held back in 2019, will be conducted on July 11.
The New York Giants, who have dipped into the supplemental draft in the past, could show some interest in two wide receivers that have qualified for the special draft.
Purdue’s Milton Wright, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound wideout, and Malachi Wideman (6’5″, 190), who played for Deion Sanders at Jackson State, are the featured players this season.
A team can use any of their upcoming picks in the 2024 NFL draft to secure the rights to an eligible player. If the player(s) go undrafted, they immediately become free agents and can be signed by any team.
The Giants have a crowded wide receiver room at the moment and there has been no indication they have any interest in spending future draft capital on either player, but it is worth keeping an eye on.
The Giants have used the supplemental draft three times in their history, most recently in 2018 when they used a third-round pick to select Western Michigan cornerback Sam Beal.
In 1992, the Giants spent a first-round pick on Duke quarterback Dave Brown and two years later a fourth-rounder on Northeast Louisiana cornerback Tito Wooten.
Since the supplemental draft’s inception in 1977, it has produced several star players including Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter. Other notables include Bernie Kosar, Rob Moore, and Josh Gordon.
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Would former Purdue wide receiver Milton Wright make sense for the New Orleans Saints in the 2023 supplemental draft?
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The NFL announced this week that it will conduct its first supplemental draft since the 2019 season, scheduled for July 11. In the supplemental draft, teams will choose whether to forfeit a pick in the next year’s draft to add a player The list of players who will be eligible for the supplemental draft is still being finalized but for now there’s just one name: former Purdue Boilermakers wide receiver Milton Wright.
Wright, listed at 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds, was a steady contributor through his first two years at Purdue but broke out in 2021 with 57 receptions for 732 receiving yards, scoring 9 touchdown catches — trailing only David Bell, a future top-100 draft pick who played a modest role in the weak Cleveland Browns passing offense last year. He’s known as a big target who doesn’t drop many passes, with a high first-down conversion rate (moving the chains on 67 of his 99 receptions), though without much experience lining up from the slot or forcing missed tackles with moves after the catch.
But because Wright was declared academically ineligible in 2022 and didn’t find many options in the transfer portal in 2023, he’s chosen to turn pro. So would he make sense for New Orleans?
The Saints just signed a couple of veteran free agents in Keke Coutee and Lynn Bowden, adding them to a receiving corps that includes new additions like Bryan Edwards, James Washington, and rookies A.T. Perry and Shaquan Davis; plus receivers returning from last year in Michael Thomas, Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, Tre’Quan Smith, Keith Kirkwood, and Kawaan Baker.
A complicating factor is the Saints’ future draft picks situation. Even though New Orleans is projected to receive multiple compensatory picks in 2024, those haven’t actually been awarded yet, so they’re off the table. That leaves them with just five picks to spend, in the first, second, fifth, and sixth rounds (owning two sixth-rounders, with one coming from the Philadelphia Eagles).
If the Saints wanted to they could use one of those picks, probably one of their fifth- or sixth-round selections, in a bid to land Wright. But that would leave them with less draft capital to work with until compensatory picks are awarded next March. Their options would be limited leading up to the NFL trade deadline in November.
Whether that’s worth adding another rookie receiver is up to them. Something else to consider is that Wright could be signed as a undrafted free agent if no other team wants to select him during the supplemental draft.
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The NFL Supplemental Draft returned and Purdue WR Milton Wright is the only player to declare so far. Should the Browns find interest?
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The NFL Supplemental draft is set to return on Tuesday, July 11 this year as Ian Rapoport confirmed an earlier report by Dane Brugler. The Supplemental Draft is for pro-eligible amateur players who did not declare for the draft due to various reasons. The Supplemental Draft has not been held since 2019. The Cleveland Browns have not drafted a player in the Supplemental Draft since Josh Gordon in 2012.
As of publishing, only one player has declared for the draft, Milton Wright, a former Purdue WR. Milton Wright was a three-year starter at Purdue. While sharing playing time with future NFL players, Rondale Moore and David Bell, Milton became a sizable weapon for the Boilermakers. Milton Wright accumulated over 100 catches, 1300 yards, and 10 touchdowns in his three years in West Lafayette.
The 6-foot-3 and 200-pound wide receiver was supposed to take over for Purdue this past season. However, Milton Wright was dismissed from the team after being declared academically ineligible. It will be interesting to see if any more players declare for the Supplemental draft as most drafts have only a couple of players to choose from.
Could the Browns be interested in Milton Wright? They could be. The Browns are always looking to acquire talent, especially in the passing game. The dynamic Milton Wright could help fill out an already competitive position group. They could also be intrigued by the player acquisition system of the Supplemental draft.
The Supplemental draft is set up as a silent auction, where teams can bid on players using future draft picks. When the Browns drafted Josh Gordon in the second round of the 2012 Supplemental, it meant forfeiting their second round pick in the 2013 draft.
This delay could be seen as an investment opportunity for sharp teams, especially for less valuable picks on Day 3. However, Milton Wright has a lot to prove to NFL teams to get selected. After a year off, Milton will have to prove that he is in football shape to general managers and teams. Most importantly Milton will have to show how dedicated he is to the sport.
This a reminder to follow us closely over the next weeks as we plan to report closely on the return of the Supplemental Draft.
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