Notes: On the Supplemental Draft, Murray And Ryans

No players will be coming to the Eagles via the 2015 NFL Supplemental Draft, which was held Thursday afternoon.

Seven prospects were eligible but just one was selected — former Clemson offensive tackle Isaiah Battle, who was grabbed in the fifth round by the Rams. 

One report connected the Eagles to North Carolina Central wide receiver/kick returner Adrian Wilkins, but he was not picked. It’s possible that some of these players could end up on a 90-man roster this summer.

As Sheil noted this morning, the supplemental draft is for prospects who were not eligible for the April/May draft for one reason or another – they were academically ineligible, got kicked off their college team, etc. NFL teams submit picks by round for each prospect. If they are awarded a player, they forfeit that round’s pick in next year’s draft.

Brian Bosworth, Bernie Kosar and Cris Carter (taken by the Eagles) are among some of the notable names that came to the NFL by way of the supplemental draft. Josh Gordon was taken in the second round by Cleveland in 2012.

Murray No. 4 in the NFL

DeMarco Murray was voted by his peers as the fourth-best player in 2015, according to a poll conducted by the NFL Network.

“He runs the ball very hard. He runs downhill. He brings power, said J.J. Watt, via NFL.com. “When he puts his foot in the ground and gets upfield, he gets going and he’s tough to stop.”

“The beauty about DeMarco Murray is he’s an inside and an outside guy,” added Giants linebacker Jon Beason, “so he’ll get you the tough yards but he also has that ability to bounce outside. And if he breaks, those DBs are going to have to get on their horse.”

Other notables to make the top 100 are LeSean McCoy (29), Jason Peters (40), DeSean Jackson (50), Connor Barwin (58), Jeremy Maclin (61) and Darren Sproles (81).

The source of DeMeco Ryans’ strength

If you haven’t checked it out yet, be sure to read Marcus Hayes’ feature on the “Superwoman” behind DeMeco Ryans, his mother Martha.

DeMeco knew how hard his mother had worked, all her life.

Every day she went to the parts factory, she risked her life.

Miss Martha was not exceptionally tired the day in 2000, when the grinder nearly took her finger.

It wasn’t one of the big transmissions; those aren’t as touchy with the grinder. It was a tiny metal part, less than an inch wide. She touched it to the grinder, and the grinder bucked, then flipped.

In an instant, the tip of her left pinkie hung by a strip of skin. The finger next to it was broken, too.

She never even yelped.

“To me, it was no big thing. Didn’t hurt much,” she said. “Everybody else was hollerin’, yellin’, goin’ all crazy.”

She just wrapped the tip of her finger in a bandage and went to the hospital in Birmingham.