Former Tennessee Vols football player involved in rare NFL event
A former Tennessee Vols football player will be involved in a rare NFL event on Tuesday. Former Vols wide receiver Malachi Wideman is one of two college players that's eligible for the NFL supplemental draft that takes place on Tuesday. This will be the first NFL supplemental draft since 2019. Purdue wide receiver Milton Wright is […]
A former Tennessee Vols football player will be involved in a rare NFL event on Tuesday.
Former Vols wide receiver Malachi Wideman is one of two college players that's eligible for the NFL supplemental draft that takes place on Tuesday.
This will be the first NFL supplemental draft since 2019.
Purdue wide receiver Milton Wright is also eligible.
Wideman is a former four-star recruit who signed with Tennessee during the 2020 recruiting cycle.
The Florida native was praised during the recruiting process for his elite athleticism. At one time, there was a thought that Wideman would also play basketball at Tennessee (the 247Sports scouting report for Wideman suggested he could have a career in pro basketball if he chose basketball over football).
Wideman left Tennessee after the 2020 season and enrolled at Jackson State.
If a team takes Wideman in the supplemental draft, then they'll forfeit a pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. For example, if a team selects Wideman in the fifth round of the supplemental draft, then they'll give up their firth round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Typically a player enters the supplemental draft because of eligibility issues or because they missed the deadline to enter the draft in the spring.
Wideman's coach at Jackson State, Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, suggested this week that he's received calls from NFL teams about Wideman.
From HBCU Gameday: “I’m not going to tell you the team, but it’s a team who just called me yesterday about Malachi, and I told him the truth about Malachi, (He’s) a Florida boy, so you know he’s one of my favorites. There are certain things that Malachi has to work on as a young man to develop himself to being a professional. A lot of these guys think when you go pro, you go pro. So you got to be a pro before you’re pro. You don’t get to the pros and say, I’m a pro. Malachi just has to work on some personal things that constitutes that he’s a pro even before he makes it to the pro,” said Sanders.
“Oh my God, Malachi, that kid probably should be in the darn NBA. Let’s just get this straight. And that’s what I told the gentleman who called me, one of the scouts, I said go watch his basketball tape from high school and then call me back. He said oh my God. I said yeah, that’s the type of athlete he is. But life has to match up to the smart, tough, fast, disciplined, it has to match up with who he’s trying to be.”
Wideman wasn't particularly productive in college, but an NFL team might decide to select him just because of his athletic profile.
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