The former USC receiver may have to apply for reinstatement with the NCAA.
By ROGER MILLS
Published April 21, 2004
TAMPA - By many indications, USC receiver and Tampa-native Mike Williams would have been among those drafted in the first round, if not the top 10, in Saturday's NFL draft.
That likely would have meant swift financial rewards and the prestige that comes with being such a high pick.
Those don't appear forthcoming.
Pending a hastened and favorable court ruling within the next three days, the Plant High graduate must apply for reinstatement to college or settle, at the very best, for the supplemental draft, commonly held in early July.
At question is whether the wait would be harmful to Williams.
"It's too hard to really calculate, at this point," Williams' agent, Mike Azzarelli, said. "It depends on when the supplemental draft will be held, how many people will be in it and other things like that."
On Monday the 2nd U.S. District Court of Appeal stayed a lower-court ruling that gave former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett, and therefore all underclassmen such as Williams, the right to enter the draft. On Tuesday, Clarett appealed that ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The stay temporarily prevents underclassmen who have been out of high school fewer than three years from being drafted.
Azzarelli said the primary goal is to get Williams in an NFL uniform next season. But he stressed that it's in his client's best interest to be a first-round pick Saturday rather than going to a supplemental draft.
"It doesn't really matter if it's the Saturday draft or the supplemental draft," Azzarelli said. "But we want Mike in the Saturday draft."
So much so that Williams filed his own suit against the league Monday accusing the NFL of issuing conflicting statements about his eligibility, which forced him to sacrifice his college status.
The supplemental draft is much like the NBA's weighted lottery system, which gives the teams with poorer records a better chance to select a player. Whatever round and pick a team uses to take a player in a supplemental draft, they forfeit that selection in the next year's regular draft.
More important, the league said a player has to be paid a salary in keeping with that selection.
"If he's drafted in one of the rounds, he has the same leverage as someone drafted in the corresponding round in the (regular) draft," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said. "Every one has the right to negotiate a contract, but someone in the supplemental draft will earn comparable (money). The history will tell you that."
Technically, Williams could benefit from being in the supplemental draft.
If the Chargers keep the first pick, they are likely to select Mississippi quarterback Eli Manning. Providing Williams goes to a supplemental draft, the Chargers will have a chance to take Williams with the first pick of the supplemental draft. Williams would stay in California, get to team up with a promising young quarterback and have the right to negotiate a contract comparable to a No. 1 pick.
And if Williams is available for a supplemental draft, he very likely will be the No. 1 pick. He isn't expected to be the No. 1 pick Saturday, in the unlikely event a Supreme Court ruling makes him eligible for the draft. One concern for Williams could be preparation. Drafted on Saturday, Williams could start team-designed offseason programs and learn a complicated NFL playbook. He would have three months to prepare for camp.
None of that would be available to him until he is selected and signed through the supplemental draft. If it is held in July, Williams would have only a few weeks to get ready for training camp.
"We're in a holding pattern right now," Azzarelli said. "At this point he's waiting to see what happens (in the courts). We don't have a whole lot of things to address right now. We want Mike in the draft."
