With reports that Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby could enter the NFL Supplemental Draft, dynasty commissioners may soon be faced with a question many leagues have never had to answer:
How should supplemental draft players be acquired in dynasty fantasy football?
A few months ago, I created a thread on X/Twitter about why commissioners should be discussing league rules early in the offseason. Situations like this are exactly why.
Most leagues spend a lot of time discussing rookie drafts, waivers, roster cuts, taxi squads, and trade deadlines. Very few spend any time discussing what happens if a player enters the NFL after rookie drafts have already been completed.
Now is the time to have that conversation.
What Is the NFL Supplemental Draft?
The NFL Supplemental Draft exists for players who become eligible after the traditional NFL Draft has already taken place.
If an NFL team selects a player in the Supplemental Draft, they immediately join the league and are eligible to play that season. The NFL team then forfeits the equivalent draft pick in the following year's NFL Draft.
For dynasty leagues, that creates a unique problem.
Rookie drafts are already over.
FAAB has already been spent.
Rosters have already been built.
So how should leagues handle a player like Brendan Sorsby if he enters the player pool?
Option 1: FAAB and Waivers
If your bylaws currently say nothing about supplemental draft players, this is the route I would recommend.
Once the player is added to Sleeper, and is on waivers, allow managers to bid using FAAB. Managers already understand the waiver process. No new rules need to be created. No commissioner interpretation is required. No one gains an advantage from a rule that didn't exist when rookie drafts concluded.
I understand the counterargument of many managers have already spent a large portion of their FAAB budget after rookie drafts. And some may not love the idea of a potentially valuable quarterback suddenly becoming available months later.
Still, if your bylaws do not already address supplemental draft players, waivers are probably the cleanest and fairest solution.
Option 2: An NFL-Style Supplemental Draft
This is probably the most realistic and arguably the most fun option.
Managers would submit blind bids tied to future rookie draft picks.
For example:
• Manager A bids a future 3rd-round pick
• Manager B bids a future 2nd-round pick
The highest bid wins the player and forfeits the equivalent future rookie pick.
This closely mirrors how the NFL handles the Supplemental Draft.
The challenge is that this system requires a lot of additional structure.
How are ties broken?
Do you use previous standings? Max Points For? Rookie draft order?
Without answers already written into your bylaws, you're creating rules in real time, which is usually something commissioners should avoid.
Option 3: A Separate Supplemental Draft
Some leagues may choose to run a standalone supplemental draft. Personally, this would be my last choice. Most rookie drafts are already complete and creating an entirely new draft for one player feels completely unnecessary.
While it can work, I think there are cleaner options available.
My Recommendation
If your league already has bylaws covering supplemental draft players, follow them. If your league does not have bylaws covering supplemental draft players, I believe it's too late to implement a completely new acquisition system unless the vote is unanimous.
• Managers have already made strategic decisions this offseason.
• Some managers intentionally saved FAAB.
• Some managers spent aggressively after rookie drafts.
• Some managers may have traded for additional FAAB.
Changing the rules now could directly impact decisions that were made under the previous structure. For my leagues, if the bylaws don't already address supplemental draft players, I'm using waivers and FAAB.
Then, after the situation is resolved, I'm updating the bylaws so the league is prepared the next time this happens.
Because whether it's Brendan Sorsby or another player years from now, commissioners should always be thinking one step ahead.