Extra Points: Battle, Sam, Bills, Browns

A pair of NFL sources tell Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link) that Clemson offensive tackle Isaiah Battle could be a third-round value in this year’s supplemental draft. We learned earlier today that Battle would be eligible for the supplemental draft, and Robinson suggests that a strong 2015 season at Clemson might have pushed Battle into the top five prospects at his position for the 2016 draft. The young lineman is still raw, so it will be interesting to see which teams, if any, are willing to part with one of their 2016 picks to land him.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the NFL:

  • The NFL’s rookie salary structure needs to be overhauled again, in the view of Jason Reid of ESPN.com, who makes the case that young players – especially non-first-rounders – who play well during their first three or four seasons are undercompensated.
  • Jim Popp, the general manager of the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes, tells Les Carpenter of The Guardian that he thinks Michael Sam will eventually return to the team, and that the Missouri alum “needed a break.” Popp also revealed that the Alouettes were close to adding both Sam and Tim Tebow last fall, and added that a few NFL teams have called him since Sam left Montreal, asking if he knows why the edge defender departed and whether or not he’ll be back.
  • After spending the majority of the 2014 season on injured reserve, Bills safety Jonathan Meeks finds himself on the team’s roster bubble, with Mike Rodak of ESPN.com giving him a 55% chance of earning a spot on the 53-man squad.
  • The Browns may not have had pre-draft contact with Marcus Mariota, but that doesn’t mean the team didn’t have any interest in the Oregon quarterback, writes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, pointing out that new Cleveland quarterbacks coach Kevin O’Connell worked extensively with Mariota before joining the Browns.
  • ESPN’s NFL Nation reporters have assigned offseason grades to each of the league’s 32 teams, with links to all 32 stories and videos right here.
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