Western Michigan cornerback Sam Beal is petitioning the NCAA to become eligible for the NFL's supplemental draft next month, when he could become the highest-selected player since the Cleveland Browns used a second-round supplemental pick on Baylor wide receiver Josh Gordon in 2012, per league sources.

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Beal already was projected as one of the top picks in the 2019 NFL draft. If he is in next month's supplemental draft, NFL personnel people believe he likely would be picked somewhere in the first three rounds.

The only two players picked there over the past decade were Gordon and Terrelle Pryor, who was the Oakland Raiders' third-round pick in the 2011 supplemental draft.

Virginia Tech cornerback Adonis Alexander, who was ruled academically ineligible before being thrown off his team, is applying for the supplemental draft and will be a candidate to be picked as well.

Since the supplemental draft was created in 1977, only 43 players have been selected. Beal is poised to become the 44th.