South Carolina TE Weslye Saunders Declared Ineligible for the 2011 NFL Draft

Just when it seemed things couldn’t get worse for former South Carolina tight end Weslye Saunders–they did. Per the National Football Post, Saunders’ agent did not correctly file the paperwork required for the 2011 NFL Draft, and his client will no longer be eligible.

This is another bump in the road for the former USC tight end who was dismissed from the team in 2010 for, ironically, receiving improper benefits from an agent. Saunders was then invited and subsequently uninvited to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, and now, whatever agent he hired has made a huge mistake, and Saunders will not be eligible to be selected into the NFL until the Supplemental Draft later in the offseason.

Saunders is a guy who likely will go for a seventh round choice in the supplemental draft at best, and likely only would have been a priority free agent had he declared for the 2011 draft. Steve Spurrier was critical of his work ethic at USC, and the fact that he did not play any ball in 2011 is a huge hit on his future.

A 6’5″ 275 pound target, Saunders is a great athlete and a fine receiver at the tight end position. He was considered before the 2010 campaign to be one of the top tight end prospects in the nation, and now he will be fighting for a job in a few months. Saunders has a lot of talent, but he clearly doesn’t have it all together upstairs, and neither does his agent.

Other players who missed the 2010 season because of suspension like Marvin Austin and Robert Quinn had no such problems with their NFL Draft paperwork.