Jolly, delisted by Collingwood at the end of 2013, had been linked with St Kilda and Essendon after expressing his desire to join a fourth club following previous stints at Melbourne and Sydney.
But both clubs opted to draft youth, with the Saints taking Tasmanian beanpole Eli Templeton and the Bombers choosing to develop Fraser Thurlow as a future ruckman.
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Jolly underwent a medical exam at St Kilda last month but the exact results were never made public.
Even Cameron Wood, his former understudy at the Magpies, was selected ahead of him and will reunite with Mick Malthouse at Carlton.
St Kilda also overlooked Ahmed Saad because of his 18-month suspension for inadvertent doping, instead selecting former Gold Coast midfielder Maverick Weller.
North Melbourne handed former Brisbane and Gold Coast defender Joel Tippett another chance, while Richmond selected ex-Lion Todd Banfield and Matt Thomas from Port Adelaide.
But there was no love for Tasmanian Mitch Thorp while delisted Fremantle utility Josh Mellington withdrew his nomination on Wednesday morning and plans to resume his career in the VFL in 2014.
Delisted Melbourne youngster Rory Taggart will look to play in the SANFL after his name was not read out.
In the earlier pre-season draft, Greater Western Sydney snared inexperienced forward Jed Lamb from Sydney.
Lamb was the only player taken in the pre-season draft after the other clubs eligible to take part decided to add players to their rookie lists rather than their senior lists.
Lasting just 18 seconds, it was the shortest pre-season draft in AFL history, following five selections two years ago and eight last year.