By Ben Levine | at June 15, 2026 9:55 pm
Following a stunning development last week that saw Brendan Sorsby maintain eligibility for the 2026 college season, the Texas Tech quarterback is now heading to the NFL. According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Sorsby is applying to enter the NFL Supplemental Draft.
[RELATED: NCAA Appeals Brendan Sorsby Injunction]
The prospect had until next Monday to apply for entry. To be eligible, a player’s college eligibility must have changed between the deadline for the traditional draft and the deadline for the supplemental draft. With the deadline quickly approaching, Sorsby was facing the possibility of missing out on this year’s supplemental draft and losing out on eligibility for the 2026 NCAA season, culminating in today’s decision.
As Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports notes, there’s still no guarantee that Sorsby’s application is approved, especially as the legal process continues to play out. Senior NFL reporter Charles Robinson also recently mentioned that the NFL could theoretically deny the quarterback’s entrance into the draft and league. When discussing the merits of the supplemental draft, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com opined that the player would need to accept his ineligibility and withdraw his lawsuit before pivoting to the NFL. Indeed, Pelissero reports that Sorsby’s attorneys intend to withdraw the lawsuit, which should clear the way for his supplemental draft eligibility.
Earlier this year, Sorsby admitted to an extensive history of sports betting and entered a treatment facility for gambling addiction. The NCAA predictably ruled him permanently ineligible and denied Texas Tech’s subsequent reinstatement request, leading to the player’s lawsuit against the association. Since the legal process wouldn’t be completed before the start of the 2026 collegiate season, Sorsby sought an injunction to restore his eligibility.
While the player was believed to have faced an uphill battle in achieving that injunction, he got his wish earlier this month. The NCAA naturally appealed that decision, which further clouded the quarterback’s chances of suiting up for his senior season. The saga took another turn earlier today. The Big 12 filed a lawsuit requesting “the court to bar Texas Tech and the state attorney general from preventing the league’s sanctioning of Texas Tech” if Sorsby played a snap next season (per Chris Vannini and Justin Williams of The Athletic).
Throughout this whole recent ordeal, the NFL Supplemental Draft still loomed, especially as the deadline to apply ticked closer. If Sorsby’s application is accepted (and assuming he is selected in the draft), he’ll effectively escape punishment from the NCAA.
While the quarterback’s decision to enter the NFL is sudden, Bleacher Report’s James Palmer says NFL teams have been doing work on Sorsby for a while in case this route came to fruition. The Texas Tech product was among the top positional prospects in next year’s class, and there was a popular sentiment that a successful 2026 campaign would vault him into the first round of the 2027 draft.
In his initial report, Pelissero suggested that Sorsby could be the highest-drafted supplemental pick in decades, with NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport recently suggesting that it would take a second-round pick to win the bid. Over the past 30 years, there have been three instances where teams committed second-round picks to supplemental draft picks: OT Mike Wahle (Packers, 1998), RB Tony Hollings (Texans, 2003), and WR Josh Gordon (Browns, 2012). The last time a team committed a first-round selection to a supplemental pick was 1992, when the Giants selected Duke QB Dave Brown. As a reminder, the NFL team that submits the highest draft pick wins the player’s rights and has to surrender the equivalent selection in the following year’s draft.
The NFL will only schedule a supplemental draft when there’s an approved list of eligible prospects. If Sorsby is approved, this will mark the first draft since 2023, and he could be the first player selected since 2019. The draft traditionally takes place in July, and the intrigue of Sorsby’s addition means this certainly won’t be the last we hear of it between now and then.
This just wasn’t a good look for Texas Tech, plus having this follow him around for the entirety of the season probably wouldn’t play well in the locker room.
Even if he was allowed to play at TT, what would stop the NCAA from suspending him during the season??
They did, they ruled him ineligible. This then went to court where it was overturned. Not much else the NCAA could have done until February when I believe an appeal would have been heard? Can’t remember when exactly that was slated to happen. That would have been pointless anyway. This was the other Big 12 members stepping up and trying to do something about it. Everyone but Tech fans are or should be happy he’s not playing this season.
It was not overturned. An injunction is very, very different.
On another well-known sports news site, I saw something I’ve never seen before – a headline about all this that read, “There is not enough hate being directed towards Texas Tech”
I read the article, and the tone of it was consistent with the headline.
The interesting thing here is how long Tech faces scrutiny for this in regards to the people responsible being there. Sorsby doing what he did is certainly one thing, but the fight to escape consequences is what really set off the reaction. Tech enabled this entire affair and made it clear that Sorsby was their guy. It wasn’t a simple “Good luck, there will be a place for you here if you win.” It was essentially a partnership to fight the NCAA and anyone else who was alarmed. Tech backed Sorsby to the point where it was threatening legal action against other teams (can we even call them schools anymore?) for not wanting to play them. They were basically trying to force those teams to be prisoners to their decision.
I think that they’re getting plenty of blame, and both Sorsby and Tech deserve to be held accountable equally in whatever valuation people have of the incident. The thing to me is the longevity. Sorsby is going to be gone from NCAAF sooner rather than later. Obviously, Tech is not. The decision-makers who embraced this approach will have to continue dealing with others and putting out a team to compete, unless they resign or are fired (and probably end up at another program eventually). How long does this follow them in their active participation in college football (or other athletics)? Obviously, the boosters aren’t going anywhere and will never face any kind of consequence, but the career executives who embraced this approach are much more public.
Hope he goes undrafted and has to get a career out of sports now.
He’s a kid that made a mistake. I think we all need to take a breath on condemning 18-21 year olds for making bad decisions that didn’t hurt anyone else. This isn’t like a Jalen Carter or Henry Ruggs situation where people died. Not saying he shouldn’t be punished let me make that clear though.
Jalen Carter didn’t kill anybody either. The drunk snow bunny driving the car that crashed, killed the occupants of her car.
I didn’t say he killed anyone I said where people died there’s a difference.
Well then you shouldn’t have used his name to make your point. He didn’t kill anybody and he wasn’t convicted of a crime. The killer’s name was Chandler Lecroy.
Who was Chandler LeCroy racing against when LeCroy and Williams were killed?
Chandler Lecroy probably doesn’t know who she was racing against, because she was a Drunk Driving 304.
Knowing or not knowing who youre was racing against doesn’t change the fact there were two cars racing each other and one was driven by Jalen Carter. Thats fact no matter how hard you try to deny that. Jalen Carter was involved in events (street racing) that led to the death of LeCroy and Williams. That again is fact regardless what your truth is
Nobody said Carter caused their deaths or was responsible for their deaths. What people did say was he was Carter and his buddies were doing stupid stuff and people died in the process of them being stupid (street racing each other).
LeCroy wasn’t out there street racing alone in case you’re confused.
betting over 9000 times is not a mistake…
Especially if you’re betting against the Jets or Browns to win 🙂
Do you want your team spending millions for him to be your franchise QB? Could you ever trust him not to throw a game? Gambling addictions are very difficult to recover from and the NFL probably isn’t the best place for him to get that 2nd chance 8f he’s serious about his recovery…which honestly doesn’t sound like it …..
I’d be more comfortable with the “kid making a mistake” narrative when Sorsby proves some level of remorse and acceptance that what he did was wrong (he’s 22, by the way-I know adults are growing later and later, or not at all, today, but 22 is not a kid). He knowingly broke the cardinal rule-pretty much the only one remaining still-of sports. I’ve heard a lot of reasons from Sorsby’s side why he did what he did from his end, and I’ve heard why he should get to play again. I’ve heard a lot about the hypocrisy of the league. Maybe those are all true. What I haven’t heard is Sorsby doing anything meaningful to show remorse. As long as he seems more focused on getting out of punishment than he does on accepting consequences, I can’t even begin to consider whether or not he deserves a second chance (or third, or however one sees it).
If you’re asking me to feel for Sorsby, I can do that. I can’t however, advocate for him to get back in to his lifestyle without seeing some meaningful signs of remorse.
Very well said 👏
No he didn’t kill someone, but in terms of on field sports integrity, it’s the worst kind of action.
Growing up Asian in America, my dad always taught me “don’t compare yourself to the worst, compare with the best”.
I believe he made 9,000 mistakes. Regarding the notion of condemning an 18 year old, I find it impossible to believe that no other adults were aware of his betting after 9,000 bets. As far as those mistakes not hurting others – we really don’t know the answer to that question. Did his betting influence his performance and, if so, did that impact the draft status of teammates?
He made many, many mistakes. He also set up a system designed to hide his actions. Betting on one football game would’ve been a mistake. Betting on many and setting up a system to try to hide his actions means he earned his ban from the NCAA.
He has lost all integrity and the integrity of the sport is everything. Age is no excuse for lack of that.
Putting Carter and Ruggs in the same sentence is unfair. Ruggs felony DUI death 3-10 years in fed prison vs Carter in a second car misdemeanor. I get both are stupid but drunk driving 150 mph single car is way beyond youthful reckless.
Why????? That is just mean!!!! I hope he hooks on with a team wins three championships. And I hope you beat your team whoever you root for. Dopey comment
Mean? So because he plays QB there should be NO consequences for his actions 🤔
I don’t think I’ll beat my own team. Talk about a dopey comment… Rich kids should have consequences too. Drunk drivers can’t use alcohol ads as an excuse for things they do drunk, gambling addicts shouldn’t be able to use the same excuse to bet on and play games.
Bad move. I heard he had around $5m in NIL money coming in. What’s he; a 6th round draft pick?
That’s the other side of this. We’re talking about Sorsby’s value as if he were a second round pick for sure. Teams need QBs, but Sorsby wasn’t a first or second tier quarterback this year. That’s why he returned. Decent prospect? Sure, but after Simpson, we didn’t see a QB go until the third round, and that was an arguable overdraft (I think it was about right) by the Cardinals, followed by a consensus overdraft by the Steelers. Sorsby probably wasn’t going until at least then, and probably later.
Independent of his issues, is a team willing to give up a pick next year for a quarterback who probably wasn’t going until Day Three, in the third at the earliest? He’s probably not starting, which should eliminate the most desperate teams that would use Sorsby, so the contenders (who could definitely use those picks for other areas) would need to really want a developmental QB badly enough to punt a pick for next year. Sorsby might fetch a low supplemental pick, but all of these discussions haven’t much touched on what his actual value is in the supplemental draft.
Today’s NFL refuses to take a stand on any moral issue until it’s forced to (meaning, costs them money), and it would probably be just fine with them to let Sorsby enter and go undrafted. That would avoid the question of punishment altogether. The league office is weaker on its moral messaging than it was 15 years ago when it punished Pryor, and the NCAA is, too. Unless the league thinks that it can score brownie points with the government to help in its tv package struggle, I doubt that they forbid Sorsby from entering the draft. I also, though, don’t know if Sorsby has enough value to wrangle a decent pick in the supplemental.
many of the talking heads claim he would have gone before simpson in this past draft, round 2 at the latest.
Maybe. I didn’t see that, but I don’t think that it would be hard to find someone who thought that. I certainly didn’t think that he was that high-not that I thought him to be bad.
Shedeur Sanders kicked Sorsby behind when they faced each other and Sanders dropped to the 5th …. Sorsby is so overrated
The NFL definitely has no moral compass. My hope is they grow a backbone here and simply deny his application and walk away from this whole mess. If not, I hope teams choose not to draft him and walk away. I mean do you want to be the team that drafts a guy with a serious gambling addiction and pray he doesn’t throw a game ?
@arty!. He might get a 3rd round pick. Gordon was a 2nd, and Pryor was either a 3rd/ 4th.
Could be, but google says a 3rd round pick gets a 4 year deal with a total around $6-7M. My understanding he was going to clear $5m alone this NCAA season.
I bet there is going to be a lawsuit now where ncaa conferences were discriminating against sorsby at tech because of the ruling
Already sick of this kid. Go to the UFL.
Same
J-E-T-S
What team has the best odds to draft him brought to you by FanDuel
Fanduel and pro sports what is the correlation?
Good Lord this has a lot of drama! I pray to all that’s holy that my Browns don’t draft this problem child! Honestly I hope NO team drafts him. Talent aside this kid has some very serious baggage
This has Browns or Jets written all over it!
Jets
If Jets, certainly not with the first overall pick in the draft, which they will have.
Gotta be Vegas just for the irony
Bet he’s 3-4 round pick, and it’s Jets, Steelers.
Highly doubt that he goes to Pittsburgh. They just spent a third on Allar, and Howard is still on the roster. The Jets? I dunno. It seems to me that if Sorsby is picked, it’s by a team not exactly looking for a starter right now or next year.
could the browns draft him to try and deflect some heat off watson ?
NO! Not with 4 QB’S already on roster. Browns really like Shedeur Sanders and rookie Taylon Green
I could see Jerrah or the 28-3 QB take him in the 4th round of the supplemental draft for their respective franchises.
The CFL is calling its king home
I don’t think the CFL expanded further south than Baltimore but the UFL has Texas based teams.
The 2026 NFL Supplemental Draft, brought to by Draft Kings.
I’d be absolutely fine with the Jets taking a 3rd or 4th round flier on this kid if they were to actually let him compete, but they wouldn’t, so don’t waste the pick.
Why do people seem to think the NFL won’t select him? Calvin Ridley and Jameson Williams were suspended for gambling and are fine. Ridley was on two teams since and Jameson Williams got an extension
Williams and Ridley were in the league and had punishment handed down based on what they did. Recall that Williams had his suspension reduced from 4 games to 2 while he was serving.
In this case you have a known quantity that acted in a way that the College Ranks no longer want him around. This would be a horrific look for the NFL to welcome him in.
No one owes him a second chance and certainly not in the same field he has clearly not respected in the past.
Good. Stay away from college football. Go to the crooked league where he’ll fit in perfectly.
My question is how many teams will put in a bid for this guy, not knowing that the NFL office will be possibly suspending him for a few games. If the NFL does suspend Sorby for pass discretions, I could see a team that really does not need a QB right away putting in a higher draft pick say maybe a 2nd or 3rd. If the NFL does not suspend him, I really think the Jets are in the driver seat with the 3 first round picks using one of them.
I think of a few QBs people would like to see punished for their pass discretion.
I wonder if he was told to enter the supplemental draft. Just because a judge in Texas threw him a lifeline on his NIL money, doesn’t mean someone else didn’t privately come along and float federal racketeering felonies if he didn’t move on.
Texas Tech decided it was more headache than they’d signed up for, told Sorsby he could keep his NIL if he gave up the fight on NCAA eligibility and became the NFL’s headache instead. Sorsby happily went with a ‘yes’ on that offer.
Kinda agree with you, It would have become more and more of legal in spider web involving the NCAA, Texas Tech, Sorby’s attorneys. The only one to make anything out of would be the attorney’s law offices. It could be in the courts for quite a while with all the appeals involving everyone involved. Texas Tech did the smart thing saving money, time and headaches for a player who was going to play for one year at Texas Tech.
The irony that the betting odds for TT winning a national championship just plummeted. You just know he’s got some insider shiz going on.
Please login to leave a reply.
Log in Register
Hot stove highlights, 5 days a week.
Register
Leave a Reply