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Sorsby applied last week for the NFL supplemental draft, in the wake of a new lawsuit from the Big 12 that raised the pressure on the quarterback's pursuit of college football eligibility. Ron Jenkins / Getty Images
The NFL will not hold a supplemental draft in 2026, according to a letter reviewed by The Athletic, denying Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby’s application to enter and further clouding his football future following months of questions about his college eligibility over violations of NCAA gambling rules.
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Sorsby announced his intention to enter the supplemental draft on June 15, one week before Monday’s application deadline. The 22-year-old quarterback had transferred from Cincinnati to Texas Tech this offseason but announced in April he would take an “immediate indefinite leave of absence” to enter a residential treatment program for a gambling addiction. An NCAA investigation found him to have violated several of the organization’s gambling rules, including betting on his own team when he was at Indiana, setting the stage for a weeks-long legal battle that appeared to end last week when Sorsby turned his focus toward the pros.
“This is an unlawful act in violation of the CBA,” Sorsby’s lawyer Jeffrey Kessler told The Athletic. “The player is going to bring this to the NFLPA.”
It’s unclear whether Kessler’s statement is accurate and whether the NFLPA would take action in assisting Sorsby in contesting the league decision. Generally, players become eligible for NFLPA representation once drafted or once they sign undrafted free agent contracts. It’s too early to know if the players union would make an exception.
NFLPA officials are still gathering information and have not made any determination on if, how, or whether there are legal grounds to act on the league’s decision, according to a source with knowledge of the NFLPA’s thinking.
The letter to Sorsby explaining the decision noted that “the League retains sole discretion to determine whether it is appropriate to conduct a Supplemental Draft in any given year. The League has not conducted such a draft for several years and, prior to your submission, the League had no plans to do so this year, as no other player has sought entry. Your Petition — filed three business days before the deadline, without any supporting information or documentation, and only after abandoning your recent litigation efforts to avoid NCAA sanctions — does not provide a basis for the League to alter those plans. The issues presented by your Petition are too significant, and too closely tied to the League’s core integrity interests, to permit meaningful review within the timeline presented.”
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Sorsby’s order of dismissal in his lawsuit against the NCAA was granted on June 18, which restored the NCAA’s permanent ineligibility ruling. The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning that Sorsby cannot simply refile the suit and resume his college eligibility battle. Sorsby had hoped to host a pro day workout for NFL teams in Texas in mid-July.
In a statement last week, Texas Tech Board of Regents chair and megabooster Cody Campbell wrote that Texas Tech will continue providing Sorsby with recovery resources and will not seek to recoup any money Sorsby has made through NIL agreements since transferring to Texas Tech, which multiple sources told The Athletic was around $1 million. Campbell added that “Brendan Sorsby will not be part of the Texas Tech football team this Fall.”
Sorsby’s agent, Ron Slavin of Lift Management, told a Dallas radio station last week that Sorsby has more than $1 million in attorney fees in addition to losing certain NIL deals, including one with Adidas. His full one-year deal at Texas Tech was expected to pay him north of $4 million for the 2026 season.
The plan was for Sorsby to remain enrolled at Texas Tech in case he was not approved for or selected in the supplemental draft, with the idea that he could stay in school and continue working out and even practicing with the Red Raiders as an ineligible player. Those details were up in the air pending the outcome of his supplemental draft pursuit and now will have to be sorted out.
Since 1977, the supplemental draft has been a mechanism for draft-eligible players who did not enter the regular NFL Draft to be selected by teams for the upcoming season. There have been 46 players selected in the supplemental draft, many of whom either missed the deadline to declare for the traditional April draft or had unexpected eligibility issues (academic or disciplinary) that prevented them from returning to college football. The league hosts the supplemental draft only if there are eligible players, which hasn’t happened since 2023. (Neither eligible player was selected that year.)
The last player selected in the supplemental draft was safety Jalen Thompson in 2019. Thompson was ruled ineligible for his senior season at Washington State for a rules violation. The Arizona Cardinals selected him in the fifth round of the supplemental draft; in March, Thompson signed as a free agent with the Dallas Cowboys. The seven-year drought without a pick is the longest in the supplemental draft’s history.
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In denying Sorsby’s entry to the supplemental draft, NFL Management Council general counsel Larry Ferazani wrote, “The sole reasons identified in your Petition for seeking entry into the Supplemental Draft are that you have been ‘declared ineligible’ by the NCAA, have ‘exhausted all of (your) avenues to continue in the NCAA,’ and ‘want to now play in the NFL.’ The Petition provides no information regarding the basis for, or timing of, the NCAA’s decision. Public sources, however, indicate that in May 2026 the NCAA issued a determination declaring you permanently ineligible from participation in college athletics, based on a sustained pattern of improper gambling activity during your collegiate career at three different universities.
“The League does not have the complete record of the NCAA’s investigation, and you did not provide any such materials with your Petition. Available information nonetheless indicates that, over the course of your collegiate career, you knowingly engaged in repeated and significant violations of NCAA rules designed to preserve the integrity of athletic competition. Reported conduct includes placing wagers on your own team and teammates and, to avoid detection, establishing or funding accounts in the names of intermediaries who placed bets on your behalf. There are also reports that you may have violated state criminal law.
“Your Petition does not address these matters. Nor does it demonstrate accountability for your conduct or indicate whether, or how, you would adhere to the League’s rules and policies governing the integrity of competition. Instead, even after receiving notice of the NCAA’s decision rescinding your college eligibility in May, you sought to avoid the consequences of that determination through litigation rather than accepting responsibility for your actions, and you pursued entry into the NFL only after abandoning those efforts.”
By his own admission, Sorsby has wagered at least $90,000 on more than 9,000 bets over the course of his college career, with stops at Indiana and Cincinnati before Texas Tech. That included betting on Indiana football as a team member, though not in games he played in, as well as betting on Indiana and Cincinnati men’s basketball games, also in violation of NCAA rules.
Sorsby’s lawsuit against the NCAA claimed the organization was not looking out for his best interest and welfare in banning him. Earlier this month a judge in Lubbock County, Texas, sided with Sorsby, granting him an injunction that would have allowed him to play the 2026 college football season after serving a self-recommended two-game suspension.
Amid criticism of the judge’s decision, the NCAA and the Big 12 each submitted court filings in separate lawsuits involving Sorsby’s case. The debate over his eligibility involved the attorneys general of several states and the presidents of the Big 12 universities, and it raised questions about the NCAA’s legitimacy if the organization could not enforce its own rules.
In an Instagram post last week, Sorsby thanked his family, his coaches and teammates at Texas Tech, and “so many others who have encouraged me to address and learn more about this important issue. As my journey continues, I remain fully committed to and focused on being the best I can be, both on and off the field.”
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The NFL instead encouraged Sorsby to look ahead to next spring’s regular NFL Draft. According to the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, players don’t become undrafted free agents until the completion of the draft for which they are eligible, so Sorsby cannot simply sign with an NFL team.
“As Commissioner Goodell has emphasized, participation in the NFL is a privilege that carries with it significant responsibilities, including accountability,” the letter to Sorsby concluded. “By all accounts, you are a talented player with the potential for future success. We encourage you to focus on preparing for possible entry into the NFL through the 2027 NFL Annual Draft.”
Mike Repole, the entrepeneur who joined the UFL’s ownership group last year, tweeted on Tuesday afternoon an invitation for Sorsby to join the spring football league.
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