After weeks of drama, Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby is NFL-bound, but questions about his professional future still linger.
Sorsby will enter the NFL Supplemental Draft, his legal representation confirmed on Monday. The announcement came as his gambling scandal jeopardized his college future, getting an injunction against the NCAA last week before the association, the Big 12 and others fought to make Sorsby ineligible.
Now, Sorsby will become one of the most intriguing prospects to enter the supplemental draft in quite some time. He could be the first player taken in the first round of the supplemental draft in 34 years, as teams weigh whether to use a high draft pick on him.
So, with Sorsby now becoming a pro, what do execs and scouts around the league think about his talent and situation? Here’s what we learned from our conversations.
Ralph Vacchiano: Brendan Sorsby might have had the talent to be a first-round pick in next year’s NFL Draft had he remained in college. Now, teams have to weigh whether he’s worth using a first-round pick on in the supplemental draft, and his gambling problem makes him a risk that not everyone will be willing to take.
“We tend to forgive a lot of things if a guy can play,” one NFL executive told me. “But gambling in sports has always just been different. Betting, especially on your own team, is the one line [players] simply can’t cross.”
Sorsby, after all, admitted to inserting bets on his personal group when he was briefly at Indiana College, which is why he was banned from enjoying school soccer till a court docket granted an injunction to let him play subsequent season for Texas Tech. However after the NCAA, Massive 12 and others sought to make Sorsby ineligible to play once more, he determined to enter the supplemental draft.
Brendan Sorsby had been considered as a possible prime decide within the 2027 NFL Draft earlier than the information of his playing scandal broke. (Photograph by Bryan Byerly/ISI Photographs/ISI Photographs through Getty Photos)
Now, the ball is within the NFL’s court docket. What punishment may he obtain from the league? And for the 32 groups, is Sorsby’s expertise well worth the off-field dangers?
“Should you want a quarterback, he’s going to be tempting,” the chief instructed me. “However as a result of he’s a quarterback, it’s a good more durable name. The man isn’t simply an nameless guard. He’s going to be the face of the franchise. He’ll be watched in all places he goes, no matter he does, each social media publish, each particular person he takes a photograph with.
“And it’s not like it’s a must to simply maintain him out of casinos, or can provide him weekly drug checks to watch him. Playing is in all places and also you would possibly by no means know if he’s doing it. Even when he says he’s fully overwhelmed the issue and by no means has another points, can you actually belief him? Will your followers belief him? Will the media?
“All the things is a possible downside.”
That’s most likely why one NFL scout instructed me, “I’m glad that’s above my pay grade. I wouldn’t need to should make that decision. He’s a very sturdy prospect, however there’s a lot extra that goes into taking him. You’re actually risking loads.”
Scout: Sorsby A third-Spherical Choose
Eric D. Williams: NFL entrance workplace personnel, scouts and coaches will probably be tasked with executing a danger evaluation on Sorsby, weighing his huge expertise on the sector towards what he has achieved off it.
“He’s a beginning NFL quarterback,” a entrance workplace government instructed me. “He would have been a prime 15 choice this yr. However there’s no assure the dependancy will go away.”
A longtime NFL scout that I spoke with believes that if Sorsby was within the 2027 NFL Draft, he’d come off the board on Day 2.
“I grade him as a third-rounder,” the scout instructed me. “I assumed he ought to keep in class, take the NIL (title, picture and likeness) cash and get higher. Somebody will draft him and I don’t assume a QB like him will get drafted previous the third/fourth spherical. Some will attain for him within the third.
“Desperation makes groups do loopy issues for quarterbacks. Some groups will get scared off for certain, however one will probably be determined. The reasoning is second possibilities. Johnny Manziel acquired one.”
As groups weigh Brendan Sorsby’s expertise towards his off-field points, one scout thinks he was on observe to be a Day 2 decide. (Photograph by Boyd Ivey/Icon Sportswire through Getty Photos)
And because the playing controversy is on the forefront with Sorsby’s scenario, it is not the one little bit of off-field drama he is been concerned on this offseason. Sorsby’s earlier faculty, Cincinnati, can be suing him, alleging he breached his NIL contract with the Bearcats when he refused to pay a $1 million exit charge after transferring to Texas Tech.
So, that is why one other league supply I spoke with questioned concerning the prospect of taking a quarterback with poor decision-making off the sector because the face of your franchise.
“Name me loopy, however the usual must be a lot increased on the QB place,” the league supply instructed me. “You want to be a pacesetter. I’d keep away if it was me. Determination-making and judgment are clearly missing.”
Sorsby May’ve Been No. 2 Or 3 QB In 2026
Vacchiano: Folks across the NFL appear break up on the place Sorsby would have gone if he had entered the 2026 NFL Draft.
One scout instructed me he had thought Sorsby was a Day 3 decide, even earlier than his playing points had been revealed. An NFL government instructed me he most likely was “a mid-to-high second-rounder.” However one other NFL scout pointed to the weak quarterback class total in 2026 and mentioned, “He might need been the second [quarterback] off the board … earlier than the playing stuff, after all.”
“Possibly not, as a result of I suppose the Rams actually beloved Ty Simpson [who they took 13th overall],” the scout instructed me. “However aside from Fernando Mendoza, I’m undecided anybody [in the 2026 draft] had extra potential than this man. He’s large (6-foot-3, 235 kilos), he can run, he’s acquired a rocket arm, and he’s good below stress. There’s loads to work with there.
“Now, it’s not excellent. His decision-making isn’t all the time nice. He can power some passes, and he likes to throw deep even when the intermediate throw is there. He runs slightly too rapidly typically as a substitute of letting this develop. However in a nasty quarterback class, he would’ve stood out.”
Carson Beck was the third quarterback taken within the 2026 NFL Draft. Would Sorsby have been drafted forward of him this previous April? (Photograph by Christian Petersen/Getty Photos)
Previous to Monday’s information, Sorsby was making an attempt to face out amongst a number of prime quarterback prospects within the 2027 NFL Draft. If he had remained in school and gotten to play this season, the place may he have gone in subsequent yr’s draft?
“I must see extra,” the scout instructed me. “I’d most likely put him on the perimeter of the highest group, simply based mostly on expertise. If a man that massive has a powerful season, he may actually rise and be a prime 10 decide. But when he struggles, and also you add within the playing stuff, he may drop himself off a whole lot of draft boards, too.”
Draft Knowledgeable: Sorsby Has 1st-Spherical Expertise
FOX Sports activities NFL Draft analyst Rob Rang believes that Sorsby would’ve had the bodily instruments to be drafted forward of Ty Simpson had he entered the 2026 draft, however NFL scouts should vet his vital, off-the-field playing points earlier than taking an opportunity on bringing the participant into their group.
Rang, who recently offered his evaluation of Sorsby, projected that the previous Cincinnati quarterback could be a second-round decide within the supplemental draft. He made that projection after watching each landing and interception Sorsby threw this previous season, together with a few of his tape at Indiana.
“He’s very spectacular,” Rang instructed me. “He’s acquired an actual intriguing ability set to him in that he’s acquired the prototypical measurement. He’s acquired a handy guide a rough launch and loads of arm energy. Good accuracy. And he’s an athlete. He’s an aggressive scrambler and so bodily talking he’s acquired all of the traits to be a really profitable NFL quarterback.
“He has the bodily expertise to warrant being chosen forward of Ty Simpson. He’s a extra bodily proficient participant than Ty Simpson. And he’s a three-year starter, the place Ty is just a one-year starter. However after all, Ty Simpson checked each field in relation to a man who bided his time at Alabama and performed fairly effectively when he acquired his alternative, the place with Brendan you’re speaking a few participant who’s transferred thrice and comes with questions on his decision-making that NFL groups are going to have to guage.”
Brendan Sorsby threw for two,800 yards, 27 touchdowns and 5 interceptions at Cincinnati in 2025. (Photograph by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire through Getty Photos)
On the sector, Sorsby accomplished 61.4% of his passes for 7,208 yards and 60 touchdowns towards 18 interceptions over 35 mixed video games at Cincinnati (2024-25) and Indiana (2022-23) whereas dashing for an additional 1,295 yards and 22 touchdowns.
These are spectacular numbers. However in the end, Rang mentioned the problem for Sorsby’s draft future will probably be what groups are keen to miss his off-the-field transgressions.
“That’s the million-dollar query right here,” Rang instructed me. “I feel that the bodily expertise justifies a first-round grade. However the character considerations which will or will not be fully justified, however that’s going to require some actual investigation from groups. And groups are usually hesitant to draft gamers within the supplemental draft with the spherical that equates to their expertise. Normally, they drop a spherical or greater than they usually would, simply due to the truth that it’s the supplemental draft, and also you wouldn’t have the chance to guage them as you usually would for a standard prospect.”
