Brendan Sorsby could be headed for supplemental draft

The NFL's supplemental draft hasn't been relevant in years. This year, things could change.

ESPN reports that Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby could enter the supplemental draft, if he fails to regain his eligibility to play college football.

No player has been picked in the supplemental draft since 2019.

The first step for Sorsby will be to attempt to continue to play college football. Per the report, Sorsby has hired attorney Jeffrey Kessler to help with the effort.

Kessler has become a massive thorn in the NCAA's side in recent years, given his role in a string of antitrust cases that have exposed the many ways in which the NCAA's structure and rules violate the law.

It's unclear whether the NFL would embrace Sorsby without hesitation, given that he is under investigation for allegedly making more than 10,000 online bets in the past four years. In 2012, the NFL found a way to simulate the suspension the NCAA imposed on former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor, with the league contending that Pryor manipulated eligibility rules.

The league office would have to concoct another reason to suspend Sorsby, who clearly wants to keep his college eligibility. The rampant gambling would give the NFL an easy starting point for doing so.

That makes Kessler's presence even more relevant. He also has been a thorn in the NFL's side for decades, and Kessler could (if Sorsby's eligibility isn't restored) attempt to force the NFL to give him immediate entry with a clean slate.

Obviously, Sorsby isn't looking for a quick and easy path to the NFL. He surely wants to stay at Texas Tech and earn his reported $5 million in NIL payments for 2026. If he can't, Sorsby and Kessler can't assume the league won't try to fashion some justification for keeping him out for all or part of 2026, citing for instance the threat presented to the integrity of the NFL's rules against gambling.

But should Sorsby's ability to play in the NFL be tied to gambling that occurred before he signs an NFL contract? It will be for the league to monitor his activities after he's in the NFL — the same as it supposedly does as to every other player.

Here's why I added the term "supposedly" to that sentence. Although the NFL can rely on the sportsbooks to alert the league when a player is making online bets in his own name, there are easy ways around the limits to a player's permissible sports betting activities. The fact that no NFL player has ever been disciplined for, say, having a family member or a friend place bets conflicts with the commonsense reality that, of all the thousands of players who have been on rosters since sports betting became legalized, at least some of them undoubtedly have done that.

Hovering over the entire situation is the reality that Sorsby apparently has a gambling addiction, fueled at least in part by the rampant legalized sports betting from which the NFL has profited handsomely. Sorsby should have an opportunity to receive proper treatment for this condition, and it should not be used against him unless and until it's proven that he has failed to avoid breaking the NFL's gambling rules after officially entering the league.