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.
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