Former Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby won’t find employment in the NFL this month and will have to take his chances in the annual spring selection process.
Key Takeaways
- The NFL cited concerns about the integrity of competition in denying Sorsby's petition.
- The league decided not to hold a supplemental draft this summer.
- Sorsby’s lawyer vows to challenge the NFL’s decision legally.
The pro football league denied a petition from Sorsby, who lost his NCAA eligibility for gambling on his own team, to enter the NFL supplemental draft, according to a letter obtained by The Athletic on Tuesday.
“The issues provided 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," the NFL said in the letter.
The decision leaves Sorsby without a clear path to play football in 2026, and the league encouraged him to prepare for the 2027 draft. Jeffery Kessler, Sorsby’s attorney, told ESPN’s Pete Thamel that his exclusion violates the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement and law, and he plans to fight the denial through the NFL Players Association.
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Lack of accountability
The NCAA ruled Sorsby ineligible in May after the player acknowledged he placed over 9,000 bets worth $90,000 over the course of four years while he played at Indiana and Cincinnati, including $850 on Hoosiers games as a freshman.
After transferring to Texas Tech and entering a gambling addiction program, Sorsby challenged the NCAA's ruling in court and won a temporary restraining order in early June that restored his eligibility. However, after facing multiple legal battles, he gave up his attempt to play in college this fall.
“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,” NFL general counsel Larry Ferazani wrote in the letter. “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.”
No draft planned
Sorsby applied for the supplemental draft three business days before the deadline. The league’s general counsel wrote in the letter that the NFL doesn’t have the “complete record” of the NCAA’s investigation and said there wasn’t “supporting information or documentation, and only after abandoning your recent litigation efforts to avoid NCAA sanctions” that led Sorsby to enter the supplemental draft.
The NFL also said it does not plan to hold a supplemental draft this year, a process that has not been conducted since 2023. No other player applied for the summer selection process. Teams forfeit the corresponding pick in the following year's draft if they select a player in the supplemental draft.
Leaving college
Sorsby halted his attempt to play college football after the Big 12 filed a lawsuit against Texas Tech, which supported Sorsby’s gambling addiction program and eligibility pursuit despite facing backlash across college football.
Texas Tech board of regents chairman Cody Campbell announced June 16 that Sorsby wouldn’t suit up for the Red Raiders in 2026.
“This decision was made with Brendan and his family and is purely an output of practical analysis of the situation,” Campbell wrote. “Brendan and Texas Tech stand on very solid and legitimate legal ground, but he faces a June 22nd deadline to be eligible to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft, and there is no practical way to resolve all the various pending legal disputes and ensure his eligibility prior to this date.”
