As every day goes by following the NFL’s rejection of Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby‘s application for a supplemental draft, it’s becoming less and fewer likely that legal motion is coming. If that door officially closes, it can be the second to have done so because the Canadian Football League has barred its teams from signing Sorsby or adding him to their negotiation list, per Paul Myerberg of USA Today.
The CFL began their season just over three weeks ago. Americans are capable of join a team roster by entering the CFL’s annual draft in April or going through an open tryout. Those taking the tryout route “may be signed by any CFL franchise or placed on a team’s ‘negotiation list,’ meaning his signing rights are exclusively owned by that team.” The Canadian league didn’t mince its words when explaining its reasoning for stopping Sorsby’s entry.
“Upholding the integrity of the league and ensuring fair competition are paramount to the CFL,” the league said in a press release. “The allegations involving Brendan Sorsby are serious and concerning. Right now, the CFL won’t register a contract for him, and no team will likely be permitted so as to add him to its negotiation list.”
As for the potential that Sorsby and his lawyer, Jeffrey Kessler, might sue their way into the NFL, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk fears the time for that will have passed. A successful results of one other lawsuit would mean that a supplemental draft would still must happen, and Sorsby would likely still wish to placed on a professional day to display his talents and skills and open himself as much as any potential evaluators within the NFL.
That every one would want to happen fairly quickly; at this point, the deadline to use for the supplemental draft has long passed. The actual litigation of a case might be a lengthy process, alone, not to say all the pieces that will need to return after. Clearly, Sorsby’s legal team is fully aware of this, yet they still haven’t acted off Kessler’s initial comments suggesting a legal challenge might be coming. In the event that they determine to file and Kessler urges a court to be expeditious, the court will likely inquire into why Kessler didn’t act faster to initiate the method in the primary place.
With one door closed and the opposite fast closing, Sorsby’s well of options is quickly running dry. The opposite day, we offered that one other skilled league might be the reply for Sorsby, however the CFL said no, and the United Football League’s next season won’t start until after the following Super Bowl. The last options we mentioned were collegiate ones outside the NCAA. Sorsby could still try to join a junior college or NAIA team, but he’ll likely want to try this soon, as well, with the intention to get his bearings.
Sorsby could also do nothing and begin preparing for the 2027 NFL Draft. Regardless of the case, it seems the NFL and NCAA have worked in tandem to send a transparent message of consequences for one’s actions, and other leagues have joined in, as well.