Brendan Sorsby\u00a0<\/strong>was on track to take part in the supplemental draft as his technique of entering the NFL in 2026. That won’t be going down, nonetheless.<\/p>\n <\/a>The NFL announced on Tuesday that the supplemental draft won’t be held in 2026. Because of this, Sorsby won’t give you the chance to show pro this summer. The embattled Texas Tech quarterback will as an alternative be eligible for the standard NFL draft in April 2027.<\/p>\n A letter addressed to Sorsby from the NFL\u2019s management council (h\/t NFL Network\u2019s Ian Rapoport<\/a>) details the league\u2019s reasoning for this decision. It reads partially:<\/p>\n \u201cUnder our Collective Bargaining Agreement, the League retains sole discretion to find out whether it is acceptable to conduct a Supplemental Draft in any given yr. The League has not conducted such a draft for several years and, prior to your submission, the League had no plans to achieve this this yr, as no other player has sought entry\u2026 The problems presented by your Petition are too significant, and too closely tied to the League\u2019s core integrity interests, to allow meaningful review throughout the timeline presented.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201c\u2026 even after receiving notice of the NCAA\u2019s decision rescinding your college eligibility in May, you sought to avoid the implications of that determination through litigation slightly than accepting responsibility to your actions, and also you pursued entry into the NFL only after abandoning those efforts.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Sorsby hung out this spring in a rehab facility for treatment of a gambling addiction. That has been followed by a lengthy, controversy-filled saga over his NCAA eligibility. Attempts to be granted eligibility for 2026 fell short at first, with the NCAA denying him reinstatement, although a surprise injunction against the NCAA appeared to put Sorsby heading in the right direction to play for the Red Raiders this fall. Sorsby\u2019s attorneys later dropped their suit against the NCAA with attention turning to entry into the NFL, although today\u2019s news implies that won’t be possible.<\/p>\n The NFL cancelling its supplemental draft has change into an annual trend; the league last held this event in 2023. Nobody has been chosen in that midsummer draft for the reason that Cardinals selected safety Jalen Thompson<\/strong> in 2019. But Sorsby was poised to revive the event. As an alternative, he’ll reside in limbo in consequence of the league\u2019s decision Tuesday.<\/p>\n In an email (via ESPN.com\u2019s Pete Thamel<\/a>), Jeffery Kessler indicated a view that the NFL\u2019s decision \u201cis a violation of the CBA and the law. We’ll pursue this immediately with the NFLPA.\u201d Sorsby, after all, shouldn’t be a member of the NFLPA. But Kessler drove the trouble that momentarily reopened the door for the embattled quarterback to play college football in 2026. An injunction granted by a Lubbock, Texas, judge shocked the football world and had Sorsby heading in the right direction to improbably make his Texas Tech debut. This sparked tremendous backlash against the Red Raiders, however the Big 12 program as an alternative ended up urging the QB to declare for the supplemental draft slightly than accept a two-game suspension and play in 2026.<\/p>\n The varied issues that derailed those players\u2019 college paths didn’t involve gambling, and after the league has seen betting issues change into an issue involving a handful of cases in recent times \u2014 with full-season and six-game suspensions going down (Jameson Williams<\/strong> and Isaiah Rodgers<\/strong> have been amongst those banned) \u2014 it would not try to expedite Sorsby\u2019s complicated journey.<\/p>\n The NFL has, after all, embraced partnerships with gambling firms; those have helped create annual salary cap spikes over the course of the 2020 CBA. Sorsby\u2019s camp surely could make such an argument, but because it stands, the two-time transfer is stuck for 2026.<\/p>\n The previous Indiana and Cincinnati quarterback admitted to creating hundreds of bets on college and pro sports; those totaled upwards of $90K and included 40 wagers on Indiana while he was on the Hoosiers\u2019 roster. This led to treatment for gambling addiction, which Sorsby accomplished. Most expected the supplemental draft to be his endgame, and after the Big 12 executed a federal court filing in a response to the injunction, the QB\u2019s camp withdrew his lawsuit and ready for the NFL.<\/p>\n Sorsby had until June 22 to file paperwork for the supplemental draft, and while it was viewed as likely that might be his gateway into the professional game, the bizarre nature of the QB\u2019s infractions created a murky situation. Many of the NFL had accelerated research into Sorsby as a prospect, as his agent indicated 26 teams contacted him concerning the former Hoosiers and Bearcats starter. A professional day was scheduled for July 10. Sorsby\u2019s agent, Joey Slavin, also said he was not expecting his client to be suspended upon NFL entry.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.profootballrumors.com\/files\/2026\/05\/USATSI_27784123-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a>This profiles as a line within the sand of sorts by the league. The NFL has allowed quite a few other players with NCAA eligibility issues prior to now entry into the league via the supplemental draft, which is in place for prospects whose statuses at the faculty level have modified after a season.<\/p>\n<\/a>Today\u2019s supplemental draft news could possibly be interpreted as a de facto suspension, and a source informed Thamel and ESPN colleague Adam Schefter<\/a> the league\u2019s response to Sorsby\u2019s Eleventh-hour supplemental draft declaration represents \u201can avoidance of that distraction (to groups) attributable to his own timing.\u201d The league\u2019s letter encouraged Sorsby to give attention to the 2027 draft; by that time, the NFL can have had more time to look at the quantity of his gambling infractions.<\/p>\n