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Brendan Sorsby will not have the opportunity to be drafted into the NFL this year after all.
On Tuesday, the NFL informed the former Texas Tech quarterback that it would decline to hold a supplemental draft. Sorsby applied for the draft last week ahead of the June 22 deadline.
In May, Sorsby announced he would seek in-patient treatment for gambling addiction, and was subsequently declared ineligible by the NCAA for placing bets on pro sports and college sports, including his own team at Indiana in 2022. Sorsby sued to get the decision overturned, and was successful—but after backlash directed at Sorsby and Texas Tech, including a lawsuit filed by the Big 12, Sorsby opted to leave college and seek the supplemental draft.
Instead of the supplemental draft, however, the NFL encouraged Sorsby to prepare for the annual NFL Draft that will be held in late April of 2027, according to a letter obtained by Front Office Sports, which described him as “a talented player with the potential for future success.” The letter written by Larry Ferazani, general counsel for the NFL Management Council, said the NFL had the right, according to its collective bargaining agreement, to decline to open the supplemental draft; and that it was declining Sorsby’s request because of a lack of adequate time to consider Sorsby’s application given the magnitude of his gambling activities.
“Your Petition—filed three business days before the deadline, without any supporting information or documentation, and only after abandoning your recent litigation efforts to avoid NCAA sanctions—does not provide a basis for the League to alter those plans,” the letter read. “The issues presented 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 letter further detailed how Sorsby’s petition for the NFL to open the supplemental draft did not include any mention of his gambling activities—instead, it stated solely that he had exhausted his NCAA eligibility and wanted to play in the NFL. The league wrote that it did not have a copy of the NCAA investigation, but that according to “public reports,” it was aware that Sorsby had been declared ineligible after engaging in “a sustained pattern of improper gambling activity during your collegiate career at three different universities.”
Sorsby’s petition made no mention of these issues, the letter continued. “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. Instead, even after receiving notice of the NCAA’s decision rescinding your college eligibility in May, you sought to avoid the consequences of that determination through litigation rather than accepting responsibility for your actions, and you pursued entry into the NFL only after abandoning those efforts.”
Meanwhile, Sorsby’s attorney, high-powered sports antitrust litigator Jeffrey Kessler, signaled Sorsby would challenge the decision. “This is an unlawful act in violation of the CBA,” he said in a statement to FOS. “The player is going to bring this to the NFLPA.”
The NFL’s decision, however, may not end Sorsby’s pro football options. Mike Repole, the billionaire entrepreneur and a UFL co-owner, posted on social media: “Welcome to @TheUFL, Brendan Sorsby,” before encouraging the quarterback to join the Dallas Renegades. “Have your people call my people!!!!!”
