Former Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby has lost his fastest route into the NFL after the league denied his petition for the supplemental draft.
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The NFL did not treat Brendan Sorsby petition as a simple eligibility request. In a letter obtained by The Athletic, the league tied the decision directly to competition integrity and the lack of time to review the full case.
“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.
For the league, the core issue goes beyond whether Sorsby can play. It centers on how a player who broke NCAA gambling rules would fit under NFL betting policies, especially at a time when leagues face more attention around athletes, wagering and insider risk.
NFL general counsel Larry Ferazani wrote that Sorsby had not given enough answers on those points.
“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,” Ferazani wrote. “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.”
Sorsby applied three business days before the supplemental draft deadline. The NFL said it did not have the complete NCAA investigation record, and Ferazani noted the petition came with little supporting material after Sorsby ended his recent legal efforts against NCAA sanctions.
The supplemental draft would have given teams a summer path to select him before the next regular NFL Draft. Under that system, a team that selects a player gives up the matching pick in the following year draft.
However, the NFL also said it does not plan to hold a supplemental draft in 2026. No other player applied, and the process has not taken place since 2023.
That leaves Sorsby in a tough football gap. He no longer has a clear college path for 2026, while the NFL has pointed him toward the 2027 draft instead.
Sorsby attorney, Jeffery Kessler, told ESPN Pete Thamel that the denial violates the NFL collective bargaining agreement and the law. He plans to challenge the decision through the NFL Players Association.
The NCAA ruled Sorsby ineligible in May after he acknowledged placing more than 9,000 bets worth $90,000 across four years at Indiana and Cincinnati. The betting activity included $850 on Indiana games while he was a freshman with the Hoosiers.
Sorsby later transferred to Texas Tech and entered a gambling addiction program. He challenged the NCAA ruling in court and won a temporary restraining order in early June, which briefly restored his eligibility.
That college route soon became harder to maintain. The Big 12 filed a lawsuit against Texas Tech, which had backed Sorsby treatment program and eligibility effort despite pushback around college football.
Texas Tech board of regents chairman Cody Campbell said on June 16 that Sorsby would not play 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.”