Former Indiana Hoosier, Cincinnati Bearcat and Texas Tech Red Raider Quarterback Brendan Sorsby’s time in college football might be coming to an abrupt end. After the NCAA announced that the 2025 All-Big 12 Second Team Quarterback had lost his final year of eligibility and declared him ineligible to play in the 2026 collegiate season following an investigation into Sorsby’s gambling addiction that stretched since his 2022 redshirt freshman season at Bloomington to this past year, Sorsby tried to get
the decision reverse by a judge. However the courts did not rule in his favor and will potentially be taken to an appellate court.
Should the courts continue to rule against Sorsby, the passer could be left with potentially only 1 avenue to take:
Enter the 2026 NFL Supplemental Draft.
Lets dig into what the Supplemental Draft is, who Brendan Sorsby is as a prospect, and why the Colts should/shouldn’t pursue Sorsby in the Supplemental Draft.
What is the Supplemental Draft?
Some fans might be confused, as the NFL Draft already occurred in April. While that is true, there is still a whole other NFL draft that can occur in July to much less fanfare: The Supplemental Draft.
Here players who didn’t enter the prior NFL Draft but have since had academic, disciplinary, or eligibility issues can choose to apply with the NFL to enter the Supplemental Draft. If the player is 3 years removed from High School and approved by the NFL after an investigation on if a player should be granted an exception to take the normal NFL Draft path, then they enter the Supplemental Draft.
The pick selection process is different than the NFL Draft, as it is a blind bidding format with teams submitting emails to the league office telling the NFL what round they would like to take a player in. Earliest round wins the player, and if there is a tie then the tiebreaker is a weighted lottery divided into 3 tiers based on the previous season’s records:
- Teams with six or fewer wins
- Non-playoff teams with seven or more wins
- Playoff teams
Should a team successfully take a player, then the NFL team forfeits a draft pick for next years NFL Draft corresponding to the round they bid at.
This process doesn’t happen annually, but only when there are any players approved of the Supplemental Draft eligibility by the league. This year players have from June 22nd to declare for the Supplemental Draft, which if players are approved by the NFL then the Supplemental Draft will occur sometime in late July. Even when a Supplemental Draft does happen, it isn’t a guarantee any player is taken. Only 46 players have been taken in the Supplemental Draft since its inception in 1977, and none have been selected in the last 6 years.
Still when the Supplemental Draft has occurred, teams have found quality players through this avenue. The last player taken was Safety Jalen Thompson in 2019 for a 5th Round pick by the Arizona Cardinals, and he has turned into a solid starting safety for several seasons now. Hall of Fame Wide Receiver Chris Carter was taken Round in the 4th Round in 1987 (Brian Bosworth went Round 1 that same year).
8 Pro Bowlers have been taken in the Supplemental Draft (most recently Wide Receiver Josh Gordon in Round 2 of 2012), and 8 Round 1 picks have been forfeited from Supplemental Draft picks.
No Round 1 Pick has been forfeited since 1992 (QB Dave Brown to the Giants), and Josh Gordon was the last Round 2 Pick since 2003; as teams have become more cautious about using the NFL Supplemental Draft to sacrifice high future picks in the last 2+ decades.
Could Sorsby be the rare prospect that tempts teams to bid high in the Supplemental Draft?
Brendan Sorsby Scouting Report
- Size: 6’3 Height, 235 lb. Weight.
- Experience: 30 Collegiate Starts
- Age: 22 years old (January 20th, 2004 Birthday)
Strengths
- Clear Arm Talent. Has strong ball velocity, consistent layering ability in his throws to go over defenders heads/arms, and has a smooth and quick motion that can deliver effective passes with touch from a variety of angles. Pretty accurate deep ball 40+ yards downfield.
- Dual-Threat Playmaker. With strong size and speed, Sorsby is a weapon on the move. Cincinnati used him on Read options that were highly effective. He has 1,295 rushing yards and 22 Rushing TDs (18 since 2024) in his career. Sorsby is a creative scrambler who can either buy time for a downfield strike on the move after play action or take off and run it himself. While no official 40 time is available, based off of on field tracking data he is estimated to have a 40 time in the 4.5s to 4.65 range.
- Pressure Sense: Sorsby is an effective pocket manipulator and a tough QB to bring down. He is able to shake off pass rushers, move in the pocket or break contain to buy time. His Pressure to Sack% would be the 2nd Lowest out of 38 Quarterbacks eligible for the 2027 Draft while having a middle of the pack Time to Throw.
- Balanced aggression. High Average Depth of Target (over 10+), and Big Time Throw Rate, low Turnover Worthy Play rate. Trusts his arm and can deliver very good touch passes for large gains. There is some risk there and he might need to tone it down a bit at the NFL to take easier underneath throws instead. But when he does play Hero Ball, he’s often really good at it. Had 27 TDs to 5 INTs in 2025 and 80 TDs to 22 INTs in his collegiate career.
Weaknesses
- Read Progression and Field Reading. Can lock onto his first read too often, needs to speed up progressions a bit. Shows flashes of working through progressions and can look defenders off of the ball, but needs more consistency in eye discipline.
- Passing vs Pressure. If Sorsby gets moved off of his spot in the pocket or has to throw on the run, his effectiveness diminishes. Clock clearly speeds up for him and he needs to settle down. Can occasionally drift back in the pocket too much vs interior pressure, which can lead to bigger losses of yards and make his throws tougher both mechanically and distance wise. When moving out of passer tends to look to run rather than to pass when under pressure which was effective in college but needs to shift a bit in the NFL. Has traits to be a much better passer outside of pocket.
- Passing Speed variance: Still learning when and where to use his fastball and layering throws. Needs a bit of mechanical tune up to adjust it.
- Short and right side accuracy. Sorsby has good to strong accuracy in most areas in the field. But he tends to be better throwing on the left side and over the middle than the right side, where some struggles occur outside of the numbers. He has a higher on target rate on deep to intermediate depths compared to most prospects, whereas his short depth throws are below average and especially short right side zone is well below average. He can sail his throws over heads on short middle and short left zones and be under throwing in short right zones. Could be a relic from his old baseball playing days. His misses on deep balls tend to be too high/far.
Grade: Round 2
Had Sorsby declared for the 2026 Draft, he would’ve competed with Alabama’s Ty Simpson for QB2 of the class behind Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza. Instead he opted to transfer to Texas Tech as one of the most sought after QBs on the market and sign for $5 million in his last year of eligibility at the time.
Simpson was also a Round 2 Graded QB on my board and ended up going 13th overall to the LA Rams. Four NFL evaluators spoke to the Athletic anonymously and believed Sorsby would’ve gone over Simpson in the 2026 Draft.
Overall he projects as a very toolsy, high upside QB prospect with some elements of polish to his game to build off of. But he does need development, irregardless of if he enters either the 2026 Supplemental or 2027 NFL Drafts.
Colts current QB options
The Colts have a trio of QBs on the roster for 2026, and each of them have a lengthy injury history, especially in recent years.
Daniel Jones’ fractured fibula and torn Achilles in 2025 were major factors that derailed the Colts season from being the projected 1 seed in the AFC to failing to make the playoffs entirely.
But he also has had 9 injuries during his NFL career as a Giant from 2019-2023, 7 of which caused him to miss games. From pinched cervical nerves (2x), hamstring sprains, concussions, high and low ankle sprains, and a torn ACL; he missed 22 games in that time span due to injury and had a pair of season ending injuries in 2021 and 2023 prior to joining the Colts.
Jones even had a broken Clavicle at Duke that caused him to miss two games before playing through it the rest of the season.
While Daniel Jones was rewarded with a new 2 year deal with a 3rd dead cap year, it is fair to question both his current health as a mobile QB coming off of an Achilles tear and his injury history overall. The Colts need to have a Plan B in case Jones is unable to stay healthy.
Currently the Plan B is Anthony Richardson or Riley Leonard.
Richardson’s injury history is also well known to Colts fans after playing just 15 games in his first two seasons before being passed on the depth chart by Daniel Jones in 2025 and missing the chance to start again after Jones’ Achilles tear due to a freak pregame accident injuring his orbital bone and hurting his vision in 2025. Richardson is on the last year of his deal and has already requested a trade out of Indianapolis, indicating his time with the Colts is likely coming to an end at some point within the next calendar year.
Riley Leonard also was injured in 2025 with a pedal foot injury that hurt his ability to play the first week after Jones’ injury. He also suffered a concussion in the Orange Bowl in 2024 and a torn labrum injury in his non throwing shoulder earlier in the year against Northern Illinois that he played through in his final collegiate season. At Duke in 2023 he suffered a high ankle sprain and missed a game, then reinjured that same ankle and injured his left toe upon returning, requiring season ending surgery.
Daniel Jones is the clear starter if healthy after his highly efficient start to 2025, but the Colts would be wise to continue to explore options in case of injury to himself or other QBs.
Should the Colts take a chance on Sorsby?
With the future of the Colts QB room surrounded with doubt, perhaps Sorsby is a risk the Colts should take.
Chris Ballard is on the last year of his deal and the late Jim Irsay who hired him is no longer calling the shots for the Colts. He is firmly on the hot seat after being unable to make the playoffs since the 2020 season with Phillip Rivers and never winning the AFC South after 9 seasons in charge of the Colts. One of the biggest reasons for this lack of success has been poor QB play post-Andrew Luck retirement outside of Rivers’ first stint with the Colts. This could be his last chance to try to solve the Colts QB dilemma. Daniel Jones when healthy could be the answer, but as shown above that is far from a guarantee.
If Sorsby enters the Supplemental Draft, he is perhaps the most consequential and highest graded player on the field to enter it since at least Josh Gordon in 2012 or at most in the last 3 decades. There is a chance he could even go Round 1, as a team like the Jets own 3 Round 1 picks in 2027 (including the Colts’ due to the Sauce Gardner trade) and have a clear QB need still with 2025 INT leader Geno Smith as their top starting option.
But Sorsby’s gambling issue seems to be a major red flag, as it wasn’t a one time bet or a handful of times but a multi-year addiction. The NFL has a zero tolerance policy towards gambling and has served entire year suspensions to players for gambling in the past (including former Colts Cornerback Isaiah Rodgers, who was waived after the suspension ruling) as well as have a new 2 year suspension minimum for gambling on a game involving one’s own team and a 1 year suspension minimum for gambling on another NFL team. This concern could seriously lower Sorsby’s Draft stock, as the risk of investing serious draft capital who is a risk to miss 1 to 2 years from suspension is nothing to scoff at. While Sorsby has completed a month long rehab for his gambling addiction, any relapse could completely derail a teams’ season(s) if they are counting on him to start.
The other major factor that hinders Sorsby from going early: the 2027 Draft Class is filled to the brim with talented players, especially at QB. While it is still a year away and plenty could change, there is a deep well of draft eligible QBs who could net early Round grades. Teams have been very hesitant to forfeit their Round 1-2 picks for a while now, and the 2027 Draft adds to that even more.
Maybe a team who thinks they won’t pick high in 2027 but has a need at QB might take a swing on Sorsby in Round 2, but the risk and the cost is so great with him that he could fall farther.
The Colts could say DAMN THE TORPEDOS and take Sorsby Round 2 or 3 in the Supplemental Draft, leaving them with only 1 top 100 pick in the 2027 Draft. This could be a rare chance to get a borderline Round 1 talent at QB at a fraction of the cost, while also not having to pay that cost (outside of his contract, which is small with the wage scale) for his entire rookie year. Sorsby won’t have pressure to start immediately should Daniel Jones continue to progress in his rehab and make a Week 1 debut like the Colts expect, and could have 2026 (and maybe 2027 if Jones stays healthy and continues to perform well) as a “redshirt” year to learn behind Jones in the film room and develop his skills behind the scenes.
Such a situation would parallel other mentor-mentee duos of QB history: Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love, Alex Smith and Patrick Mahomes, Jon Kitna and Carson Palmer, Jeff George and Randall Cunningham with Daunte Culpepper, Drew Brees and Phillip Rivers, Chris Chandler and Steve McNair; which has often found success transitioning from one QB to the next.
While not a guarantee of success for the mentee QB sitting out (Jake Locker, JP Losman, Chad Pennington, Brady Quinn of the 2000s and 2010s) it still has been a relatively strong track record if the young QB is able to sit for their rookie year to learn.
I would be open to Sorsby being taken with a Round 3 pick or later in the Supplemental Draft so the Colts could still have a chance at a top 50 pick in 2027, but that might not guarantee getting him with the Colts in the middle of Tier 2 of the weighted lottery as a non playoff team with 7 or more wins. With this being a blind bidding system, there is no way for the Colts to know if someone else will also put down Round 3 or earlier in their email to the NFL for Sorsby. It might require the Colts to bid their Round 2 pick to acquire Sorsby, which is where I get a bit hesitant.
For Chris Ballard, it would certainly be a gamble. Having no Round 1-2 picks in what projects to be a very talented draft up top, taking a chance on a player with a major gambling history in a league that punishes such infractions severely, and with a player who is not a fully developed prospect out of the gate and entering his rookie year with 3 less months of prep with the team.
The risk is Sorsby becoming the 2nd coming of the Baltimore Colts’ 1982 4th Overall pick Art Schlichter (went 0-6 as a pro starter, completed just 45% of his passes for 3 TDs and 11 INTs, and was suspended for his entire 2nd season for gambling) with his infamous gambling scandal in 1983. While Sorsby is very doubtful to be as bad of a player as Schlichter, the parallels of gambling addiction loom large.
The potential reward though is very high, as Sorsby has the combination of high end traits, consistent improvement year to year, and polish in key areas that could be molded into a franchise QB. If the Colts get a franchise QB out of Sorsby, then they could have one of the best competitive advantages in football with a good QB on a cheap rookie contract (especially outside of Round 1) to help build around by spending the cap savings elsewhere on the roster.
Perhaps the risk is worth it. The Colts already are gambling with the health of several oft-injured QBs, have a GM who despite everything he says in press conferences is on a hot seat with plenty of pressure from new ownership, and a coach who has yet to win double digit games in a season due in large part from poor QB play, and a team that is unable to “tank” for the top QBs of the 2027 Draft anyways. What’s one more risk on top of it all? This might be their last and best chance to get a young franchise QB.
Could Sorsby be the final piece needed to save the jobs of the front office and coaching staff?
Or would he be the final nail in the coffin of the decade-long Ballard era?
