Brendan Sorsby's decision to drop his unprecedented legal battle to play for Texas Tech and turn to the NFL for his next football opportunity has created a whole new set of challenges.
Sorsby's attempt to speed up his professional career leans heavily on a rarely used offseason process designed for prospects not eligible for the NFL's primary draft. The quarterback declared for the supplemental draft Tuesday and has until the league deadline's Monday
to file.
The quarterback who transferred earlier this year from Cincinnati to Texas Tech was banished from competition by the NCAA for gambling activity that included wagers on his own team while on the roster at Indiana in 2022 and betting on pro sports.
Sorsby spent a month in a residential treatment program for a diagnosed addiction. Then he sued the NCAA and gained a court-ordered reinstatement that prompted nationwide backlash toward Texas Tech.
The NFL takes gambling very seriously, and now teams have to decide whether to risk a valued selection by drafting Sorsby.
Here’s what to know about the NFL's gambling policy and punishment, Sorsby and the supplemental draft:
The NFL has a long history of monitoring gambling carefully. The league's 2018 gambling policy for league personnel states in part: “Gambling, particularly on NFL games or other sports, presents potential risks to the integrity of our competition and can negatively impact team cohesion.”
Players are not allowed to place a bet while on league property, and that policy prohibits all other NFL personnel from placing or facilitating bets on any other professional, international or Olympic sporting event. Yes, that includes college sports.
The league ramped up efforts in 2023 to better educate players, especially rookies, on where and when they can bet and what they can bet on. That followed the suspensions of 10 players for either betting on NFL games or placing bets while on league property.
The NFL has suspended players for gambling violations from 1963, when Paul Hornung and Alex Karras lost a season, to 2022, when wide receiver Calvin Ridley, now with Tennessee, was suspended for gambling on NFL games in 2021 while away from Atlanta addressing mental health concerns.
Sorsby won a temporary injunction against the NCAA on June 8 allowing him to remain eligible at Texas Tech even after he acknowledged making thousands of impermissible bets worth at least $90,000 on college and pro sports. Those include some bets on his own team when he was a freshman at Indiana.
The court order sent shockwaves through college sports. Big 12 Conference Commissioner Brett Yormark said the decision involving one of the league’s schools caused “great concern amongst our membership.”
The NCAA twice denied Texas Tech’s petition to restore Sorsby’s eligibility, then appealed the injunction. Sorsby still needs that injunction dismissed to be eligible for the NFL supplemental draft.
The quarterback tentatively plans to work out for NFL teams July 10 at a Dallas-area high school, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Wednesday. That person spoke on condition of anonymity because the process for conducting the supplemental draft wasn’t complete.
The NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell will have to determine how to handle Sorsby if a team takes him in the supplemental draft.
Can the NFL sanction, limit or punish Sorsby for gambling while in college? Messages to league officials by the AP on Wednesday were not immediately returned.
The NFL Players Association likely will have something to say if a new player is punished for bets made before joining the league, creating yet another possible challenge.
Sorsby had been projected as a possible first-round selection for the NFL's 2027 draft. If selected in the supplemental draft and available this season, he would join a 2026 rookie class that had 10 quarterbacks taken in April.
Fernando Mendoza went to the Las Vegas Raiders with the top overall selection. Only Mendoza and Ty Simpson, taken at No. 13 by the Los Angeles Rams, were drafted in the first round. Carson Beck didn't get drafted by Miami until the first pick of the third round.
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