NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported on Monday that Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby is applying to enter the NFL Supplemental Draft. This would be the first time since 2023 that the supplemental draft will be held, and it will likely be the first time since 2019 that a player will be selected.
Looking Back at the History of the NFL Supplemental Draft
That player selected was Jalen Thompson, a safety from Washington State. The Arizona Cardinals spent a fifth-round pick on him, and he spent seven seasons with the team before signing a three-year, $36 million deal with the Dallas Cowboys this offseason. In 99 total games with Arizona, Thompson started in 87 of them.
Since its inception in 1977, there have been 46 players selected in the supplemental draft. Of those players, eight of them were selected as first-round picks, though that hasn’t taken place since the Giants selected quarterback Dave Brown out of Duke in 1992. Other notable first-round supplemental picks include Bernie Kosar, Brian Bosworth, Bobby Humphrey, and Rob Moore.
Sorsby is a gifted quarterback prospect who has prototypical size, a strong arm that can deliver darts from different throwing angles, good athletic ability, and flashes of tremendous touch down the field. That said, he can be a little reckless with the football at times, forcing throws into crowded windows and trusting his arm too much to make flashy plays when he’s under duress.
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Based solely off of tape alone, I have an early third-round grade on Sorsby. In my experience, the positional value of a quarterback typically bumps up their draft stock compared to where my grading scale has them; a lot of NFL teams end up reaching for quarterback talent due to the position’s importance, though that approach has certainly paid off before.
There’s the obvious factor that got Sorsby into the supplemental draft to begin with: his gambling issues. According to court documents, he placed over 9,000 bets during his collegiate career, wagering over $90,000 in that span. Perhaps most discouraging is the fact that 40 of those bets placed involved his own team.
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Several NFL players have been caught gambling before, with many of them receiving year-long suspensions for the act. The league’s policy indicates that players who place bets on games involving their own team, as Sorsby did between stints at Indiana and Cincinnati, would be suspended for at least a year.
Sorsby checked into a residential treatment program in April to address his gambling addiction, which naturally sounds off some alarms for NFL evaluators. Given the intensity of his addiction and how high the stakes are for players who get caught gambling, especially in games involving one’s own team, there’s a serious risk he misses significant time if he gets caught again.
Because of this element of his evaluation, it’s hard to imagine any team uses a first-round pick on him in the supplemental draft. That said, a second-round pick might not be out of the question, especially if a team is desperate enough for an infusion of talent at the most important position in football.
The only quarterback selected in the supplemental draft in the 21st century was Terrelle Pryor, whom the then-Oakland Raiders used a third-round selection on coming out of Ohio State. Pryor was a physical specimen, but he was a player who struggled with accuracy and consistency as a passer. His upside was palpable, but his flaws ended up resulting in his switching to wide receiver, where he saw more success.
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Based on my evaluation of Sorsby, he is a better quarterback and a more NFL-ready prospect than Pryor was at the time. If a team could use a third-round pick on Pryor, it’s reasonable to think there’s someone out there who would use one on Sorsby.
It’s difficult to compare other positions to each other, but in my eyes, he’s the best prospect to enter the NFL Supplemental Draft since Josh Gordon in 2012. The Cleveland Browns used a second-round pick on him, and he turned out to be a first-team All-Pro who led the NFL in receiving yards in 2013, though the failed marijuana test that got him dismissed from the Baylor program was a recurring theme that hindered his career.
Having evaluated Thompson in 2019, as well as 2018 supplemental draft picks Sam Beal and Adonis Alexander, I feel comfortable saying Sorsby’s positional value and collegiate tape give him the edge over each of the last three prospects selected in the supplemental draft.
I liked Beal a lot coming out of Western Michigan, and the New York Giants liked him enough to use a third-round pick on him in the 2019 NFL Supplemental Draft. However, Beal being a smaller-school prospect knocked him slightly for me, and Sorsby is coming off a really strong year for Cincinnati in 2025.
All told, Sorsby looks better than a majority of prospects who have entered the supplemental draft over the years. Of the 15 prospects to have been drafted in the 21st century, six of them were selected as Day 2 prospects. My estimate is that Sorsby becomes the seventh.
