Brendan Sorsby won’t be in the NFL this year. His bid to enter the league through the supplemental draft fell apart, and after the NFLPA pulled its support, the whole thing got scrapped. The supplemental draft itself was canceled. So now Sorsby, a quarterback who admitted to gambling on college football games while at Indiana, has nowhere to play in 2026. His college eligibility is gone. He can’t enter the NFL yet. That leaves one door open: the 2027 NFL Draft.
It sounds strange to talk about a draft that’s more than a year away, but Sorsby is already the most famous name in that class. Everyone knows he’ll be available. The question is whether anyone will actually take him.
The gambling problem that won’t go away
Sorsby started his career at Indiana, then transferred to Cincinnati, then hit the portal again and landed at Texas Tech. But before he ever took a snap in Lubbock, reports surfaced that he had bet on Indiana football games while he was on the scout team. The Big 12 was not happy with how the situation was handled. Sorsby won’t suit up for Texas Tech. He won’t play anywhere in college. And the NFL, for now, has told him to wait.
That wait ends in 2027, when he becomes draft-eligible again. Teams will have to decide whether his gambling history is a dealbreaker or a risk worth taking.
Why the Jets make sense
The Jets haven’t had a real franchise quarterback since Chad Pennington, and that was a long time ago. They’ve swung and missed on Sam Darnold, Zach Wilson, and Aaron Rodgers, who is now 42 years old and probably not the long-term answer. Darren Mougey is their new general manager, and he hasn’t taken a quarterback high in the draft yet. But the Jets have a weird problem: they keep winning just enough games to miss out on the top quarterback prospects. If Sorsby slips because of his baggage, he could fall right into their lap.
There’s also the draft capital angle. After trading Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams, the Jets are sitting on three first-round picks in 2027. That gives them the flexibility to take a chance on a player with a checkered past. If Sorsby lights up the Big 12 in 2026 — which he won’t, because he’s not playing — that would be the narrative. But he’s not playing. So teams are evaluating him on what he did before the gambling scandal and what they think he could become.
The Steelers connection
Pittsburgh moved on from Mike Tomlin after last season and hired Mike McCarthy. McCarthy has a reputation for developing quarterbacks, and the Steelers don’t have a succession plan for Aaron Rodgers, who is their current starter but won’t be around forever. Under Tomlin, the Steelers had a track record of getting production out of players with off-field red flags. Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell were both high-maintenance guys who performed at an elite level for years. That culture might make Pittsburgh more willing to take a flier on Sorsby.
The Steelers have been searching for a quarterback since Ben Roethlisberger retired. They’ve tried Kenny Pickett, Russell Wilson, and now Rodgers, but none of those are long-term answers. Sorsby is a lottery ticket. If McCarthy can build him up, Pittsburgh could have its quarterback of the future without needing a top-five pick.
Who else might jump in
The Cleveland Browns and Arizona Cardinals are two other teams that could make sense. Cleveland has Deshaun Watson but his future is uncertain, and the Cardinals have Kyler Murray but his contract is structured in a way that makes it easy to move on after 2026. Neither team is likely to be picking near the top of the draft, which is where Sorsby could provide value as a middle-round gamble.
This is going to be an organization-wide decision for any team that drafts him. If the owner or the head coach isn’t sold on the risk, it won’t happen. But quarterback is the most important position in sports, and there are always teams desperate enough to roll the dice.
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