Even before Brendan Sorsby formally filed paperwork to enter this year’s supplemental draft for the NFL, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio and others suggested that the league may not accept the Texas Tech Red Raiders quarterback into that player-selection process due to his much-publicized history with gambling.
On Tuesday, NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated shared why Sorsby likely has nothing to worry about as it pertains to becoming available to pro teams this summer.
Will NFL even let Brendan Sorsby enter supplemental draft?
“Yes, the NFL will let him in, or at least that’s the indication that Sorsby’s team has gotten from the league,” Breer wrote. “And part of that is likely because the NFL would probably have a tough time legally turning him down. The NFL is a trade association, and it’s hard to see where it would be allowable for a trade association to prevent someone from outside its ranks from pursuing a career. The trade association would have to leave that part up to its companies, in this case, the 32 teams.”
According to multiple reports, the Cleveland Browns are among the NFL’s 32 companies/teams that will pass on taking a flier on Sorsby after he checked into a residential treatment program to deal with a gambling addiction earlier this spring and admitted to gambling on Indiana games, along with other sports, when he was a member of that program. On Tuesday, New York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn neither confirmed nor denied that his team could be interested in who has become the league’s most controversial prospect in recent memory.
Why Brendan Sorsby suspension topic is complicated
A Tuesday report revealed that multiple teams are concerned that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will look to “impose a significant suspension on Sorsby.” In 2011, the NFL handed then-Raiders rookie quarterback Terrelle Pryor a five-game suspension related to his alleged involvement in a cash-for-memorabilia scandal.
Breer pointed out why the Pryor and Sorsby situations are not necessarily similar.
“Pryor’s eligibility wasn’t revoked like Sorsby’s was, which complicates the comparison here, as Sorsby has no suspension for the NFL to match,” Breer explained.
Additionally, Florio noted that Sorsby won’t become a member of the NFL Players Association until he’s drafted or signs an NFL contract. Thus, Sorsby would have to count on lawyer Jeffrey Kessler filing a lawsuit if the league denies the signal-caller entry into the supplemental draft.