On June 15, Texas district court judge Ken Curry granted Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby a temporary injunction allowing him to maintain his eligibility and play for the Red Raiders in 2026 — against the NCAA’s better judgment.
A week later, the lawsuit was withdrawn.
After receiving intense backlash from everyone outside Lubbock, Sorsby has decided to lay his college career to rest and enter the NFL’s supplemental draft.
The NFL’s supplemental draft is a seldom-used process for players whose eligibility battles may conflict with the schedule of the standard NFL Draft held in late April.
Since its start in 1977, only 46 players have ever been picked in the supplemental draft. Just eight have made the Pro Bowl, and one — 1987 Philadelphia Eagles’ fourth-round pick, wide receiver Cris Carter — has made it to the Hall of Fame.
The supplemental draft has not been used since 2019, when the Arizona Cardinals used a fifth-round pick to select safety Jalen Thompson, who recently signed a deal with the Dallas Cowboys.
The way the supplemental draft works is that if a team wishes to make a selection, it bids on a player based on the round it would’ve selected him in the main draft. For example, the Arizona Cardinals bid a fifth-round pick on Jalen Thompson in 2019. If multiple teams bid the same round for a player, the team with the higher priority, based on results from the previous season, wins the bid.
If a supplemental draft pick is used to select a player, the team will lose that round’s pick in the following draft. By selecting Thompson in round five of 2019, the Cardinals lost their fifth-round pick in 2020. For this reason, teams can only use their own picks in the supplemental draft, not picks they may have acquired from other teams via trade.
While Sorsby’s departure from Texas Tech is undoubtedly a win for college football, we’ll never know how much money Sorsby cost himself by moving on. Texas Tech is not asking for the money it paid him to be returned, but NFL scouts were expecting a strong 2026 season to vault Sorsby firmly into the mix of potential quarterbacks to be selected in the first round of the 2027 draft.
I currently have a mid-round grade on Sorsby as a prospect. He’s a gunslinging QB with a strong arm but inconsistent accuracy. His movement skills are good, not great.
There’s a role for him in the league as a backup — or even a low-end starter — in an offense with training wheels. The question will be whether teams feel comfortable bringing the character into their locker rooms.
Apparently, that decision has been made by the league itself — and it is a resounding no.
On June 23, the league announced it won’t be holding the supplemental draft, leaving the 2027 NFL Draft as the only way for Sorsby to enter the NFL. Sorsby and his legal team are working with the NFL Players Association to challenge the decision, but it's unlikely change will come quickly. The NFL has proven on numerous occasions it has little tolerance for gambling, and this situation is no different.
The Canadian Football League also announced a ban on Sorsby north of the border, wiping out any chance Sorsby had of playing football in the year 2026.
This ugly chapter in Sorsby’s life is not yet finished, but the ending is sure to be fascinating.
Contact Brayden Schultz at bschultz@alligator.org. Follow him on X @schultzbrayden9.
