NFL Confidential: What Do Execs, Scouts Make Of Brendan Sorsby Amid Controversy?

After weeks of drama, Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby is NFL-bound, but questions about his professional future still linger. Sorsby will enter the NFL Supplemental Draft, his legal representation confirmed on Monday. The announcement came as his gambling scandal jeopardized his college future, getting an injunction against the NCAA last week before the association, the Big 12 and others fought to make Sorsby ineligible. Now, Sorsby will become one of the most intriguing prospects to enter the supplemental draft in quite some time. He could be the first player taken in the first round of the supplemental draft in 34 years, as teams weigh whether to use a high draft pick on him. So, with Sorsby now becoming a pro, what do execs and scouts around the league think about his talent and situation? Here’s what we learned from our conversations. Ralph Vacchiano: Brendan Sorsby might have had the talent to be a first-round pick in next year’s NFL Draft had he remained in college. Now, teams have to weigh whether he’s worth using a first-round pick on in the supplemental draft, and his gambling problem makes him a risk that not everyone will be willing to take. “We tend to forgive a lot of things if a guy can play,” one NFL executive told me. “But gambling in sports has always just been different. Betting, especially on your own team, is the one line [players] just can’t cross.” Sorsby, of course, admitted to placing bets on his own team when he was briefly at Indiana University, which is why he was banned from playing college football until a court granted an injunction to let him play next season for Texas Tech. But after the NCAA, Big 12 and others sought to make Sorsby ineligible to play again, he decided to enter the supplemental draft. Now, the ball is in the NFL’s court. What punishment could he receive from the league? And for the 32 teams, is Sorsby’s talent worth the off-field risks? “If you need a quarterback, he’s going to be tempting,” the executive told me. “But because he’s a quarterback, it’s an even tougher call. The guy isn’t just an anonymous guard. He’s going to be the face of the franchise. He’ll be watched everywhere he goes, whatever he does, every social media post, every person he takes a photo with. “And it’s not like you have to just keep him out of casinos, or can give him weekly drug tests to monitor him. Gambling is everywhere and you might never know if he’s doing it. Even if he says he’s completely beaten the problem and never has any other issues, can you really trust him? Will your fans trust him? Will the media? “Everything is a potential problem.” That’s probably why one NFL scout told me, “I’m glad that’s above my pay grade. I wouldn’t want to have to make that call. He’s a really strong prospect, but there’s so much more that goes into taking him. You’re really risking a lot.” Eric D. Williams: NFL front office personnel, scouts and coaches will be tasked with executing a risk assessment on Sorsby, weighing his enormous talent on the field against what he has done off it. “He’s a starting NFL quarterback,” a front office executive told me. “He would have been a top 15 selection this year. But there’s no guarantee the addiction will go away.” A longtime NFL scout that I spoke with believes that if Sorsby was in the 2027 NFL Draft, he’d come off the board on Day 2. “I grade him as a third-rounder,” the scout told me. “I thought he should stay in school, take the NIL (name, image and likeness) money and get better. Someone will draft him and I don’t think a QB like him gets drafted past the third/fourth round. Some will reach for him in the third. “Desperation makes teams do crazy things for quarterbacks. Some teams will get scared off for sure, but one will be desperate. The reasoning is second chances. Johnny Manziel got one.” And as the gambling controversy is at the forefront with Sorsby’s situation, it isn’t the only bit of off-field drama he’s been involved in this offseason. Sorsby’s previous school, Cincinnati, is also suing him, alleging he breached his NIL contract with the Bearcats when he refused to pay a $1 million exit fee after transferring to Texas Tech. So, that’s why another league source I spoke with wondered about the prospect of taking a quarterback with poor decision-making off the field as the face of your franchise. “Call me crazy, but the standard needs to be much higher at the QB position,” the league source told me. “You need to be a leader. I’d stay away if it was me. Decision-making and judgment are obviously lacking.” Vacchiano: People around the NFL seem split on where Sorsby would have gone if he had entered the 2026 NFL Draft. One scout told me he had thought Sorsby was a Day 3 pick, even before his gambling issues were revealed. An NFL executive told me he probably was “a mid-to-high second-rounder.” But another NFL scout pointed to the weak quarterback class overall in 2026 and said, “He might have been the second [quarterback] off the board … before the gambling stuff, of course.” “Maybe not, because I guess the Rams really loved Ty Simpson [who they took 13th overall],” the scout told me. “But other than Fernando Mendoza, I’m not sure anyone [in the 2026 draft] had more potential than this guy. He’s huge (6-foot-3, 235 pounds), he can run, he’s got a rocket arm, and he’s good under pressure. There’s a lot to work with there. “Now, it’s not perfect. His decision-making isn’t always great. He can force some passes, and he loves to throw deep even when the intermediate throw is there. He runs a little too quickly sometimes instead of letting this develop. But in a bad quarterback class, he would’ve stood out.” Prior to Monday’s news, Sorsby was trying to stand out among several top quarterback prospects in the 2027 NFL Draft. If he had remained in college and gotten to play this season, where could he have gone in next year’s draft? “I need to see more,” the scout told me. “I’d probably put him on the fringe of the top group, just based on talent. If a guy that big has a strong season, he could really rise and be a top 10 pick. But if he struggles, and you add in the gambling stuff, he could drop himself off a lot of draft boards, too.” FOX Sports NFL Draft analyst Rob Rang believes that Sorsby would’ve had the physical tools to be drafted ahead of Ty Simpson had he entered the 2026 draft, but NFL scouts will have to vet his significant, off-the-field gambling issues before taking a chance on bringing the player into their organization. Rang, who recently offered his evaluation of Sorsby, projected that the former Cincinnati quarterback would be a second-round pick in the supplemental draft. He made that projection after watching every touchdown and interception Sorsby threw this past season, along with some of his tape at Indiana. “He’s very impressive,” Rang told me. “He’s got a real intriguing skill set to him in that he’s got the prototypical size. He’s got a snappy release and plenty of arm strength. Good accuracy. And he’s an athlete. He’s an aggressive scrambler and so physically speaking he’s got all the traits to be a very successful NFL quarterback. “He has the physical skills to warrant being selected ahead of Ty Simpson. He is a more physically talented player than Ty Simpson. And he’s a three-year starter, where Ty is only a one-year starter. But of course, Ty Simpson checked every box when it comes to a guy who bided his time at Alabama and played pretty well when he got his opportunity, where with Brendan you’re talking about a player who’s transferred three times and comes with questions about his decision-making that NFL teams are going to have to evaluate.” On the field, Sorsby completed 61.4% of his passes for 7,208 yards and 60 touchdowns against 18 interceptions over 35 combined games at Cincinnati (2024-25) and Indiana (2022-23) while rushing for another 1,295 yards and 22 touchdowns. Those are impressive numbers. But ultimately, Rang said the issue for Sorsby’s draft future will be what teams are willing to overlook his off-the-field transgressions. “That is the million-dollar question here,” Rang told me. “I think that the physical talent justifies a first-round grade. But the character concerns that may or may not be completely justified, but that’s going to require some real investigation from teams. And teams are typically hesitant to draft players in the supplemental draft with the round that equates to their talent. Usually, they drop a round or more than they normally would, just because of the fact that it’s the supplemental draft, and you wouldn’t have the opportunity to evaluate them as you normally would for a normal prospect.”