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Brendan Sorsby is entering the NFL supplemental draft as the highest-touted prospect in more than a decade.
After announcing Monday that he would no longer fight his gambling punishments and pursue playing at Texas Tech in 2026, the quarterback will now be available for NFL teams to acquire ahead of this upcoming season, if the league declares him eligible.
The NFL declined to comment when reached by Front Office Sports on Monday night.
The NFL supplemental draft is held only when there is a player or players deemed ineligible by the NCAA after the annual draft in the spring. It hasn’t been held since 2023, and a player hasn’t been selected in it since 2019, when the Cardinals picked former Washington State safety Jalen Thompson. No players other than Sorsby have entered the supplemental draft yet this year.
There are seven rounds, with teams giving up a corresponding selection in the same round of the next year’s draft. For example, Arizona used a fifth-round pick on Thompson and forfeited a fifth-round choice in the 2020 draft.
Unlike the regular draft, the supplemental draft order is divided into three groups:
- Teams with six or fewer wins the previous season
- Remaining teams that missed the postseason
- 14 playoff teams
The order within each group is randomly selected.
The June 22 deadline to enter the supplemental draft was fast approaching for Sorsby. There’s no set date, but league rules state it should happen before training camp.
Money Matters
Sorsby was projected by many draft analysts to be a potential first- or second-round pick in the 2027 NFL Draft, depending on how he played at Texas Tech in 2026.
The same rookie wage scale for the standard NFL Draft applies to the supplemental draft. So in addition to weighing the risk and reward of giving up a pick in next year’s draft, NFL franchises will also be considering how much money they would have to pay Sorsby.
First-round contracts in April were valued between $16.7 million and $57.2 million over four years. Second-round contracts ranged from $7.8 million to $13.3 million. Third-round deals were worth between $6.7 million and $7.4 million.
If Sorsby goes undrafted, he would immediately become an undrafted free agent, free to sign with any of the 32 NFL franchises.
In 2012, the Browns used a second-round pick on wide receiver Josh Gordon, who signed a four-year deal worth $5.34 million.
The most recent quarterback taken in the supplemental draft was former Ohio State signal-caller Terrelle Pryor, who was picked by the Raiders in 2011 with a third-round selection. He signed a four-year, $2.75 million deal.
Former receiver Cris Carter is the only player taken in the supplemental draft to be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
In total, 46 players have been picked in the supplemental draft since it began in 1977.
