Don’t count on the Steelers landing Brendan Sorsby

Hey, have you heard that the Steelers are one of the quarterback-neediest teams in the NFL? Really? You have?!

I’m being facetious, of course. The Steelers’ lack of a long-term quarterback is not a new subject of discussion. In fact, it’s been the main — and sometimes only — thing that national media coverage of the team has discussed ever since future Hall of Famer Ben Roethlisberger walked off the field at Arrowhead Stadium in January of 2022.

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So it should come as no surprise that when embattled college quarterback Brendan Sorsby announced he was submitting his name for the NFL Supplemental Draft, the NFL content machine started whirring to hypothetically pair him with every team with questions about their signal caller, Pittsburgh included. That’s roughly a quarter of the league that could make a case for selecting Sorsby.

For the Steelers, the question looms on whether a fit with Sorsby makes sense. This article’s headline tips my hand on how I would answer that question, but the team is allegedly doing its homework on him, as they should. If he ultimately passes their sniff test, it’s still fair to wonder if they even have a realistic shot at acquiring him, given the presumed interest around the league.

With this article, we’ll look at the situation that landed Sorsby in this position, take a brief look at the history of the supplemental draft, explain how it works, and then try to determine if Sorsby’s play thus far is worth the risk.

The controversy

Sorsby’s predicament has been one of the top stories in American sports for nearly two months now, but if you aren’t a follower of college sports, I’ll try to catch you up as quickly as possible.

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Following a pair of promising seasons at Cincinnati, Sorsby was one of the prizes of the Transfer Portal this winter. The native Texan ultimately signed with Texas Tech, a team known for a strong, supportive base of boosters and one hoping to build on a season that saw them reach the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff.

All that came crashing down on April 27, when Sorsby announced he would be checking himself into a residential rehab center for a gambling addiction. That same day, news broke that he was the subject of an NCAA investigation centered on bets he allegedly made on Indiana football in 2022, while he was on the team, but not on any games he played in.

Reporting by the Associated Press later revealed that Sorsby bet roughly $90,000 during his time in college. When he got to Cincinnati, Sorsby continued to place bets, but no longer used accounts under his name, instead sharing with an account with a friend. While Sorsby didn’t place any bets on Cincinnati, he placed nearly $60,000 in bets between December 2023 and June of last year. Since transferring to Texas Tech, located in a state where online gambling remains illegal, Sorsby has transferred roughly $5,000 to others in states where online gambling is legal to make bets on his behalf. On Wednesday, Sorsby’s agent claimed on a Dallas-area radio show that Cincinnati was aware of Sorsby’s gambling, and court documents show the university questioned the quarterback about visiting a daily gambling site in 2024 and had him take an educational program. However, no further action was taken as the school says it didn’t find any rule-breaking, and the school has denied the claims of Sorsby’s lawyer. It should be noted that Sorsby is still being sued by Cincinnati for transferring to Texas Tech, which the Bearcats claim is a breach of their NIL deal with him.

Since the news broke on April 27, there has been a complicated and contentious legal battle over Sorsby’s eligibility. The NCAA quickly handed down a lifetime ban, which led to Sorsby, in mid-May, requesting an injunction from a local district court on the NCAA’s ruling. In an affidavit submitted as part of his request, Sorby confessed to placing 40 bets on the Hoosiers football team for games he did not play in. On June 8, an injunction was granted, and Sorsby was also handed a two-game suspension, a recompense that was suggested by Sorsby’s legal team.

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More chaos ensued. Several different schools expressed displeasure with the injunction. The Big Ten conference discussed cancelling and boycotting any future contests with Texas Tech. The Big 12, in which Texas Tech is a member, also filed to appeal to a federal court, arguing they should have the ability to enforce their own rules and punishments against any player competing in their conference.

After initially supporting Sorsby, Texas Tech — facing increasing legal and social pressure from other schools and conferences — informed Sorsby on Monday that he would not be allowed to play for them. Sorsby then announced he would forgo his fight for eligibility and filed an application to enter the NFL’s Supplemental Draft. He has yet to be approved, but all expectations are that he will be. He’s holding a pro day for NFL teams on July 10.

The Supplemental Draft

Still with me? That was a lot, but the rest of this will be far less complicated.

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So what exactly is the Supplemental Draft? The simplest explanation is that it’s a draft following the NFL Draft, where players who were deemed ineligible for college football can submit their names for potential selection. The supplemental draft was introduced in 1977, when former Notre Dame running back Al Hunter was selected by the Seahawks after Notre Dame ruled him ineligible for violating the school’s policy involving women visiting the men’s dorm room. All told, there have been 46 players selected in the supplemental draft, with just eight earning Pro Bowl selections during their careers, and only one eventual Hall of Famer.

Some notable players selected include:

• QB Bernie Kosar (Browns, 1985) — Graduated after his junior season

• LB Brian Bosworth (Seahawks, 1987) — Kicked off the Sooners after wearing a t-shirt disparaging the NCAA for suspending him from the 1987 Orange Bowl due to steroid use. He missed the deadline to declare for the regular draft.

• WR Cris Carter (Eagles, 1987) — Suspended for senior season after it was discovered he had signed with an agent.

• WR Rob Moore (Jets, 1990) — Graduated college with a year of eligibility left, but missed the deadline for to declare for the regular draft.

• LB Ahmad Brooks (Bengals, 2006) — Kicked off the Virginia football team for multiple unspecified “off-field violations.”

• QB Terrelle Pryor (Raiders, 2011) — Suspended by the NCAA for selling his memorabilia and charging for autographs.

• WR Josh Gordon (Browns, 2012) — Suspended for testing positive for marijuana.

• DB Jalen Thompson (Cardinals, 2019) — Bought a banned over-the-counter supplement (non-steroid). He’s the most recent supplemental draft selection and signed a $33 million deal with the Cowboys this free agency period.

As for how players are selected, the NFL essentially holds a silent auction. To determine draft order, teams are sorted into three groups: non-playoff teams with six or fewer wins, the remaining non-playoff teams, and the playoff field. The NFL then randomizes each group/tier with a lottery system to determine the final order. Once the order is set, teams then blindly submit a round value they’d be willing to pay for a player. Teams with multiple picks in a round can specify which pick they are offering up. The team with the highest bid is awarded the player and must forfeit the pick they put forth in the following year’s rookie draft. If no teams bid on a player, they become an unrestricted free agent.

Does a Sorsby-Steelers fit make sense?

This, of course, is where the debate for every team considering Sorsby begins.

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Before even addressing who Sorsby is as a player, teams will have to be comfortable with who Sorsby is as a person, the outside noise selecting him will invite, and their ability to provide an environment where he will be able to manage and overcome his gambling addiction. Sorsby is by no means a victim, but as anyone who has struggled with addiction or had a loved one grapple with addiction can tell you, recovery is not always linear, and the choices made in the face of addiction aren’t bound by doing what’s most logical. It will be crucial that whichever team he lands with has a thorough support system and plan in place.

For what it’s worth, Sorsby will not be the first player in the league to undergo a gambling controversy. Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte was arguably the best receiver on last year’s Super Bowl runner-up, but in 2024 faced allegations of underage gambling while at LSU, including in six games that he played in. He was accused of placing an average of 22 bets per day between April of 2022 and May of 2023, wagering a total of $637,538. Charges were ultimately dropped, and Boutte faced no suspension from the NFL, but he did open up about his addiction in an essay published in The Players’ Tribune.

Sorsby’s representation and eventual NFL team will likely point to Boutte’s case as precedent for avoiding a suspension themselves. I’m no legal expert, but they’d appear to have a strong case, considering the amount of money and wagers Sorsby is alleged to have made are dwarfed by what Boutte was accused of. And while Sorsby did bet on Indiana games while there, he never bet on games he played in, unlike the claims against Boutte. There may be a reckoning for the NFL regarding gambling someday, but Sorsby’s actions in college aren’t likely to be that catalyst.

All this said without even addressing what might be the most relevant question: Is Sorsby even good enough to be worth all this handwringing and speculation?

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Much like the rest of this saga, the answer there isn’t straightforward. Yes, Sorsby was considered one of the prizes of the Transfer Portal, so he clearly has some talent. But I would meet anyone projecting him as a slam dunk first or second-round pick in this supplemental draft with a healthy dose of skepticism.

For starters, if he was such a surefire first-rounder, why didn’t he declare for the 2026 Draft? It was a weak quarterback class this year, and the 2027 class is one of the most highly anticipated classes in recent memory. I don’t buy an explanation saying a player turned down NFL money strictly to pursue a college NIL deal, especially if they’re being considered that highly. Isn’t it far more likely that Sorsby got feedback from the NFL Draft Advisory Board that he wasn’t considered a first-round pick yet? And if that was the case, why would a team be willing to part with one of those coveted 2027 picks when they weren’t in 2026? There are already a dozen quarterbacks being mentioned as potential first-rounders, so why would a team bet a first-rounder on him when the league seemed to think he needed another year to prove himself?

At 6’3 and 235 pounds, Sorsby has the build NFL teams covet. I don’t consider him to have rare arm strength, but he certainly has NFL zip on his ball. He also has juice as a runner, reportedly hitting 19.9 mph on a run against TCU this past season. Only five NFL quarterbacks broke the 20-mph barrier during the 2025 season. But while Sorsby seems to have all the physical traits that would have had him in the running to be a first-round talent in 2027, part of why he needed another year of school was because of his inconsistencies.

Watching Sorsby’s tape, he had a proclivity for throwing flat footed unneccisarily, and he would often try to force balls into openings that weren’t there. His spotty mechanics also led to lapses in accuracy. Per ESPN charting, Sorsby’s off-target rate and catchable-ball rate trailed behind several other quarterback prospects who’ve come into the league during the past two draft cycles with questions about their accuracy.

No rookie comes into the NFL as a polished prospect, so that alone isn’t damning of Sorsby’s future pro prospects. It does indicate, though, that he might not be as ready to start as some quarterback-desperate teams like the Cardinals or Jets would need him to be should they take him. Instead, a situation where he might be afforded a year on the bench to acclimate to an NFL system and seek further treatment for his addiction. Teams without an immediate need in 2026, like the Buccaneers, Colts, Dolphins, Eagles, Lions, Vikings, and even the Steelers, would seemingly fit that bill.

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But for the Steelers, there are two obstacles that I think make a Sorsby fit difficult. The lesser of which is the current quarterback room. Aaron Rodgers is giving Pittsburgh his Last Dance tour, but behind him, the Steelers are already juggling a tough decision about their priorities, even without introducing Sorsby into the mix. The organizational messaging since last season ended has been that the Steelers want to do everything they can to win now. Mason Rudolph isn’t the Steelers’ future, but conventional wisdom would seemingly dictate that a win-now team would prefer having a known veteran backup on the roster rather than two inexperienced ones. Neither Will Howard nor Drew Allar has taken even one preseason snap at this point, and Allar is undergoing a full mechanical retooling. How would Sorsby fit into that equation? The Steelers shouldn’t turn down a potential upgrade just for Howard or Allar’s sake, but if they don’t view Sorsby as talent worthy of anything better than a third-round bid, it would make for a puzzling fit and an odd use of resources. It’s also incredibly unlikely they could stash either Allar or Sorsby on the practice squad, where any team could steal them away for nothing.

But what truly makes Sorsby a long shot to wear the Black and Gold is the logistics of the Supplemental Draft itself. As we mentioned earlier, teams are sorted into three tiers for the draft. As a playoff team, the Steelers would already be at a disadvantage by landing in that third tier. At best, 18 teams would hold a tiebreaker over any bid they made. At worst, 31 teams would. The Steelers would likely need to bid a pick from the first two rounds to have any shot. It certainly isn’t impossible, but if Sorsby is as coveted as some would have you believe, I would advise you not to hold your breath for this one.

And if the Steelers do take a risk that no other team is willing to? Then they had better make it work. Spending heavily on Sorsby would likely take them out of the rookie quarterback market for a minimum of two seasons. It’s the kind of risk that could prolong the Steelers’ stay in quarterback purgatory for longer than I’m willing to imagine. In the end, it’s a chance I wouldn’t take if I were in Omar Khan’s shoes.

Next month, we’ll see if the Steelers agree.

What are your thoughts on the Brendan Sorsby situation? If you were Omar Khan, would you try to draft him? How high of a pick would you be willing to pay? Let us know in the comments!