The New York Jets thought they missed out on their chance to add a franchise quarterback this offseason.
In the wise words of Lee Corso, not so fast, my friends.
So here is the situation. Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby is one of the top QBs available in the 2027 NFL draft.
However, he checked “into a residential treatment program for a gambling addiction, the school announced Monday,” via ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
According to Thamel, Sorsby is seeking treatment “in the wake of the discovery of Sorsby making thousands of online bets on a variety of sports via a gambling app, which jeopardizes his eligibility with Texas Tech.”
The NCAA will investigate this gambling case. They have a very strict policy on this subject matter, and any violators will be “ineligible for competition, subject to appeal.”
Thamel explained that Sorsby faces a “significant obstacle” to return to college football, considering his betting on Indiana football.
If found guilty, he could potentially lose the rest of his collegiate eligibility. That could lead him to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft this offseason.
Supplemental Draft Explained
The supplemental draft typically takes place every summer. It was installed in 1977 to provide an alternative option for “draft-eligible players who did not declare for the regular NFL Draft. Normally, players who declare for the supplemental draft do so because of unexpected eligibility issues in college (academic or discipline). The supplemental draft is not televised and usually takes about 10 minutes,” Dane Brugler wrote for The Athletic.
“The draft order for the supplemental draft is determined via a lottery system based on the previous season’s win-loss records,” Brugler explained.
Here is what’s important for the Jets. Any team that had six or fewer wins is lumped together.
10 teams would be eligible for that group based on last season’s results:
- Las Vegas Raiders
- New York Jets
- Tennessee Titans
- Arizona Cardinals
- New York Giants
- Cleveland Browns
- Washington Commanders
- Cincinnati Bengals
- Kansas City Chiefs
- New Orleans Saints
We can immediately eliminate any team that either already has a franchise quarterback or a young up-and-coming QB.
That takes us down to three teams: the Jets, the Cardinals, and the Browns.
“The order of each group is randomly selected. If a team is interested in drafting a prospect, they place a bid on that player in a certain round. If multiple teams submit bids on a player in the same round, the team picking first in the order is awarded the player,” Brugler wrote.
“Once a team drafts a player in the supplemental draft, it must forfeit its pick in that round in the following NFL Draft. For example, in 2019, when the Cardinals selected defensive back Jalen Thompson with a fifth-round pick in the Supplemental Draft, they forfeited a fifth-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft,” Brugler added.
Insider Believes the Jets Could Take a Chance on Him
“I asked around with a few guys I know who work in college football, and a few who cover it, and all believed that the NCAA would most likely revoke Sorsby’s eligibility,” NFL Insider Albert Breer wrote for Sports Illustrated.
“From an arm talent standpoint, some of the stuff he does with his arm is similar, and I hate to say it, you hate to make this comparison, to [Patrick] Mahomes and Caleb [Williams]. But he has that twitch, the arm angles of [Matthew] Stafford. His arm is electric. It would’ve been by far the best in this class. Zach Wilson’s arm was that way, extremely talented, too. As a thrower, his arm would be top eight or so in the league,” an anonymous NFC coordinator told Breer about Sorsby.
The 2026 NFL draft has come to its conclusion. So if Sorbsy entered the supplemental draft and was approved by the NFL, any pick the Jets submitted for him would be taken away from the 2027 NFL draft.
Breer openly asked, “If you’re the Jets, Browns, Cardinals, or [Miami] Dolphins, might you sink a second-round pick into a quarterback with this sort of ceiling? And if you’re Sorsby, is the prospect of that, and getting to a second contract by 2029 if things work out, enough to make you ditch the college game and avoid all of the legal stuff to go pro?”
The Dolphins aren’t in the same category as the Jets because they won seven games last season, which makes them ineligible for the first group. That means the Jets, if they submitted the same pick as their division rivals, would automatically beat them for the player.
However, if all of the six or fewer win teams that need a QB (Jets, Cardinals, and Browns) submitted a 2027 second-rounder for the supplemental draft, it would be up to random chance to see who ends up with Sorsby.
This is a rare path that the Jets could pursue to add a highly thought of QB. They have some time to research the situation before the supplemental draft gets here. If the Jets found their QB in this unique way, they could use next year’s first-round picks to build around him.
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