
Getty
Brendan Sorsby could be a Cowboys target if he enters the supplemental draft.
Last month, veteran NFL writer Albert Breer threw out what seemed to be a far-fetched concept for the Dallas Cowboys. At the time, there was no telling how things would play out for quarterback Brendan Sorsby, the collegiate star in the midst of a transfer from Cincinnati to Texas Tech, where he was reported to be getting a $6 million NIL deal. Sorsby had been found to have a gambling addiction, one that included betting on his own team’s games while he was playing for Indiana.
That put Sorsby’s NCAA eligibility on shaky ground, even as he entered an Arizona program for gambling problems. The NCAA has since refused to reinstate Sorsby and it looks as though the legal system won’t bail him out. That means Sorsby won’t be able to play in college, which theoretically puts him in line for supplemental draft, which would be held in July.
And Breer said the Cowboys should throw their hats into the proverbially ring.
Breer noted in an mailbag answer: “There’s also the other piece of this: Dak Prescott will turn 34 next summer, has been banged up, and the time could be coming to put an heir apparent into the pipeline. If you’re Dallas, would you throw a second- or third-round supplemental pick out there this summer for Brendan Sorsby, should he declare? It’s worth thinking about, anyway.”
‘Nothing to’ Cowboys’ Brendan Sorsby Interest
It’s hard to say because this was expected to be a critical season for Sorsby, but it’s possible that Sorsby would have been a first-round pick in 2027. It might be a worthy pursuit for the Cowboys to lay out a pick for Sorsby in the supplemental draft–maybe a second-rounder (it’s essentially a blind auction)–in case they could, indeed, win the bidding and have a potential young star behind Prescott.
There’s some logic there. Just, don’t expect the Cowboys to actually go that route.
As Jon Machota of The Athletic said on “The Cowboys Collective” podcast, “There’s nothing to it. It’s just people talking right now. But one of the topics in college football is Brendan Sorsby, the Texas Tech quarterback, it looks like he won’t be able to play college football. So maybe he’ll be a supplemental draft guy or something like that. And people will throw in the Cowboys but, like, I have no interest in that. I have no interest in giving up a pick for this quarterback.”
Plenty of Development Needed
That’s probably where the Cowboys end up on Sorsby, though it is a story worth following. Sorsby would have until June 30 to declare for a supplementary draft, and then it becomes a matter of whether anyone is that interested in him. The NFL might not allow him to play at all this year because of the gambling accusations, and eve if the league allowed it, a team would need to look past Sorsby’s addiction problem.
Todd McShay, the draft guru for The Ringer, had a good way of thinking about where Sorsby stands here in May of 2026, hoping he can play college football next season.
Said McShay, “Sorsby is to me is a young man who is attempting to major in pocket passing. But I would give him a C grade in that, he is a C student in his major. But he is double minoring and is, I don’t know, dean’s list material in his two minors, and those minors are scrambling to extend and the creativity part of it, and he is an A student, brilliant in that minor. And his other minor is as a running threat, whether it is designed runs or taking off and exposing—this is the thing I think he does beautifully—you try to play man-to-man against this son of a gun and good luck.
“C student in his major, but dean’s list in his two minors. But in that major, the pocket passing, my goodness, he has a lot of potential.”
Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney