Pro Football Rumors
With former Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby‘s decision to drop the fight to play in 2026, it seems the saga has ended for the next several months, at least. He won’t be frozen in time until the pre-draft process begins, though. Over that time, scouts and personnel groups will have determine the effects that a year off from actual play will have on Sorsby and his draft stock.
Had Sorsby declared for the 2026 NFL Draft and his gambling history never been disclosed, there are some who believe he would have competed with Alabama’s Ty Simpson for the honor of the second passer drafted. Even after all his dirty laundry had aired and his pursuit to regain his collegiate eligibility ended, it was thought that Sorsby might draw a supplemental draft bid that would cost an NFL team their second-round pick in 2027.
Sorsby showed a lot of growth in his game in two years at Cincinnati. Starting his career at Indiana, Sorsby only appeared in one game as a true freshman. He began his redshirt freshman campaign as the Hoosiers’ starter but was benched three games into the season. He returned to the starting lineup five weeks later and did not relinquish the job for the rest of the year. In eight starts (10 games total) for Indiana, his completion percentage (57%) and average yards per game (158.7) left a lot to be desired, but a 15-5 touchdown to interception ratio showed the promise of efficiency.
After transferring to the Bearcats, Sorsby found his stride, upping his average yards per game to 234.4 with a completion percentage at 64 percent. He still kep a relatively low interception total (7), but he only threw 18 touchdowns as Cincinnati went 5-7. Last year, despite very slight drops in his completion percentage (61.6%) and yards per game (233.3), Sorsby regained an elite efficiency, throwing 28 touchdowns to only five interceptions.
The abilities and efficiency displayed in that final season excited a lot of teams that had him in the Day 2 range with potential to get to Day 1. When he opted to return for another year college, it seemed inevitable that, after another year of development, he would surely come into the 2027 NFL Draft as one of the top arms available. Now, though, he won’t be able to develop with the Red Raiders, and the NFL won’t have him.
We saw a number of players drafted in the 2021 NFL Draft after sitting out the 2020 COVID-19-shortened season, but that was truly a unique situation. Sorsby plans to spend his time between now and the draft preparing to show scouts he can still play in the pre-draft process, but come April, he’ll be the only quarterback drafted that year who didn’t play in an official competitive game.
How much will that affect his draft stock? How much weight with the red flags of his past carry? SportsBoom’s Jason La Canfora believes Sorsby can still be a Day 2 pick, but...
