NFL's Brendan Sorsby Decision Closes Potential QB Door for Cardinals

ARIZONA — A highly discussed quarterback option for the Arizona Cardinals is officially off the menu.

The NFL is declining to hold a supplemental draft this year, according to memos sent to all 32 teams and Texas Tech QB Brendan Sorsby, who filed paperwork to enter the draft earlier in the month.

Sorsby opted for the supplemental draft after a long battle with the NCAA over his eligibility stemming from investigations on his gambling habits/issues. He ultimately had a judge rule a two-game suspension was fine — though Texas Tech received pushback from fellow Big 12 schools on playing games involving Sorsby in 2026.

That pushed Sorsby, who wanted to return to college, into supplemental draft position — though the NFL holds sole discretion on whether or not they'll hold a supplemental draft, which is something they haven't done since 2019.

From the NFL's letter to Sorsby:

"Available information nonetheless indicates that, over the course of your collegiate career, you knowingly engaged in repeated and significant violations of NCAA rules designed to preserve the integrity of athletic competition. Reported conduct includes placing wagers on your own team and teammates and, to avoid detection, establishing or funding accounts in the names of intermediaries who placed bets on your behalf. There are also reports that you may have violated state criminal law.

"Your Petition does not address these matters. Nor does it demonstrate accountability for your conduct or indicate whether, or how, you would adhere to the League’s rules and policies governing the integrity of competition. Instead, even after receiving notice of the NCAA’s decision rescinding your college eligibility in May, you sought to avoid the consequences of that determination through litigation rather than accepting responsibility for your actions, and you pursued entry into the NFL only after abandoning those efforts."

For Sorsby, this essentially leaves him without a place to play football in 2026.

For the Cardinals, this forces a pivot to other avenues for finding their quarterback of the future.

Arizona — who did extensive research on Sorsby according to reports — now can fully focus on the 2026 development of third-round pick Carson Beck ahead of a massive offseason in 2027, where plenty of franchise quarterbacks are expected to be available in next year's draft.

Sorsby could possibly be part of those plans next offseason, though there's no doubting his stock has taken a massive hit over the last few months.

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