The Cleveland Browns are pretty badly in need of a quarterback to provide a centerpiece for the future, and when a young one with first-round talent comes suddenly available the way that Brendan Sorsby has, they would appear to be a team that would move to the front of the line to add him. The Browns are flush with draft picks and have a glaring need.
In TV show detective parlance, that’s means and motive. Of course the Browns should be running to make a bid on Sorsby, even a third-round pick, when next month’s supplemental draft takes place.
Sorsby will be available after news yesterday that he has decided to enter the supplemental draft rather than continue his legal fight with the NCAA over his eligibility to play for Texas Tech, the school to which he was set to transfer from Cincinnati before he was hit with a flood of allegations of online betting, including on his own team back when he started his career at Indiana. Sorsby has gone to an in-patient treatment center for gambling addiction, and completed that program.
Browns Out on Brendan Sorsby?
This would appear to be a chance for the Browns to get a a great value on Sorsby, a first-round talent in 2026 for Day 2 investment in 2027. Alas, Cleveland.com beat writer Mary Kay Cabot is reporting that the bubble of those Browns fans seeking a gamble on Sorsby (bad choice of words) is likely to be burst.
She writes: “The Browns are unlikely to bid on Brendan Sorsby, who’s been in inpatient rehab for a gambling addiction, in the supplemental draft now that he plans to enter it, a league source tells cleveland.com.”
But Cabot did not shut the door altogether, adding, “But one can never say never in this complicated situation.”
Complications for Browns, Other NFL Teams
There are plenty of factors at play for the Browns, and for all NFL teams involved, when it comes to adding Brendan Sorsby. There is no telling whether he will be allowed to play, at least as a rookie, by the NFL’s offices, which look as grimly on gambling as the NCAA does. And the NFL does reserve the right to suspend a player for actions that player took while in college, as happened with former Browns receiver Terrelle Pryor.
Teams would want to have some idea, too, about whether Sorsby’s actions were the foolish mistakes of a young man, or were the results of an addiction he might not be ready to curb.
Back on June 1, coach Todd Monken commented on Sorsby’s situation, saying it’s a “slippery slope” to add a player with a known gambling problem to the roster, especially as a potential starter at quarterback.
Browns GM Andrew Berry later said, though, that Sorsby should be allowed his mistakes and given some “grace” as he tries to recover.
Brendan Sorsby in ‘1st-Round Pick Conversation’
One thing that is certain is that if Sorsby had been allowed to play for the Red Raiders, he might have locked up a spot in the draft’s first round and possibly been a Browns target through that path.
ESPN analyst and former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky noted on Twitter/X, “Sorsby would have been a first round pick conversation in 2027 draft…”
And CBS Sports’ Ryan Wilson touted Sorsby’s dual-threat ability on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland on Tuesday: “If you were watching him on the black-and-white television and you could not see the name on the jersey, 10 times out of 10 you take him over Arch Manning, even though Arch played great last year. It is real, the stuff he can do on the field. He can do a lot of things that not a lot of quarterbacks can do.”
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