The best thing about the Brendan Sorsby situation is it means the Cleveland Browns will have absolutely nothing to do with him this summer. Hopefully.
Another distraction dispensed…maybe.
A question being raised in some college and professional football circles is whether the Texas Tech quarterback — at least for now — could be eligible for an NFL supplemental draft. The player has acknowledged a gambling problem and admitted to betting on his own team while at Indiana. That, of course, has to mean Sorsby is the object of affection of any QB-deprived team.
Cleveland Browns, anyone?
That has been decided by a Texas judge in Lubbock, home of the Texas Tech Red Raiders, who ruled in a temporary injunction that the NCAA, who had ruled the signal caller ineligible, could not prohibit him from playing in the 2026 season for the Red Raiders. Sorsby, who starred for the Cincinnati Bearcats, will be able to not only play, but collect his $5 million payday promised to him in this NIL-dominated world of college football.
Good – for now — especially for the Browns.
Although the Sorsby situation is far from settled, hopefully the status quo remains. Let the questions surrounding his admitted actions be someone else’s problem.
Yes, draft prognosticators say that Sorsby holds franchise quarterback potential and would be a high draft choice in 2027. I’d counter that the highway to the NFL is littered with the career corpses of potential franchise quarterbacks, but I digress.
It’s beneficial for the Browns that he remains in Lubbock because it eliminates temptation on the part of team ownership and management to go take another “big swing.”
We all know how the last home run swing is still playing out. Fans can think and believe what they want, but the best descriptor for the current quarterback room is “interesting.” And that’s being generous because the Browns are still paying for the sins of pursuing a win-at-all-costs philosophy in trading their potential future for Deshaun Watson and damaging any semblance of having any shot at a championship. This despite the known baggage brought to Cleveland.
The deal proved indirectly responsible for last week’s trade of Myles Garrett, who could ease on down the road to Canton and the Pro Football Hall of Fame based on his current resume alone.
To his credit, head coach Todd Monken seems to understand that Sorsby, who could still find his way to a supplemental draft depending upon legal maneuverings, would be a potential albatross the team does not need and one that he apparently does not want.
“I don’t think we’re in a position to want to go down that road. I like the quarterbacks that we have,” he said June 1. “I think that’s a slippery slope when you go down that, irrespective of talent, right? In terms of the situation he’s put himself in, we all know what that is. He put himself in that situation. And we’ve seen in other sports with players that have been banned for life from playing in professional sports.”
And the Browns – from Johnny Manziel to Baker Mayfield to Watson – have put themselves in their current QB quandary. Three whiffs, three strikes that did not pay off.
If Sorsby somehow finds himself in the supplemental draft – applications are due June 22 – here’s hoping for the sake of Browns fans that they’ve learned something from those moves.
George M. Thomas covers a myriad of things including sports and pop culture, but mostly sports, he thinks, for the Beacon Journal.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: NCAA losing ruling regarding Brendan Sorsby good for Cleveland Browns
Reporting by George M. Thomas, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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By George M. Thomas, Akron Beacon Journal | USA TODAY Network
