The National Football League has elected to pass on holding a supplemental draft next month and informed Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby by letter that he is not currently being considered an NFL prospect, as the player continues to fight eligibility battles over gambling on his own college team while he was playing.
Sorsby had declared for the NFL Supplementary Draft in an attempt to sidestep his mountain of problems in the NCAA over his gambling issues. But it looks like that attempt to jump to the pros is also meeting a brick wall.
The troubled player’s attorney, though, is claiming that the league’s decision violates its collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association (of which Sorsby would become a part once entering the pros). And attorney Jeffrey Kessler says they will immediately take legal action against the NFL, On3 reports.
“It is a violation of the CBA and the law,” Kessler claimed. “We will pursue this with the NFLPA immediately.”
Still, the league has not held a supplemental draft in three years, and the last time a player was drafted from one was in 2019.
In its letter, the NFL stated that the decision not to hold a supplemental draft had been made prior to all of Sorsby’s legal problems and his multiple lawsuits over his gambling addiction issues, so the decision was not predicated solely on Sorsby’s situation.
However, the NFL’s Lawrence P. Ferazani also noted that Sorsby’s attorney did not provide the league with enough information on the vagaries of the gambling case and the NCAA’s reaction to it for the NFL to make any sort of informed decision on allowing him a chance to join pro football after being declared ineligible by the NCAA. The league also worried over the possibility that Sorsby broke state laws with his gambling addiction.
“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,” the NFL letter added. “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.”
Sorsby quit Texas Tech despite winning a temporary injunction allowing him to play this season. But if he thought he was going to jump right into pro football, apparently, he was sorely mistaken.
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