First-year head coach Todd Monken anticipates there could be peril on the periphery if the Cleveland Browns select Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby in a potential NFL supplemental draft should he lose college eligibility because of gambling.
Monken, stressing that he was speaking for himself and not the Browns organization, called the decision a “slippery slope” given Sorsby’s situation regardless of his proven talent and skill level.
“I don’t think we’re in a position to want to go down that road,” Monken said at the Browns Foundation Golf Tournament. “That’s my opinion. That’s not (general manager Andrew Berry’s).
“I like the quarterbacks that we have. I think that’s a slippery slope when you go down that, irrespective of talent, right?” Monken continued. “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.
“But from my end of it, kind of a tough angle to go down that road and think that’s going to be your franchise quarterback if he’s ever eligible to even play in the NFL.”
Sorsby transferred to Texas Tech from Cincinnati this offseason and was the Red Raiders’ projected starter for 2026. ESPN ranked Sorsby the No. 1 overall transfer in this year’s class.
But Sorsby has been fighting for his college eligibility after revelations of rampant betting led the NCAA to revoke his eligibility in April and deny his request for reinstatement in May. The NCAA prohibits athletes and employees from wagering on NCAA events in which a championship is held, which includes football.
Sorsby is seeking an injunction against the NCAA to play in 2026, but should that fail, an option could be to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft.
The Browns’ Berry was asked on Tuesday about Sorsby and was not as absolute in his answer as Monken was.
“No different than we do every year,” Berry said. “We’ll do the work on all the prospects, and then we’ll make the appropriate decision for the organization.”
The Browns’ quarterback depth chart includes veteran Deshaun Watson and second-year players Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel as well as 2026 sixth-round draft pick Taylen Green.
A judge in Lubbock County, Texas, did not make a ruling on Sorby’s request for a temporary injunction after a hearing Monday. Judge Ken Curry requested additional documentation be provided before he renders his verdict, which could happen in the upcoming days, according to ESPN.
Sorsby’s attorney, Jeffrey Kessler, requested a decision be made by June 15 to allow Sorsby a window to determine whether to apply for the NFL supplement draft, which carries a June 22 deadline.
Curry heard arguments from Sorsby’s team and the NCAA as to why Sorsby should be allowed to return to the field after allegedly making thousands of impermissible bets on college and pro sports — including his own team while at Indiana.
Sorsby placed at least 40 bets on Indiana football as a redshirt freshman with the Hoosiers, court documents revealed.
Those ranged from $1 to $114 and totaled at least $850 in September and October of 2022, while he was redshirting. Sorsby said in a letter to the NCAA that he never bet in a game he played in, nor ever bet against his team.
The quarterback wagered about $90,000 over a four-year period using sportsbook accounts registered to a family member and friends, with 2,900 bets totaling more than $30,000 coming from June 2022 to December 2023 alone. Last week, Sorsby revealed that he completed a 35-day, in-patient rehab stay in Arizona to treat “a diagnosed gambling addiction and anxiety disorder.”
NCAA attorney Taylor Askew said on Monday that if an injunction is granted, the collegiate governing body would in effect become the first sports league in the U.S. that could not punish its athletes from betting on its own contests.
The NFL supplemental draft was last held in 2019. Created in 1977, it was launched to give players with “sudden eligibility changes” a ladder from college to the NFL. However, the league would likely closely review the investigation into Sorsby’s off-field activity before determining whether to hold the special draft in July.
–Field Level Media
