{"id":765925,"date":"2026-05-01T12:30:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T12:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/765925\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T12:30:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T12:30:23","slug":"what-is-the-nfl-supplemental-draft-how-would-it-work-if-brendan-sorsby-enters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/765925\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the NFL supplemental draft? How would it work if Brendan Sorsby enters?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NFL supplemental draft is suddenly a popular talking point in light of the Brendan Sorsby gambling scandal<\/a>. It\u2019s a mechanism that gives draft-eligible players who did not enter the regular NFL Draft a chance to be selected by teams for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n

The first supplemental draft was held in 1977. Normally, players who declare for the supplemental draft do so because of unexpected eligibility issues in college (academic or disciplinary) that prevent them from returning to college football.<\/p>\n

Prospects have to apply with and be approved by the NFL league office for eligibility in the supplemental draft. The league hosts the supplemental draft only if there are eligible players, which hasn\u2019t happened since 2023. There were two eligible prospects that year, though neither was selected.<\/p>\n

A player hasn\u2019t been selected in the supplemental draft since 2019 \u2014 the longest drought in its history \u2014 when the Arizona Cardinals selected defensive back Jalen Thompson.<\/p>\n

How does it work?<\/p>\n

The draft order for the Supplemental Draft is determined via a lottery system based on the previous season\u2019s win-loss records. The draft order is divided into three groups:<\/p>\n

1. Teams with six or fewer wins
2. The rest of the non-playoff teams
3. The 14 playoff teams<\/p>\n

The order of each group is randomly selected. If a team is interested in drafting a prospect, they place a bid on that player in a certain round. If multiple teams submit bids on a player in the same round, the team picking first in the order is awarded the player.<\/p>\n

Once a team drafts a player in the supplemental draft, it must forfeit its pick in that round in the following NFL Draft. The supplemental draft is typically untelevised and takes about 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

When is it?<\/p>\n

In the summer, but the specific date for this year \u2014 if it happens \u2014 has not been announced. The supplemental draft is conducted on or before the seventh calendar day before the opening of the first training camp. That means it will likely be in early or mid-July.<\/p>\n

Why could Brendan Sorsby be a supplemental draft prospect?<\/p>\n

Although it\u2019s been three years since the NFL last hosted the supplemental draft, the possibility of this year\u2019s has been a topic of discussion, given the potential of eligibility issues for Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby.<\/p>\n

Sorsby transferred to Texas Tech in January as one of the most coveted players in the transfer portal. The fifth-year senior began his career at Indiana and spent the past two seasons at Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Texas Tech announced that Sorsby was taking an \u201cimmediate and indefinite leave of absence\u201d from the football program as he enters a residential treatment program for a gambling addiction.<\/p>\n

Industry sources confirmed to The Athletic<\/a> an ESPN report saying that Sorsby bet on Indiana football in 2022 while he was a redshirt freshman for the Hoosiers. According to updated NCAA sports betting guidelines passed in 2023, players who bet on games involving their own school face potential permanent loss of eligibility.<\/p>\n

The NCAA is investigating Sorsby\u2019s gambling, industry sources told The Athletic, and there is no timetable on his treatment or return to football. However, since the investigation is focused on the actions of Sorsby and no school is facing allegations of violations, a resolution to the case could come quickly.<\/p>\n

If Sorsby\u2019s final year of college eligibility is rescinded, he could opt for the supplemental draft and embark on his pro career. He\u2019d also be jumping ahead of a loaded 2027 NFL Draft quarterback class that could potentially include Texas\u2019 Arch Manning, Oregon\u2019s Dante Moore and others.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Justin Williams and Chris Vannini contributed to this report.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NFL supplemental draft is suddenly a popular talking point in light of the Brendan Sorsby gambling scandal.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":765926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1318,1317,1315,1316,1232,62,8799,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-765925","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-texas-tech-red-raiders","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116499331610312104","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}