Bet Big, Win Big

You know what they say, ‘Scared money don’t make money’.

We’ll, we’re about to find if NFL general managers feel the same way.

Earlier this week, Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, after a lengthy legal battle with both the NCAA and the Big 12 Conference, has officially declared for the 2026 NFL Supplemental Draft.

Sorsby was initially ruled ineligible by the NCAA after it was discovered he made at least 2,900 bets and wagered approximately $90,000 on professional and college sports over a four-year span, including at least 40 bets involving Indiana football while he was on the Hoosiers roster in 2022. He also admitted that that he had to send more than $65,000 to friends to cover bets made from their own accounts on his behalf.

To say that the Sorsby has a gambling problem would be an understatement.

Just a few months ago, Sorsby was viewed as the top-ranked transfer quarterback after throwing for 7,208 yards and scoring 82 total touchdowns across his time at Cincinnati and Indiana, including an incredible 20-to-1 TD:INT ratio over the first two months of the 2025 season. Couple that production with his strapping 6-foot-3, 235-pound frame, and you have all the makings of a top-flight NFL prospect. In fact, earlier this spring, an

anonymous NFL scout told The Athletic that he would have taken Sorsby ahead of Alabama quarterback TY Simpson, who famously was the second quarterback taken at No. 13 overall by the Los Angeles Rams.

Suffice to say, Sorsby’s draft evaluation is a complicated one. While he is easily one of the most talented quarterback prospects we’ve seen this decade, it’s entirely possible that his gambling addiction could derail his football career – and his life – before it ever really starts.

With that in mind, here are four NFL teams with the right infrastructure in place to help keep Sorsby on the straight and narrow, and as such should be willing to take a swing on the troubled signal caller in the upcoming NFL Supplemental Draft:

Pittsburgh Steelers

Aaron Rodgers has already declared that 2026 will be his final NFL season, so the need for a quarterback of the future is an obvious one. That’s not even considering the fact that the AFC North is currently home to two of the top-4 quarterbacks in the NFL (Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow). With all due respect to second-year man Will Howard and rookie Drew Allar, but both of those guys were late-round picks for a reason; Neither one possesses the kind of raw talent that Sorsby does. When you factor in the fact that Pittsburgh already has a history of dealing with mercurial individuals (Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, etc.) and has a quarterback whisperer in Mike McCarthy at head coach, the Steelers feel like an ideal landing spot for Sorsby.

Houston Texans

Two years ago, CJ Stroud was seen as the next big thing at the quarterback position. He had just been named the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year, earned a Pro Bowl nod and won his first career playoff game. Flash forward to 2026, however, and his future in Houston is murky, at best. Since that incredible rookie season, Stroud’s pass yards per game have dropped every year, his overall passer rating has dropped 18 points, and his TD:INT ratio has doubled. That’s not even counting the fact that he committed 7 total turnovers in two playoff games this year. Given how quickly Stroud’s star has faded, it should come as no surprise then that the Texans are reluctant to give him the massive contract extension he’s been seeking. Taking Sorsby in the middle rounds of the supplemental draft would not only represent a bet on his upside but also serve an insurance policy should Houston decide to move on from Stroud after the season.

Detroit Lions

The Lions entered the 2025 season with legitimate Super Bowl aspirations. But after dropping four of their last six games, including an inexplicable loss to the Vikings and their third-string quarterback, Detroit wound up missing the playoffs altogether. In that pivotal Christmas Day loss to Minnesota, Jared Goff was sacked five times and coughed up a career-high five turnovers. And therein lies the problem. When kept upright, Goff has shown he can operate at a Pro Bowl (and sometimes even MVP-caliber) level. When pressured, however, he is unable to make plays out of structure and tends to turn the ball over. Sorsby is the anti-Goff in that he is extremely dangerous when things break down around him. In fact, Sorsby’s pressure-to-sack rate (6.1%) is better than every other quarterback projected to go in the first round in 2027. The only downside here is whether the Lions decision makers can stomach tying a head coach with a gambling problem on-the-field (Dan Campbell) to a quarterback who has gambling problem off-the-field.

Seattle Seahawks

Yes, Sam Darnold just led the Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship. But, even in a charmed 2025 season, Darnold led the NFL in turnovers with 20 (14 interceptions and six lost fumbles). Moreover, in that Super Bowl victory, Darnold had his lowest completion percentage of the season (50%), second-worst yards per attempt (5.3), overthrew Jaxson Smith-Njigba for a potential 86-yard TD, and threw behind JSN for a potential 23-yard score before the half. You could argue that Seattle won that game in spite of their quarterback. Despite what the last two seasons might tell you, Darnold is a journeyman quarterback for a reason. He has only had a passer rating above 100 once in eight NFL seasons and holds a career TD:INT ratio of just 1.5:1. Sorsby has all the same physical gifts that Darnold has minus the generally erratic play. Given that Seattle has already shown a willingness to dump good (Geno Smith) to chase great (Darnold), it wouldn’t be too surprising to see the Seahawks make a similar splash with Sorsby.