Andrew Buller-Russ
On Tuesday, the NFL announced that Brendan Sorsby wouldn’t be able to enter the 2026 supplemental draft because the league has no intention of holding the event this year. It also didn’t help that Sorsby was not only the lone applicant, but also that he filed his paperwork extremely late. Now, Sorsby has no way to improve his draft stock ahead of the 2027 NFL Draft, but the assumption is that he’ll find a way to play football, somewhere.
Yet, while Tuesday’s NFL decision came swiftly, this battle isn’t expected to end any time soon.
Now, Sorsby’s lawyer, Jeffrey Kessler, revealed that he’ll be fighting the NFL’s ruling. In fact, he called the league out in his response.
“It is a violation of the CBA and the law,” Kessler told ESPN’s Pete Thamel. “We will pursue this immediately with the NFLPA.”
Leading up to the decision, some wondered if the NFL would try to take a hard stance against Sorsby because he violated what some might call an unwritten rule by betting on football games. Yet, other players with a similar past haven’t been prevented from joining the NFL.
Not to mention, the NFL legally isn’t allowed to prevent a person from joining its league. That decision would come down to the 32 individual teams that operate in isolation.
While it’s understandable that Kessler, Sorsby, and the rest of their camp would be upset with the NFL’s decision, we’ll see whether there’s actually anything they can legally do about it. But they sure will try to put up a stink every bit of the way.
For now, Kessler has not indicated that they plan to file a lawsuit. But with how quickly this process has moved along, that, too, could change.
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