Everything you need to know about Brendan Sorsby & the NFL Supplemental Draft

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1:36Robert Mays: Welcome to The Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mayes. Had a little bit of news this week in the NFL world that is completely unique compared to anything else I've ever dealt with while covering the sport. Brendan Soresby transferred to Texas Tech this offseason to be their quarterback after spending a couple years at Cincinnati. If you guys haven't been following this saga at all, Sorsby checked himself into rehab this spring with a gambling addiction. He was at that point suspended from playing for Texas Tech this season. There was an injunction involved. We get into all of it on the show.

2:08Robert Mays: But the long story short here is that the quarterback that was supposed to play for Texas Tech this year and was considered a worthwhile prospect for next year's draft is now in the supplemental draft because of everything that had happened with his gambling issue, the suspension and the injunction that ultimately came down because of that. We haven't had a quarterback in the supplemental draft, as Dane mentions on the show, in 30 years, and especially a guy that would be worth spending a real pick on. And so we wanted to take a step back today and talk about the Brendan Sorsby situation from really every single angle.

2:41Robert Mays: What happened with Brendan Sorsby at Texas Tech? What is the supplemental draft, which I think is worth visiting here for people who aren't familiar with that process? What are we talking about? with Brendan Soresby solely as a prospect. There's been a lot of stuff flying around this week on social media about him being a first-round talent and where he would have gone independent of all these other considerations. But we wanted to sit with Dane Brugler and really talk about what kind of prospect are we looking at here? And then when you weigh all of the factors with the off-the-field concerns, the gambling concerns, what does that mean for his value in the supplemental draft and which teams should be willing to take a dice roll on a quarterback and a prospect like this based on the current construction of their quarterback room.

3:26Robert Mays: Had the Building the Beast guys join me for this, Dave Hellman and our guy, Dane Brugler, breaking him out in June, which we don't often get to do, which was very exciting. Really enjoyed this conversation. Hopefully gives you guys a little bit of context about a topic that has been a hot button issue here over the last few days. So let's get to that conversation with me, Dave and Dane right now.

3:59Robert Mays: I never thought we'd be having this conversation on June 18th. I never thought I would be sitting there queuing up Cincinnati tape from last year on June 17th to prepare for this conversation. But it has been the talk of the football world here for the last couple of days. And because it's going to be such an oddity this summer, Dave, I felt like we had to kind of dig into the Brendan Sorsby situation. I mean, when a quarterback enters the supplemental draft, I mean, we haven't even done a supplemental draft in a few years. Like people are out of practice with this. I honestly, I can't remember, Beller, if we did or did not.

4:33Robert Mays: Maybe we should have done an emergency podcast when Jalen Thompson was a fifth round pick in the supplemental draft a few years ago. But, Dane, this does feel a little bit different. I mean, that's why we've like pulled you out of cryo sleep here in June, because this is a unique case. And I felt like we really had to dig into it because we need some context around what teams are going to be willing to bid late next month when we get to the supplemental draft process. Yeah. And you said a few years ago, I think it was 2019. So it's been a minute since we last had. And look, we have had supplemental drafts since then, but no picks.

5:08And so I guess just a background on the supplemental draft, it was designed for a way for players, college players, who, whether it was academic, whether it was something off field, something happened between the deadline to declare for the actual draft and then the summer where they were ruled ineligible for the upcoming year. Josh Gordon may be one of the best examples of the last 20 years. He ended up being a second round pick to the Browns. But the supplemental draft is the way the order works. There's three different tiers. If you lost, I think it's six or fewer games, you're in that top tier.

5:50The rest of the non-playoff teams are in another tier. And it's just a lottery system. And then once you have the order, then it becomes a bidding war, basically, where a team is, hey, we feel comfortable using a third round pick on this player, but you don't know what other teams are bidding. So it's kind of a blind bid process. And it's not done in person. It's really just on all through like kind of email and like a digital system. And so it's really interesting how it plays out. But yeah, we haven't had a draft pick in the supplemental draft since 2019, fifth round pick. But we're going to have one this year with Brendan Soresby.

6:29And now he has officially submitted the paperwork to be a part of it. The NFL has to accept that. There's a lot to get into with Brendan Sorsby, both on and off the field. And I think you have to kind of separate it that way. So I guess, which part do we want to tackle first?

6:47Robert Mays: Let's talk about the supplemental draft just for one second longer and stay on it, just because this is strange. I do want to zoom out here as we're talking about the supplemental draft and just this entire situation with Brendan Sorsby. So, Dane, just walk me through like a hypothetical here. So you talk about it's tiered based on how many wins and losses you had the previous year. So like the Cardinals and the Jets had the same number of losses last year. They had the same record. So let's say both the Cardinals and the Jets, hypothetically, submit a third round pick or bid a third round pick on Brendan Soresby.

7:18Robert Mays: How does the league decide who wins that bid in a case like that? There's an order that is predetermined. But again, it's the teams that, like I said, I believe it's six losses or fewer. Those teams are in a tier, and they're all jumbled up, and you figure out an order from those teams. And if there's a certain number of ping pong balls that get picked, isn't that kind of how it works? Well, yeah. Yeah, and so those, like the first, what, 10 picks, you know, the first third of the order will be those teams that were, you know, six or fewer losses or six or fewer wins, I should say. They're going to be those first 10 picks based off the order that's predetermined going into the supplemental draft.

8:05And that order will be the same all the way through the supplemental draft. It won't change. And then tier two, which would be the middle part of the order, that's those middle teams. And so I don't know exactly how if teams know where they're picking or the order exactly, but that's something that the league office will have in front of them. So they'll know, OK, if if two teams in the same tier both put a bid in the same round, there will be a team, one team ahead in the order. All right.

8:33Robert Mays: So let's talk about just the situation with Brendan Sorsby overall, Dave, Because if you're not a college football fan or you're not someone that's spending a ton of your time on the football spaces and social media, which I hope some people listening to this episode are not doing that in the middle of June. What happened with Brendan Soresby this offseason? Who is Brendan Soresby? Just walk me through this like I know nothing because prior to like a week and a half ago, that was true. Which is funny because Brendan Soresby, A, he had a chance to be part of the draft class that we just had. And B, he was on track to potentially springboard into really being a meaningful part of 2027.

9:14So Brennan Soresby, he's a college senior. He started his college career at Indiana. He transferred to Cincinnati where he had two successful seasons. He throws for 2 ,800 yards, 27 touchdowns last year. Really good athlete, ran for almost 600 yards for the Bearcats. Kind of fell off a cliff. I mean, if you listen to Building the Beast, Brendan Sorsby was one of Dane's pet cats leading up toward the climax of the season. And the final month of the year just wasn't very good. And it was enough to keep him in school. He transfers to Texas Tech, which is one of the new darlings in this new college landscape.

9:51They are. Because they have all the money. They are backed by oil and gas money. They have a shitload of money. See, I know how this works. Yes, they absolutely do. I mean, David Bailey transferred into Texas Tech last year. We saw how that went. Brennan Soresby was one of the crown jewels of the transfer class of this year. He transfers to Texas Tech. It looked like they were primed to have another college football playoff type season. They made the playoff last year. So it was all out there for Brennan Soresby to lead Texas Tech to the playoff, potentially be a Heisman candidate, potentially be a big time prospect in this coming draft class.

10:25And then in the spring, he checks himself into rehab for a sports gambling addiction. he's ruled ineligible by the NCAA because that is a no-no and then we go on this legal saga where you know Texas Tech files for reinstatement they're denied they get a temporary injunction from the court he's ruled eligible to play everybody says this is absolutely nonsense he has a gambling addiction also a key part of that he he bet on his own team when he was a quarterback at Indiana not the starting quarterback but when he was a quarterback at Indiana he bet on Hoosiers games in addition to something like$90 ,000 worth of bets.

11:03And so people said, how is this going to be allowed to happen that this young man is going to play for a team after betting on his own team with a two-game suspension being the extent of his punishment? Texas Tech backed him. It looked like it was going to be a long, drawn-out, and honestly very tedious process. and what last week or over the weekend, ultimately he decides we're not going to do it. I'm going to pull my name. I'm going to pull myself out. I'm going to put my name in the supplemental draft. Texas Tech is going to go on with whoever else they have on their roster. And here we are.

11:36Robert Mays: Yeah, we don't have to dig into like some of the reasons that that change happened. I felt like there was a lot of like outward pressure on Texas Tech. They gave to it a little bit. So much. I think multiple parties here didn't want to endure whatever the next few months were going to look like. That doesn't really matter for our purposes here. What does matter for our purposes here, Dane, is what type of prospect are we talking about here? The conversation around Brendan Soresby over the last 48 hours has been interesting because he went from being a guy that wasn't good enough or wasn't worth him putting his name into the 2026 draft to now, well, he's a first-round talent.

12:11Robert Mays: You know, what's he going to be worth in the supplemental draft? So let's try to parse this a little bit and land in a reasonable place about what we're talking about with Brendan Soresby as a prospect. So just on a football level here, Dane, as you're watching him as a player, what type of player are we talking about? And maybe what round or what sort of valuation would you put on him from that perspective? Well, let's go back to last season. And I think, you know, those that listen to Building the Beast, we talked about Brendan Soresby quite a bit. because the way that his season was going, it looked like he was going to be part of the 2026 draft.

12:48I know talking to people in his camp during the year, that's part of my job is to get a sense from these underclassmen and their people, where are they leaning? And that's why part of me, in talking to scouts, because scouts have a good gauge on what guys are going to do, that's why Dante Moore, I kept saying, hey, guys, let's pump the brakes on Dante Moore. He doesn't, he's okay going back to school. Soresby, it was a lot of, yeah, I think he wants to go. I think he wants to take advantage of this quote unquote weaker quarterback class. And the way that last season was progressing, it looked like that's where it was headed.

13:25Then November hit and the Utah game was disastrous. He went 0-4 as a starter, as a starting quarterback in Cincinnati the last four games. And all of a sudden it was like, okay, let's take a step back. Let's rethink this. You know, there were still people in his camp that were kind of pushing him to say, like, hey, let's let's go strike while the iron's hot. Most of the grades that I heard from NFL teams were third round grades coming just going back to his thought process last December. But I think when you factor in quarterback inflation, especially in last year's class, I think he would have been a second round pick.

14:01I think he probably would not have made it to, so Carson Beck was quarterback three, drafted quarterback three at 65 overall, the first pick in the third round. There's a good chance that Soresby didn't make it to 65 overall. He went maybe somewhere in that second round, part of that being his talent and where teams thought he should go, part of that being the class itself. He decided, and if NIL was not a thing, he would have been in the class. But Texas Tech offered him north of$5 million to go be a one-year starter for the Red Raiders and possibly make a push for the national championship. So I thought that was the right decision for him because he was not necessarily NFL-ready.

14:46You go work on some of the things you need to work on. You're making a good amount of money. You have a chance. Big 12. You're going to win the Big 12 at Texas Tech because their schedule is not good. You're going to go to the playoffs and you have a chance to really do something here. So I think there was a lot of momentum for him to come out last year and be he would have been a day to pick would have likely been a top 60 pick. But I understand why he went back. And I thought at the time it was the right move because of all the things he needs to work on on the field. Then everything happens off the field.

15:16But just talking about on the field, he's when you watch him, the arm really pops lightning quick release. He has no trouble using different arm angles where, you know, sometimes inexplicably using these arm angles. But he can. He has that whip of an arm. The velocity is above average. There isn't a throw that he can't make. And he has a lot of twitch in his joints. So, you know, the hips, the easy wrist action, it really helps. And he's not all fastball. He can deliver touch with dropping the ball in the bucket and all three levels. You see examples of him throwing with touch. There was a play on the Iowa State tape where just a beautiful slot post, beautiful bucket throw, put it out there for his receiver to run underneath it.

16:04It's an 80-yard touchdown. And I think the biggest difference I saw in Soresby, 2024 tape to 2025 tape, was he was just a lot more confident throwing guys open. He was trusting his arm. He was ripping it. And that arm confidence, it really shows with the interceptions actually declining last year. So it wasn't like he was sacrificing more turnovers. And then you see him move. He can absolutely be part of a quarterback-designed run game. He loves to extend. He loves to play outside of structure. The athleticism is a net positive of what he brings. So I think those are the things worth getting excited about.

16:43Now, on the other side, there's plenty he needs to work on. The word I keep using to describe his mechanics is loose. Too many jump throws. It weighs both good and bad. Yeah, exactly. That looseness to his game, it allows him to play free. But at the same time, there's a volatility to his game. You're watching his tape, and you're like, okay, why are you fading away on this throw? And, you know, the ball placement, because the footwork is all over the place, it directly leads to inconsistent ball placement. And that shows up consistently. And I've talked to Soaresby's quarterback coach, and he laid out to me all the footwork drills that they've been going over the last year.

17:25The main focus is just trying to get him choreographed with proper timing to sharpen the precision. And I think you can see improvement, but he's just not there yet. And I think that's the mechanical part of it. And there are times where he relies too much on that athleticism. It's like he prefers to be off-platform, where he can operate based on feel more than process. And I think that it was kind of encouraged in that Cincinnati RPO-heavy offense where I think you have to keep things simple for him based off of just the offense that he was in. And that's part of the projection with Sorsby, is can he evolve past where things need to be clearly defined?

18:09Because he just wasn't asked to get through those full field progressions. You know, you see his eyes and it's basic high-low reads and then scramble. He wasn't asked to make checks at the line. Bottom line is all the feedback I get from people at Cincinnati and from NFL scouts is Swarsby is a really smart guy. He wants to learn. He wants to be better. But it's like he was taking entry-level quarterback classes at Cincinnati, where you need quarterbacks to have more advanced graduate-level courses to prepare you for what's coming. And so it's not that he's not capable or willing. It's just what was asked of him.

18:49That Cincinnati offense, it's just what they were offering where he was at. That's my exact takeaway, which it's so perfect, Dane, very diplomatic to say volatility. Because my note is this guy's got so much dip on his chip. Like, oh, my God. And those would be the two things that I know. Like, the baseline is understandable if you want to get excited about a 6 '3", 230, twitchy athlete with an arm like this. And, like, you see his suddenness type of guy that can make, you know, unblocked rushers look silly in the pocket and get out of it and turn it into a positive play. Like, there's a lot of baseline stuff there that's really exciting.

19:28But so much dip on his chip. consistency is a problem. And then I'm glad you brought that up, Dane. And I knew that you would, obviously. But like watching Cincinnati's offense, you're just like, I don't know what I'm seeing here that's giving me any sort of idea of translation to the NFL. I mean, I think I watched two games to get myself ready for this show. And I saw like two snaps where you're dropping back and reading the field the way that you want to see an NFL prospect do. It's just not what Cincinnati asked them to do. And it makes it tough to get a gauge on it other than down-to-down consistency with accuracy and decision-making, which is not usually good, at least across what I watched in preparation for this show.

20:12Robert Mays: I watched the BYU game, and then I watched the Utah game last night. Those are the two that I watched. So early in the BYU game, the first two drives, one of the first plays he makes is kind of a creation play where he steps up in the pocket and then flips the ball to the left of the running back, and it's a positive play. And I think on the next drive, he comes all the way back to a backside inbreaker. And I don't think either of those things happened again in the two games that I watched. Happened in the first two drives. Because he is a creative player outside of the pocket on the move, but he's not that creative of a player within the pocket because his pocket presence isn't very good.

20:50Robert Mays: I mean, you watch him in that BYU game, and he's bouncing. He doesn't really have a plan. And he's just kind of a confounding player to watch because the upside and the talent is undeniable. Like he has a whip like arm. That ball really does come out and it comes out fast. But the accuracy is kind of all over the place. The how often he wasn't on the same page with receivers where it was either, you know, it's a step behind a guy. It's a little bit high. they're totally on different pages and he's a ball sailing 20 feet over a guy's head because they're not even running the same play that was happening really consistently i just don't really know what to make of him even the idea i was talking about this with dane last night 632 35 is what he's listed at and you look at him he looks skinnier than that but dane you said that he actually is 235 so like there's so many elements of like what this guy is where i'm like i don't know what to make of this even if i understand why there are a lot of elements that people are getting excited about yeah and we'll have he'll have a pro day here coming up in a few weeks um where we'll get the exact measurements but yeah he does look skinny but he is a he's a big kid and he's athletic i mean he probably runs in the four five eight to four six three type of range in the 40 there's straight line giddy up like when he wants to get going and put his foot in the ground he absolutely can and that's on design runs too i think it was in the utah game where he had that yeah touchdown run 28 touchdown yeah design run they i mean as soon as he's out the gate that play is over he's not like he's not like good for a white quarterback mobile like he is he's an athlete like you see it when he runs like when he runs in open space you you can understand why we've heard a lot of jackson dart comparisons um because of the you know the off coming from that college offense and just being a big athletic kid who feels like they're playing more on instinct and feel rather than process.

22:50And that's both, you know, encouraging and yet very scary. Because at the quarter at the NFL level, it's just it's not that simple. And so now, OK, I mean, talked about his talent, talked about, you know, him as a prospect. But now it gets difficult when he's part of the supplemental draft and you try to figure out, okay, where this is an unprecedented situation where you have a player this talented yet very underdeveloped and teams have a time crunch now where it's five weeks before they haven't, they haven't announced the supplemental draft date yet. It's going to be somewhere late July, mid to late July.

23:33But as of this recording, they haven't actually announced the date. So teams are going to have around five weeks to do their homework on this player. And, you know, they've done a lot of homework already, but obviously there's more, a lot more to do. And so there's a time crunch and our team's going to feel comfortable with the information that they get over the next five weeks to draft a player who is very talented. But you basically have to redshirt him his first year. I mean, he missed all of OTAs. He's missing all of minicamp. and based off of just where he is in his development, you can't really rely on him coming in.

24:11This isn't a quick fix type of quarterback addition if you're going to draft him. It's somebody that you are going to stash, develop, and hope that he can turn into something. But it's going to get really interesting when teams sit down and are encouraged by the talent. But there's a lot of question marks here that a lot of teams, understandably, are not going to be comfortable with.

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27:41Robert Mays: I think that the Jackson Dart comparisons make sense on some levels. I think Jackson Dart is more accurate, especially down the field. And I think that to me is worth pointing out. I saw some people mentioned Drew Locke's name, which I can understand why that would come up. there's a little Zach Wilson in there to me like he's bigger than Zach Wilson but you watch like how much of a rotational thrower he is and some of the nonchalance with some of the angles and the way that he's trying to throw off platform like that to me is probably the guy he reminded me of the most he's bigger than Zach Wilson obviously if that 6 '3 235 is actually going to hold but those are Jackson Dart somewhere between like Jackson Dart and Zach Wilson is probably where I landed that hurts my feelings a little bit but like BYU Zach Wilson was so much fun and did so much of that stuff for sure.

28:25I wrote down Malik Willis too, just going back to his tape at Liberty and some of the ways he played and how underdeveloped he was in some areas. But yeah, I mean, these are all guys that had a lot of question marks and we've had a wide range of outcomes on how these guys have translated to the pro game. And so, but none of them had the major off-field question mark about obviously the betting. And it's interesting just talking to teams, you know, scouts around the league, some have said, one used the word untouchable, one used, you know, there's no way we can do it. Others, one pointed out that, hey, the really only cardinal sin that he made was betting on his own team.

29:09And he did that when he was 18 years old. Like, you know, maybe you kind of are able to look past that. But still, there is a pattern here of him, you know, and he has used the word compulsive to describe his betting. And that's something that you can't take lightly.

29:25Robert Mays: And I think that in talking to, I was talking to somebody in the front office this week just about what sort of homework might need to happen, how quickly that homework might need to happen. And this person responded like, you know, some people have, teams did a lot of work on him last year, right? And so I think that this is not a situation where people are scrambling the Jets and everything needs to get done in the next month. but based on this person's evaluation of some of the intangible stuff that we're talking about it's not as though we're talking about somebody who is doesn't have the capacity to handle this in the right way i guess that's what i would say i think there is some faith in his infrastructure where he comes from how he's wired that he's gotten in front of this and is combating this in a way where you might have some optimism about what it might look like but at the same time any addiction there's relapse potential like your after care plan and what this ultimately looks like who's around you how much are you consistently getting outside help to deal with this as you move forward like all of that stuff I think is going to be at front of mind for teams and I think those are the questions that they're going to have to be asking like what is your plan to make sure that that compulsion doesn't creep back in and that you're on the right track here and I think you would have to have some pretty solid answers to those questions to feel good about pulling the trigger on somebody like this.

30:44That's the thing. Is he remorseful? I know he went and sought help, but is it because he got caught and was kind of pressured into it and pushed into it? Or did he really want the help? And so there's a lot of things that teams, and during a regular draft process, you have the all-star season, you have the combine, you have pro day, you have 30 visits and workouts. And this is a very truncated version of that process. So there won't be as many one-on-one opportunities to sit down with the player and really delve into some of these serious issues. And I think several teams will come away from the process these next few weeks thinking, I just don't know that we have enough to make a great decision.

31:33I wish we had more time with them. I wish we felt better about it. That doesn't mean they won't put in a bid, but I think that some teams will feel uncomfortable with the lack of information or conviction that they have just because of the way the timeline works out. I'm also really curious about it from the NFL's perspective. Yeah. Because gambling is a huge deal to a professional sports league and something I would imagine the NFL takes really seriously. It's like one of the few poison pills that can really screw this up for everybody. And it's an interesting scenario. I thought a lot about Keyshawn Booty since I heard about this because he had a similar issue that didn't come to light until after he had played a season for the Patriots and the NFL opted not to do anything about it.

32:23But Brennan Sorsby is coming into the NFL. I mean, they know about this going in and it's an NCAA suspension and NCAA ruling, but gambling and specifically betting on your own team drastically affects the NFL. I mean, they take this nightmare scenario. Exactly.

32:41Robert Mays: The idea of a quarterback betting on his own team in the NFL is the worst case scenario imaginable for the national football, which is why part of me is like, well, you know, the NFL, would they hold up something that happened in college? Would they seek to punish you for something that you did when you were 18, 19 and several years ago and in the college game? But at the same time, it is it is such a potentially disastrous scenario where would the NFL seek to to punish him and set an example and say, this is the one thing that we cannot tolerate. I don't know the answer to that. And if you really love Brendan Soresby, some sort of suspension at the start of his NFL career.

33:22When he's redshirting anyway. Yeah, it probably wouldn't back you off of drafting him, but it's at least something that you have to factor into the math.

33:29Robert Mays: We're factoring in a lot of things here. There's so many different components to weigh. So as you weigh all those components, Dan, you come out on the other side of that. Where do we sit with what his valuation should be for something like the supplemental draft. Yeah, I think this is so if he had third round, mostly third round grades, and I think might have went in the second round in the 2026 draft, obviously nothing on the field has happened. Nothing has changed with those evaluations. So I think that he's kind of still, I think most teams are going to look at him on the field evaluation as a third round pick that, hey, if we love him that much maybe we do put in a second round bid but again factoring in the you know the betting and all of that at teams it's just there's no way for because it's so unprecedented there's no way for us to have a great understanding of how teams are going to handle that and the other thing working against uh soresby is in the regular draft teams go into that process needing a quarterback where teams already address their quarterbacks you know you you look around the league and you look at depth charts, they already have their one, two, three on the depth chart.

34:40Some already have one, two, three, four. I think about the Steelers. To me, that would be the exact type. Soresby would be the type of lottery ticket. Pittsburgh should try and go get him, add him. You might have something long-term, but they're kind of set with Mason Rudolph and Will Howard and Drew Aller behind Aaron Rodgers. Now, I don't think it'd be a big deal to cut ties with Rudolph, or maybe do you do cut ties with Howard because you want an established backup behind Rogers in case he has to miss time. But you have to be pretty confident in Soresby to make a move like that. So where teams are in their roster construction, that's a big part of this too.

35:21I think that if we're just going to, let's talk about team fits a little bit. I think the obvious - I'm going to ask you that next.

35:26Robert Mays: Who are the teams that we should be thinking about here and how far they'd be willing to stretch themselves when it comes to the bid they'd make. And I'm eager to hear what you guys think too, but I think that the obvious landing spots, the Jets and the Browns, I mean, neither has that long-term quarterback answer figured out. Neither used a top 100 pick in this pass draft on a quarterback. So it's kind of the let's throw as many resources at the problem theory if they love the player or think highly of the player. But I think that there are also some interesting teams with that established starter who could maybe be a fit.

36:05You know, a team like the Bucs or the Packers. Now, the Bucs have stayed away from anybody with some of the off-field concerns. Jason Light has been pretty adamant about that. The Packers, we know that just traditionally that organization loves to draft quarterbacks before they need one. they really look at it as a value I actually think the most ideal landing spot for Swarsby would be the Eagles I think his athleticism his arm, his toughness he can do a lot of things that they asked Jalen Hurst to do and I think that he that'd be a great landing spot for him but again you look at Philly's depth chart they don't really have a spot where it's just easy to drop him in there so I think it does get tough when you look past those obvious landing spots.

36:54I think I'd probably throw the Cardinals in there as well. Yeah, I know they drafted Carson Beck at 65 overall, but I don't think Carson Beck's going to stop you from drafting a quarterback if you really like him, like a Brendan Soresby. So besides those obvious potential landing spots, I think it gets interesting with the teams we throw out there.

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39:07Robert Mays: Green Bay is a good shout. I mean, if it really only takes a fourth round supplemental pick to do this, right? I mean, then that's the range you draft to back up anyway. And they really don't have a long-term. I'm going to say they actually, they usually have that guy in the pipeline, but they don't right now. Well, because the guys they've drafted just haven't worked out. That's why they had to trade for Malik Willis. And obviously Malik Willis isn't there. And so I think that's an interesting run. Terod Taylor's 36 on a one-year deal. Like, that's not a big deal. That's one. The Bucs are another good one.

39:34Robert Mays: I mean, that the Bucks is that's a really interesting one, just because that's about more than just having a backup plan, a quarterback. That's about having a long term backup plan, a quarterback with Baker now sitting out there without a contract. Everything that's coming out of there, it seems like they will eventually figure that out. And it does seem like both sides are interested in figuring out what a solution that looks like. But I think that's worth mentioning. The Eagles and the Steelers both make sense. But like you just said, Dan, like, is there room on either of those teams? Like right after you drafted Drew Aller in the third round, do you want another project D quarterback that you're spending a mid round pick on?

40:10Robert Mays: And do you want to keep your powder dry a little bit with your draft picks next year, just in case you want to be aggressive and do something a little bit earlier in next year's draft? I think that's also part of this, right? If you walk into next year's draft without a third round pick and he's not what you want it to be, are you going to have enough ammunition to attack the quarterback position and potentially a quarterback draft in a way that you would have before spending a third round pick on Brendan Sorsby. Yeah, and that's why teams advance scout, right? They look at next year's quarterback class and try to form an opinion on what they think about next year's quarterbacks.

40:46And if we feel like we have to give up a third to get this player, is that worth it with how we're advanced scouting, what we think of next year, where we are in our development, where our roster is. Yeah, it's tough. Like I said, this is unprecedented where if it was just the – say Brendan Soresby was academically ineligible or something happened that wasn't a huge red flag why he was not able to play and why he was in the supplemental draft, I do think he would go in the second round. But factor in the betting scandal, and it does make it tough to figure out, okay, what team is going to feel enough conviction to use a third-round pick if there is one?

41:36Or are we talking about an early day three pick? I think that every team is going to look at this a little bit differently.

41:44Robert Mays: Things to note, the Packers have an extra fourth-round pick in next year's draft because of the Rashawn Gary trade. The Browns have two extra fourth round picks and next year's draft based on deals that they've made. That's the Browns are interesting to me. If they wanted to do this, I think they could do it without jeopardizing next year, especially with the Miles Garrett capital in the bag as well. Like this shouldn't color it. But I would be hard for me to not at least consider this if I was in one of those chairs. You're not going to watch the guy play like he's just going to be sitting there in practice all year.

42:18Robert Mays: And so you're really not going to have any real information about him by the time you're going to consider whether you want to draft a quarterback. That's what I would be insurance. To me, the Jets or the Browns making that pick, to me, that would just be insurance. In case, like, what if the Browns pick fifth next year and quarterbacks go one, two, three, and they get shut out of getting a guy they want. They can't trade up. It's like, OK, well, we've got Soresby waiting here. We might have something there. To me, like that, that would be the thinking there where it's our quarterback insurance in case we're not able to go get who we want in the 2027 draft.

42:53Robert Mays: Actually like that thought process. And again, I think sometimes when we when we think about it that way, purely from a process standpoint, we forget. And the Browns did this literally last year, like the mechanics of having four quarterbacks in your training camp and getting those guys reps and managing all of that. That can be a nightmare. And so it's easy for us to just sit there and say, well, just throw another third round pick at it. Who gives a shit? But in reality, there are things that you have to work through. But I like that mindset, Dane, where it's like, all right, we have this guy in the pipeline if necessary.

43:23Robert Mays: And worst case scenario, we develop him as our long-term backup. If he splashes a little bit in preseason, can we trade him for something? That's also part of this is that, I mean, I think about the guys who eventually did get traded for draft picks that showed us they're probably not starters in the league. Justin Fields, Kenny Pickett. This happens all the time where you can still get a fifth, sixth round pick for this guy at the end of the road, even if it doesn't work out because people need quarterbacks. So if you're going to spend a third round supplemental pick on a guy, and if it doesn't work out, hopefully you can flip him for a five a year or two years from now.

43:59Robert Mays: I think that's a scenario. A lot of people and a lot of teams could live with. Yeah. And I just, I think I would be surprised if Sorsby went for a valuable enough pick that it like changed the math for any of these thought process. us. The thing with the Browns though is thanks to Todd Monken, we know the head coach there doesn't really want him, or at least that's what he said when all of this came to light, which bless you, Todd Monken, for being interesting. The other team I would say, because I feel like they, Pittsburgh is the obvious answer, right? But again, we just talked about that. There's some complicating factors there.

44:33Robert Mays: The other team I would say that is an organization based on how the last couple of years have gone that might be looking for a little bit of an off-ramp at quarterback and I think it could bring things together for them in a way that you might not have been able to foresee right now or six months ago is Atlanta I mean Atlanta's sitting there right now with question marks about Michael Penix not only with his viability but about with his health you have two on a one-year deal you're hoping you're going to be competitive enough this year where you're not going to be in a position to draft a quarterback in the top 10 of next year's draft and if you are or if you're not what are you doing next year what do you do in the year after like that's one where I think taking a dice roll on him with like a third or fourth round pick at least putting in a bid for him is worth it to give yourself potential options and outs I love that we all came to the same conclusion with different teams because that's who if it's not one of the really obvious ones like Pittsburgh or Arizona the teams that make sense are the ones that we expect to be competitive competitive enough to play their way out of the range for the top guys but still potentially want to do something about quarterback tampa makes a ton of sense from dane atlanta i like that and then the one i came up with is carolina as well oh carolina is a really good one actually that's that's a really good one if you're if you're expecting to pick in the teens but you don't know about the long-term quarterback situation i completely understand and by the way carolina has an extra forth from the Adam Thielen trade.

46:05So like if that's all it took to get a potential. What a nightmare that trade is. Yeah, not great. But if that's all it took to get him and have a redshirt guy that, you know, not trying to fire Bryce Young yet, but like if you're not sure about that, that's one avenue you could take.

46:20Robert Mays: Do you think it's wrong, Dane, that, and I know that obviously different people were in charge when this happened, but Dan Morgan was in the building. I would have some Matt Corral PTSD if I were in that Carolina Panthers building about taking a run at another guy like this. Yeah, no, that's true. That's a good point. Yeah, I think you just have to look at it as he's an asset. And it's obviously a lot more deep than that, you know, in terms, especially being a quarterback. But he's an asset. He is the most talented quarterback in the supplemental draft in over 30 years. like it this we have to go back to the early 90s the last time back in the early 90s we had supplemental quarterbacks going in the first round this is this is just a a different animal than what we've seen before and that really is going to force teams to do extra homework and feel really confident about what to do here because this is this is a quarterback that can be something it's going to be it's going to take some time there's going to be a redshirt year there's a lot of question marks that we need to find answers for.

47:27But the glass half full projection for him is pretty exciting. And so I think there's plenty of teams that should be in the mix, especially in the fourth round. Once you get to day three, it's a day three pick. There should be multiple teams ready to throw a fourth round pick at him. Now, the question is, does anybody feel strongly enough to put a third in there? I don't, I, maybe someone does a second. I kind of be surprised, but you know, again, this is so unprecedented that I don't feel confident saying that, but will somebody feel great putting in a third as opposed to trying to wait for the bidding process of the fourth?

48:07I don't know that that'll be what we have to watch for.

48:09Robert Mays: even if somebody that in the couple games that i watched didn't necessarily love him and that there's a lot of stuff that would terrify me there's also plenty of stuff that if you see it even in the utah game the utah game was a disaster you know in terms of how it affected his season and the way that people talk about it he makes three or four throws in that utah game that make you sit up a little bit straighter in your chair he really is a rorschach test like if you watch those games they can be anything you want them to be i mean depending on how you want to see them In that game, he completed like 11 of 31 passes through an interception that changed the complexion of the game.

48:46Robert Mays: Off the back of his right tackle's helmet. Yeah, that did happen. He had like four passes batted in that game. But then, I mean, the touchdown is just a beautiful throw. He'll throw the shit out of a slot fade, man. He really will. He had like from the far hash to the sideline like on a dig or on a comeback for like 13 yards. I was like, yep, that's an NFL throw. That's amazing. The talent is definitely there. When I was driving home from Chicago from doing a 2026 draft coverage, I mapped out my way too early 2027 mock draft first round, and I had Sorsby in there. Because when I do a way too early mock draft like that, I'm doing it with rose-colored glasses.

49:31Like, hey, if all these guys live up to their potential, if all these guys work on what they need to work on and develop and get better, they're going to be in there. And Soresby was absolutely part of that group where, hey, if he works on his footwork, if he gets more repeatable with his mechanics and that in turn improves the accuracy and the timing and the precision, this is going to be a guy that goes in the first round. But unfortunately, we just don't have that senior year of film to know, hey, is this just kind of who he is? And it's going to be a reach to ever think he's going to be more than that?

50:06or is there still a lot of ways that he's going to improve and become a better quarterback? So there's a lot of projections still involved, but the talent, like you said, it's undeniable.

50:16Robert Mays: Should we do a supplemental draft live stream? Yeah. I mean, I'm waiting for the mock draft, right? I mean, we have to do a supplemental mock draft, and then it's the supplemental draft is so anticlimactic because it's just... I was going to say, we'll set up for a live stream and then an email will just ping our inbox. Like, oh, that's where Brandon Sorsby went. The ultimate, this could have been an email. Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, I've gotten texts before where, I think it was two years ago, there was a Purdue receiver and a supplemental draft and another player. And I just randomly, I forgot about it.

50:52I was somewhere with my kids and I got a text from a scout. Hey, seven rounds went through, nobody picked. And I was like, oh, okay, thanks. Thanks for the update. Like just, that's the supplemental draft. Now, obviously this year is gonna be a little more exciting, but it's going to be a tweet from somebody that, hey, T-Max drafted Brandon Sorsby in X round, and so it'll be interesting.

51:16Robert Mays: It's an unprecedented situation in terms of the modern NFL, and that's why we just spent 45 minutes trying to break it down because this is an intriguing dice roll and potential dice roll for a team that maybe doesn't have an answer at quarterback, wants some insurance at quarterback. So going to be an interesting storyline to evaluate and monitor here over the next month. Dane, sincerely appreciate you joining us in June. I mean, this is not normal, but I'm going to take it. I'm going to take the opportunity if we can get one. Absolutely. My pleasure. It's a nice break from, because June is when I set the foundation for the 2027 class and working on those guys.

51:51So nice, nice break to watch somebody in the supplemental class and somebody that's worth talking about. So, no, it was fun. See you in August, buddy. Can't wait.

52:00Robert Mays: That is all we've got for today. We will be back on Monday with our next mailbag. Until then, appreciate you guys listening. We'll talk to you very soon. Thanks for tuning in. Make sure to hit that subscribe or follow button so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed what you heard, please like, comment, and leave a rating. We'll see you next time.

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