The NFL supplemental draft rarely produces this much buzz, but Brendan Sorsby isn’t a typical prospect. With some scouts assigning him a first-round grade based solely on talent, he has piqued the interest of several teams around the league — including the Pittsburgh Steelers, according to The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo.
“It sounds like right now the Steelers are currently doing their homework,” DeFabo said via his Yinziders podcast. “It sounds like that would, at this point, not automatically be a disqualifier for the Steelers. They would at least be interested to learn more and do their homework to figure out how bad was this infraction? And then figure out how good is Sorsby, and are they willing to take that risk?
“At this point, it seems they are still in that process of gathering more information and trying to figure out what exactly, and how far exactly they’d be willing to go.”
The Steelers were already one of the teams drawing heavy speculation from the media because of their current quarterback situation. This should only amplify the noise.
With no obvious long-term answer on the roster, Pittsburgh should be willing to turn over every stone possible until it finds a franchise quarterback.
Aaron Rodgers is entering his final season at 42 years old. Pittsburgh already has two young developmental quarterbacks in Will Howard and Drew Allar, but if they agree with other evaluators on Sorsby’s first-round talent level, they could be willing to take the risk.
Do they view Sorsby that way? They are currently trying to figure that out, both from a talent and risk perspective.
Sorsby is listed at 6-3, 235 pounds, and has all the tools to be successful at the next level. That being said, he completed just 61.6 percent of his passes last season for 2,800 yards, 27 TDs and five INTs. And when he played elite secondaries, like the Arizona Wildcats, he looked completely lost.
On the other hand, he added 580 yards and nine rushing TDs last season alone. He has the athleticism to be a problem in the NFL with both his arm and legs.
A quarterback guru like Mike McCarthy could become enamored with a talent like Sorsby, so long as the character issues are cleared by the team.
Sorsby is currently embroiled in one of the biggest college football betting scandals in many years. He reportedly placed thousands of bets totaling roughly $90,000, including bets on his own games with Indiana and Cincinnati.
Gambling addictions are real, and he went through treatment to help get him back on track. But the ramifications of those bets could still cause issues. The NFL could opt to impose discipline, and let’s not completely rule out the possibility of legal issues down the line if an investigation finds he engaged in game fixing or fraud of any kind.
NFL teams all have former law enforcement and lawyers on staff to help mitigate and investigate various legal risks. Pittsburgh’s team would presumably be heavily a part of vetting Sorsby.
According to DeFabo, Pittsburgh completely removed Hunter Dekkers from their big board in 2025 after a similar betting scandal. But a late-round wide receiver and a potential first-round quarterback are obviously two different risk-reward profiles.
This doesn’t guarantee the Steelers will submit a bid in the supplemental draft, but they are at least doing their homework on Brendan Sorsby.
Recommended for you