The 2026 Cleveland Browns Should Not Bid on a Former Cincinnati Bearcat
The 2026 NFL Supplemental Draft won’t take place until late next month, but the speculation around Brendan Sorsby has been gathering since May. Sorsby’s life has been nothing short of a rollercoaster since then, with extreme highs and even crazier lows. After the NCAA declared that the Texas Tech transfer would not be eligible to play this season due to his ongoing battle with a sports betting addiction, an addiction that compelled him to gamble on football games that his teams were playing in, it appeared that Sorsby was destined for the supplemental draft and allegations that would pester him forever. In a shocking turn of events, Texas Tech University took the case up to a local judge, and the courts did what they thought they would: approve the 22-year-old’s eligibility. In response, the Big 12 Conference fought back hard, even threatening to impose an embargo on TTU and to withhold its teams from playing them in any collegiate sporting event, let alone the mecca of them all. Instead of fighting that, Sorsby will walk away from Division One football, leaving him right back at square one-the supplemental draft.
With a quarterback of Sorsby’s caliber, the usual suspects in defunct quarterback play have all been labeled potential suitors. Whether it's the New York Jets or the Arizona Cardinals, it seems the league is very intrigued, with 26 clubs reaching out to his agency about placing a bid for Sorsby, gambling addiction aside. However, one team has stood out as the top potential fit, to no one's surprise. With huge question marks at the position and a historically lingering problem to find a franchise leader at the position, the Cleveland Browns have been linked to the former Cincinnati Bearcat.
All that aside, even though the two-time transferee is a very talented and intriguing player, general manager Andrew Berry needs to keep him away from the team. For starters, his new head coach, Todd Monken, has already told the press that he does not want the 22-year-old on the Browns, citing the gambling addiction and the headlines it would bring to training camp. In that same quote, Monken also said the decision would not be his and would be up to Berry and the front office team. With this preseason largely focused on culture-building and finding someone to steer the team during a rebuilding era, it would be a huge mistake for Berry to pull the trigger on Sorsby and risk creating a rift between upper management and the coaching staff before the Monken era can even take off. The on-field depth chart is something that needs to be sorted out by Monken and first–year offensive coordinator Travis Switzer, and a bid on the Texas native would throw a hammer wrench into it.
Beyond the potential damage it would do to the relationship between Monken and Berry, the Cleveland quarterback room is already jammed. There’s the much-maligned veteran Deshaun Watson, whose on-field play has had Browns fans asking if he is the right option at quarterback. Sophomore signal callers Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders are looking to develop themselves into potential starters, the latter of whom has been turning heads with his progressing play this month. Rounding out the room is the hyper-athletic sixth-round draft choice Taylen Green, who may be utilized in a larger role than one might think. At this point, the quarterback room is too convoluted and may be too problematic for the Browns to succeed in 2026, and adding ‘Scoresby’ would only add more drama and tension to the position room.
Speaking of problematic, what message does bidding on Sorsby send to the Cleveland fanbase? Sure, sports betting is legal for American adults over 21, but when Sorsby was betting, he violated NCAA rules. Obviously, the young quarterback wasn’t throwing games or betting on the Indiana Hoosiers to lose when he was a freshman in 2022, but the bets themselves can still be perceived as spitting in the face of the integrity of the game. The city of Cleveland and its sports teams are already familiar with athletes gambling and throwing away their careers, as Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase of the Cleveland Guardians were accused of throwing bad pitches in exchange for prop bets. This same baggage is exactly why Monken doesn’t want Sorsby on the team, and ask any fan in the Cleveland area, and they feel the exact same way for the exact same reasons.
There’s no doubt that within Sorsby, there lies a very talented, exciting athlete who could very well be a capable starter at the NFL level. Unfortunately, there also lies a young man who is compromised, and by his own words, has a problem and even needed to go to a rehab facility to help him with it. Of course, there is nothing wrong with seeking treatment for your problems, and Sorsby made the right decision, both in his choice to seek help and his refusal to come back to college football. However, when specifically thinking about the pair of Cleveland and Sorsby, for many reasons, it’s just not a fit. The dual-threat quarterback will find a place in the league to develop as a player and as a man, but for the Browns’ sake, Berry should allow him to find a different place to achieve that.
