What’s one more?
The Mike McCarthy Quarterback School already has two enrollees in Drew Allar and Will Howard. Why not try to add a 6-foot-3, 235-pound, dual-threat, first-round talent for the price of maybe a second-round pick?
Actually, there might be one big reason to steer clear — we’ll get to that — but the Steelers are desperate. They need to identify their future quarterback one of these years, and they probably won’t be bad enough to draft in the top 10, let alone the top five, which is the best place to get one.
In the meantime, their plan apparently is to conduct tryouts (maybe including a 2027 draft pick) over some unidentifiable period of time, I guess, until someone emerges as valedictorian from The McCarthy School.
Who are they to turn away potential candidates, especially wildly talented ones?
Which brings us to Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, the candidate in question. He might never actually become Texas Tech’s quarterback. He just got out of gambling addiction rehab, which is both an obvious concern and the reason he could drop to a team like the Steelers if he enters the NFL’s supplemental draft.
The NCAA on Tuesday denied Sorsby’s reinstatement request for the 2026 season. He will appeal, but the rule seems clear: If you bet on your own team — as Sorsby did in 2022 while at Indiana — you’re banned for life.
Sorsby has acknowledged that as a freshman at Indiana, he wagered between $5 and $50 on his team to win and made prop bets on teammates. He claims he did not bet on the one game in which he played that year or any of the games he played after transferring to Cincinnati.
His gambling addiction, however, exploded, to the point where he was reportedly placing wagers on Turkish basketball games, balls and strikes at Cincinnati Reds games and even the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.
So yes, there could be ongoing issues, despite Sorsby attending a 35-day, in-patient rehab in Arizona. He is planning to return to Texas Tech’s campus, where a multimillion-dollar NIL deal awaits him.
Or not, if the NCAA ruling stands. And in that case, Sorsby could enter the supplemental draft. He needs to make that decision by the end of June. If he does, the draft would likely be held in July.
“If he comes out in the supplemental draft,” an NFL executive told Jeff Howe of The Athletic, “he’s going to be the most consequential prospect in a long, long time.”
The supplemental draft hasn’t produced many players of late, but it did serve as a way for Terrelle Pryor and Josh Gordon to enter the league.
Here’s how it works: The worst teams get priority by round, just like in the regular draft, and submit silent bids. In other words, if the Jets bid a first-round pick on Sorsby in Round 1, they’d get him and relinquish a first-round pick in the 2027 regular draft.
It’s quite possible, however, that nobody would give up a first-round pick. So we’d go to Round 2, where a team would have to give up a second-round pick, and so on.
Would the Steelers have a real shot at him?
They might. This kid has more red flags than a Russian military parade. I’m guessing somebody would take a chance earlier in the second round, but what if it gets to the Steelers?
Would you take Sorsby?
I would, strictly based on talent and need. He might have been the second quarterback picked this year. He was great in some games early last season, both throwing and running the ball, before a shaky finish. He obviously lacks polish, but so do the other students at The McCarthy School, right?
Sorsby has an NFL body, including a powerful arm. You’d have to hope the rehab sticks and that he realizes the gravity of the situation and stays in recovery mode.
A second-round pick would be a lot to give up. Some might even say such a move would reek of desperation. They’d be right.
That’s kind of the point.