Will Cardinals Go All-In on Brendan Sorsby?

                                                               photo courtesy of Yahoo Sports

By Walter Mitchell

In the aftermath of learning that the Big 12 has sued Texas Tech for their commitment to playing (and paying) former Cincinnati QB Brendan Sorsby, Sorsby has decided to enter the NFL Supplemental Draft instead. 

Most of the NFL Draft pundits believe that had Brendan Sorsby elected to enter the 2026 NFL Draft, he would have been the #2 QB taken. 

I believe that given the extensive time and effort that Monti Ossenfort, Dave Sears and the Cardinals college scouts devoted to vetting and evaluating Brendan Sorsby, they would have taken him at pick #3. 

Per a FOX Sports analysis, they describe Brendan Sorsby's strengths and weaknesses as follows:

Brendan Sorsby Scouting Report: Where Would He Rank Among Top QB Draft Prospects? | FOX Sports

Strengths

At a solid 6-foot-3, 235 pounds, Sorsby certainly looks the part of an NFL quarterback. And he possesses both the arm and athleticism to star at the highest level, as well. In today’s era of simplified offenses, statistics can certainly be misleading. Sorsby’s numbers speak for themselves, however. He completed 61.4% of his passes for 7,208 yards and 60 touchdowns against 18 interceptions over 35 combined games at Cincinnati (2024-25) and Indiana (2022-23) while rushing for another 1,295 yards and 22 touchdowns. 

He has plenty of arm strength to make every throw in the playbook and is a gifted, creative passer who can throw from various arm slots. He has excellent touch on intermediate throws, consistently "dropping it in the bucket" on fades and verticals. Sorsby can ramp up the RPMs and fire deep crossers and deep outs with precision, as well. Frankly, the arm talent is undeniable. 

As his rushing totals suggest, Sorsby is also a real threat as a runner. Cincinnati and Indiana both wisely called plenty of QB runs for him, but he isn’t reliant on them to keep the defense honest. He shows patience in the pocket and looks to exhaust his downfield passing opportunities before dropping his eyes to scramble — but when he does so, Sorsby can scoot. He accelerates smoothly and has good lateral agility to elude, as well as the body armor to absorb the occasional tackle. He is a competitive runner with good vision and understanding of where he is on the field, scrambling for first downs 109 times over the past three years. 

Sorsby plays with a swagger that will appeal to NFL teams. He showed steady development over his three seasons as a starter and looked like a future first-round pick at Cincinnati last year. Perhaps most importantly, he showed maturity and humility in publicly admitting his gambling addiction and recently completed a 35-day inpatient rehabilitation stint at Algamus, a respected gambling treatment facility in Goodyear, Arizona.

Weaknesses

The concerns with Sorsby are just as obvious as his talent, though most of them are off the field. 

The quarterback position demands leadership, accountability and selflessness. Some NFL teams may have a hard time believing Sorsby possesses enough of these to justify a draft pick. 

He is an admitted gambling addict who bet thousands of times, including on Indiana while he played for the Hoosiers. He used family and friends’ names as a proxies to bet, clearly attempting to evade NCAA rules.

Scouts looking to vet Sorsby may find few advocates. 

Though Curt Cignetti and many of his coaches were not yet at Indiana when Sorsby played there, others who were there may be hesitant to sully the reputation of the defending national champion Hoosiers. The program, itself, sounded like one seeking to distance itself from Sorsby with a short, terse statement to The Daily Hoosier following the discovery of his gambling. 

And given that the University of Cincinnati filed a million-dollar lawsuit against him for violating the 18-month NIL contract he signed following his Indiana transfer, Sorsby may not have many Bearcats supporters, either. 

His former teammates at Cincinnati might feel similarly given that Sorsby opted out of the 2026 Liberty Bowl versus Navy, a Jan. 2nd game the Bearcats lost 35-13 while generating just 12 total first downs on offense. 

Frankly, interested NFL teams will ultimately spend more time evaluating Sorsby’s character than his weaknesses on tape. But like with any young quarterback, he certainly has flaws. 

There are times when Sorsby considerably drops his arm slot, which could become an issue in the NFL. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)

Sorsby shows good accuracy to all levels of the field, but some of his deep balls do flutter a bit, providing defenders a chance to recover. A couple of his interceptions this past season came on deep balls that hung in the air, notably including one in the final seconds of Cincinnati’s season-opener at Nebraska, where Sorsby was intercepted at the goal line to seal a 20-17 loss.  

While I like his ability to drop his arm angle and throw around defenders as well as over them, Sorsby often needlessly resorts to more of a sling-shot, sidearm release that effectively makes him a much shorter passer and more likely to have passes batted down at the line of scrimmage in the NFL. Like most quarterbacks at this stage of their careers, Sorsby can get a touch panicky when the rush is getting home and his accuracy diminishes when his feet aren’t set. 

As a runner, he often carries the ball with just one hand and, despite what his statistics suggest, he has struggled a bit with fumbles. While losing "just" five fumbles over his college career, Sorsby actually put the ball on the ground 12 times on 294 career attempts, per PFF. 

Cardinals' History with NFL Supplemental Drafts:

Arizona Cardinals supplemental draft history - Google Search

1. Jalen Thompson (2019)

• Selection: 5th round (No official spot, as it forfeited a 2020 5th-round pick)
• Position: Defensive Back
• College: Washington State
• Outcome: Thompson successfully transitioned to the NFL, claiming a major role in the Cardinals' secondary. He established himself as a reliable starter and became the last player selected in an NFL Supplemental Draft. 

2. Timm Rosenbach (1989)

• Selection: 1st round (2nd overall pick)
• Position: Quarterback
• College: Washington State
• Outcome: Rosenbach was a Heisman Trophy finalist who started 20 games for the Cardinals over his career. Though he took every offensive snap in 1990 and threw for over 3,000 yards, injuries ultimately cut his professional playing career short

How High Would the Cardinals Have to Bid?

My initial instinct is that if the Cardinals are as keenly interested in Brendan Sorsby as I believe, then they are going to decide to go all-in to draft him, as in bidding their 1st round pick. In my opinion, the New York Jets at pick #33 would be a lock, thus making a 2nd round bid at pick#34 moot. But I firmly believe that Sorsby will receive 1st round bids from teams who have aging QBs or current QBs they are not entirely sold on.

I have bolded the teams that could have a keen 1st round interest in drafting QB Brendan Sorsby, which is earlier than some might at first imagine. Question is, should the Cardinals go all-in and offer their 1st round pick? 

Tomorrow on the Red Rain Podcast 217 we are going to evaluate Brendan Sorsby's game tapes at Cincinnati and each of us will predict where he will be drafted and what pick we believe the Cardinals could and should offer. 

Round 1

1. Las Vegas Raiders
2. New York Jets
3. Arizona Cardinals
4. Tennessee Titans
5. New York Giants
6. Cleveland Browns
7. Washington Commanders
8. New Orleans Saints
9. Kansas City Chiefs
10. New York Giants (from Bengals)
11. Miami Dolphins
12. Dallas Cowboys
13. Los Angeles Rams (from Falcons)
14. Baltimore Ravens
15. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
16. New York Jets (from Colts)
17. Detroit Lions
18. Minnesota Vikings
19. Carolina Panthers
20. Dallas Cowboys (from Packers)
21. Pittsburgh Steelers
22. Los Angeles Chargers
23. Philadelphia Eagles
24. Cleveland Browns (from Jaguars)
25. Chicago Bears
26. Buffalo Bills
27. San Francisco 49ers
28. Houston Texans
29. Kansas City Chiefs (from Rams)
30. Miami Dolphins (from Broncos)
31. New England Patriots
32. Seattle Seahawks

Round 2

33. New York Jets
34. Arizona Cardinals